Foreign Affairs: Changes to Germany's Implementation of the Hague Child Abduction Convention

摘要

Over the past several years, the United States has been critical of Germanys handling of international parental child abduction cases that have been filed by U.S. parents. Both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government have criticized Germany for not fully and consistently following the criteria and procedures established under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which governs such cases. The primary criticisms include the inappropriate use by German courts of certain provisions of the Hague Convention to justify retaining an abducted child in Germany, the length of time it has taken to adjudicate cases, and the failure to enforce left-behind parents visitation rights. In September 2000, in response to your concerns about the rights of left-behind parents, we reported on the status and outcome of cases that U.S. parents have filed with Germany. 3 This second report identifies actions that Germany has taken or plans it has under way to reform its handling of international parental child abduction cases and how these actions may affect U.S. cases. We also obtained information about what State Department officers stationed in Germany are doing to assist left-behind parents. This information is contained in appendix I.