International Symposium on Child Abduction

On 4 December 2009 the Federal Foreign Office organized an International Symposium on Child Abduction.

What begins as a quarrel over a child or children between estranged parents can unfortunately often end in a nightmare experience for all concerned. Cases involving cross-border abduction in particular present left-behind parents and national authorities with exceptional challenges.

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction ("Hague Convention"), which has been signed by Germany and eighty other countries, seeks the swift return of abducted children without always being able to guarantee a successful outcome.

Even the basic mechanisms are not available to countries outside the Convention.

In all cases it is the children who suffer most.

The Federal Foreign Office organized the symposium in close consultation with the Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ), the Federal Office of Justice (BfJ) (responsible for Hague Convention cases) and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). For the first time national specialists in the field discussed challenges and solutions with experts from Europe, North and South America, Asia and the Islamic world with the aim of providing better support both for parents seeking advice and their children.

The following documentation on the symposium was produced by the Federal Foreign Office:

• Programme (English) PDF | 8 KB
• International Symposium on Child Abduction - Opening Address by Minister of State Cornelia Pieper
• Statement of the Chair concluding the symposium PDF | 11 KB

The following examples of the many other valuable contributions to the symposium can be found below; these are, however, not official Federal Foreign Office statements:

• Powerpoint presentation by Prof. William Duncan, Deputy Secretary General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law PDF | 1 MB
• Speech by Judge Amr Abd El Moaty, Egypt PDF | 573 KB
• Speech by Monica Sifuentes, Brazilian Federal Court Judge and Liaison Judge for the Hague Convention PDF | 98 KB
• Presentation by Joel Denis, Canada, Senior Policy Advisor, Consular Policy and Advocacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs PDF | 109 KB
• Speech by Mikiko Otani, Japan, Attorney, Family Affairs Conciliator, Tokyo Family Court PDF | 46 KB
• Speech by Reyna Aurora Martínez López, Deputy Director of Family Law, Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations PDF | 21 KB
• Summary of the conclusions of Panel 1 – Problems between Member States of the Hague Convention by Andrea Schulz, Head of the Federal Office of Justice, the German central authority under the Hague Convention PDF | 9 KB
• Summary of the conclusions of Panel 2 – Experiences with Child Abductions in Non-Member States of the Hague Convention by Prof. William Duncan PDF | 44 KB
• Summary of the conclusions of Panel 3 – Coordination of Domestic Actors and Authorities in cases of International Child Abduction by Ekin Deligöz, Member of the German Bundestag PDF | 15 KB

Speeches available in German only can be found on the German version of this page: 

• Internationales Symposium zu Kindesentziehungen
  

For more on the topic of child abduction please visit external link, opens in new windowwww.konsularinfo.diplo.de (in German)

external link, opens in new windowHague Conference on Private International Law

Last updated 08.03.2011