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INTER-AMERICAN PROGRAM ON COOPERATION TO
PREVENT AND REMEDY CASES OF INTERNATIONAL
ABDUCTION OF MINORS BY ONE OF THE PARENTS
Inter-American Children’s Institute
IIN
Organization of the American States
OAS
In compliance with the Resolution AG 1835(XXX1-O/01) 5th June 2001, by virtue of
which it is decided, amongst other points:
2. To instruct the Permanent Council, with the support and under the
auspices of the Inter-American Children's Institute (IACI), to review the
possibility of convening, in the near future, a meeting of government experts
on the subject of the international abduction of children by one of their
parents, in accordance with the resources allocated in the program-budget
and other resources, and to report to the Permanent Council.
3. To recommend that the Meeting of Government Experts should consider
preparing an Inter-American Program on Cooperation to Prevent and
Remedy Cases of International Abduction of Minors by one of their Parents,
with specific objectives, including the establishment of a network for the
exchange of information and for cooperation among the competent national
bodies in member states on the different regulatory and legal aspects
involved in preventing and settling cases of abduction.
4. To request the Permanent Council to invite the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights,
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and the Inter-American Juridical Committee to lend their support and legal
and technical assistance, within their respective spheres of competence, for
the organization and holding of the meeting of government experts.
5. To request the Inter-American Children’s Institute, to prepare a report on
the status in the Americas of the international abduction of minors by one of
their parents, to be presented to the meeting of government experts.
6. To invite Member States, Permanent Observers, international
organizations, multilateral financial institutions, and civil society
organizations to collaborate and cooperate with the meeting of government
experts.
7. To direct that the recommendations of the meeting of government experts
be submitted to the IIN Directing Council, and that the decisions taken by
the Directing Council in fulfillment of this resolution be forwarded to the
General Assembly for consideration at its thirty-second regular session.
And according to what is established in article 27 of the Inter-American Convention
of International Return of Minors:
"As a Specialized Organization of the Organization of American States, the
Inter-American Children's Institute shall be responsible for coordinating the
activities of the Central Authorities within the scope of the Convention and
for receiving and evaluating information from the States Parties in respect of
application of the Convention.
It shall also be responsible for cooperating with other international
organizations competent in the matter."
In accordance with this mandate, the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN)
proposes the following outline of an,
INTER-AMERICAN PROGRAM ON COOPERATION TO PREVENT
AND REMEDY CASES OF INTERNATIONAL ABDUCTION OF
MINORS BY ONE OF THEIR PARENTS
OBJECTIVES:
To create an Inter-American Program on Cooperation to Prevent and
Remedy Cases of International Abduction of Minors by one of their Parents
among Member States of the Organization of the American States.
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SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
To get to know the magnitude, tendencies, national and international
regulations in force on the phenomenon of international abduction of minors
by one of their parents in the Americas.
To convene and consult a Group of government experts on international
abduction of minors, on the implementation of an Inter-American Program
on Cooperation to Prevent and Remedy cases of International Abduction of
Minors by one of their Parents in the Americas.
To consult the implementation of three components of the Inter-American
Program on Cooperation to Prevent and Remedy cases of International
Abduction of Minors: A component of Prevention, legal counseling and
rehabilitation for the victims by means of a national system of compliance
with the Agreements; a component of information interchange and
promotion of the Agreements among the States of the OAS and thirdly the
development of Inter-American mechanisms for the handling of international
abduction of minors.
CENTRAL THEMES
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National systems to comply with the Agreements.
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International system to comply and verify the Agreements.
(Subscribing States and bilateral Agreements).
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An inter-American network of information and cooperation among National
Authorities in charge of carrying out of the Agreements.
BACKGROUND.
According to Jose Carlos Arcagni, “The domestic reality of failed marriages,
already a conflictive one, gets aggravated when the couple has liaisons in several
countries. The ease and speed of international transportation facilitates the
movement of people, making it common the marriage between people of different
cultures as part of the pattern of migration towards countries or places that offer
better living conditions. After the marital conflict, the father or the mother often
returns to their country of origin or to their former place of residence taking with
them the children under their custody. The fact that the other parent does not know
of this move or opposes it, makes it an abduction”
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The best-known Agreement from the Hague1 Conference was unanimously
adopted by the States present2, during the plenary session held on the 24 th of
October 1980, at the fourteenth period of sessions at the Hague Conference of
International Private Law. It came into force on the 25th of October 1980 and
immediately after the session at the Hague Conference, four States signed the
Agreement: Canada, France, Greece and Switzerland.
In the Americas we have: The Inter-American Convention on International Return
of Minors of July 15, 1989. For the illicit international transfer or removal within the
Americas, we have the Inter-American Convention on international trafficking of
minors of March 18, 1994.
Since 1980, there has been an increase in the number of cases involving illicit
international transiting of minors. “"The countries with the greatest number of cases
brought forward under the International Convention of The Hague were the Central
Authority of United States, with 256 cases brought to the National Center for
missing and exploited children, England and Wales (174 cases).
In relation to the gender of abductors, 70% were women (mothers) and 29.2%
men (fathers). Based on the same study, it was established that in the year 1999,
in the 744 applications, the total number of children involved was 1080 whose age
distribution was the following: 37.2% were children under 5; 41.4% were children
from 5 to 9; 21.3% were children 10 to 16 and 0.1% were children over 16 years
of age. About the gender of the children, 53.3% were boys and 46.7% were girls.
Finally, regarding the solution of the cases or cases still pending, the following was
established: 10.5% refused repatriation; 18% were repatriated voluntarily; 32.2%
had the repatriation ordered by the courts; 10% had the repatriation denied by the
courts; 10.2% of cases were withdrawn; 16% of cases are still pending and 3.1% of
cases fall into a non specified category”3
The Inter-American system does have reliable figures that indicate the magnitude
and tendencies of the phenomenon. This is one of the objectives of the present
convocation of government experts.
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2
Convenio = Convention.
Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Spain, United States, Finland, France, Greece,
Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia ,
Venezuela and Yugoslavia.
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Gaceta Judicial Republica Dominicana, mayo del 2001 por dilia Jorge Mera
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COMPONENTS OF THE PROGRAM:
Component of Prevention, legal counseling and rehabilitation of
victims by means of a national system of compliance with the
Agreements
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Precise appointment of Central Authorities by States which have
subscribed and adhered to International Agreements on international
abduction of minors by one of their parents.
To define within national legislation the way cases of abduction and illicit
transiting of minors will be treated.
To set national, judicial and administrative procedures for the restitution
of minors.
To encourage the participation of civil society on the issues related to
abduction of minors by one of the parents.
To be aware of and encourage the implementation of systems and
programs of rehabilitation of victims.
To facilitate information and sensitization campaigns to the issue of
international abduction of minors by one of their parents.
Being it an international phenomenon, it should be stressed in the
national system of compliance with the Agreements: a) mutual juridical
assistance; b) technical assistance and the interchange of experiences
for operators of the national system in charge of complying with the
Agreements; c) The compilation and interchange of information on
individual cases; d) The strengthening of specific measures to locate
individual cases through the police, migratory alerts and massive media
broadcasting, among others.
Component of exchange of information and promotion of Agreements
between the States of the OAS:
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Implementation of a system which, stores and interchanges information
between the States of the OAS in cases of international abduction of
minors by one of their parents.
The development of bilateral Agreements between the Member States of
the OAS since studies indicate that the abduction or illicit transiting of
minors is becoming more frequent.
Implementation of an information system (individual cases, the search
for illicit kidnapping of children, bibliography, sentencing and ruling,
jurisprudence, etc.) amongst the Member States of the OAS.
Implementation of a training and advisory program on international
abduction of minors by one of the parents.
Publicize typical cases that are representative of decisions that adhere to
international standards.
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Publicize in different languages the research and bibliography as well as
the text of the related Agreements.
Emphasize the definition of mechanism that will assure the voluntary
return of a minor as an ideal method to solve this type of controversy.
Raise the awareness of parents on the contravention of national and
international laws when resorting to this type of practices.
Publish the information available in a specialized web page.
Inter-American Mechanisms for the handling of international abduction
of minors
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Through the Inter-American Children’s Institute and by assigning
resources and logistics, an Inter-American monitoring system shall be
used to promote the ratification, signing, support, and development of
bilateral treaties to combat the phenomenon of international abduction of
minors.
To develop a supranational mechanism within the inter-American system
to comply with international laws on international abduction of minors by
one of their parents.
The IIN shall manage the diverse components of the Inter-American
Program on Cooperation in order to Prevent and Remedy cases of
International Abduction of Minors by one of their parents.
Technical assistance to simplify administrative and juridical procedures,
seeing that they are adequate and efficient, to deal with international
abduction of minors in both Countries involved.
Harmonization of national legislation to International Agreements on this
issue.
Encourage greater cooperation and/or technical assistance among the
States of the OAS on International Abduction of Minors by one of the
parents.