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Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

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The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction1 (“Hague Convention”) is an international treaty that was designed to<br />

address child abduction by a parent. It provides parents with a civil remedy —<br />

the prompt return of their children. The underlying purpose of the Hague<br />

Convention is to prevent international abductions and restore the status quo<br />

while the courts of the country from which the child was taken resolve<br />

underlying custody and visitation issues. Once a prima facie case under the<br />

Hague Convention has been established, the Convention, in most instances,<br />

mandates return of the child.<br />

The drafters of the Hague Convention assumed that abducting parents are<br />

most often non-custodial parents, and the treaty does not contemplate instances<br />

in which women flee with their children to escape domestic violence. The<br />

Convention does, however, provide some exceptions to the return remedy, and,<br />

although very narrowly tailored, these exceptions may be useful when litigating<br />

Hague Convention cases on behalf of abused mothers.<br />

Background<br />

9<br />

Representing Abused Mothers<br />

in Hague Convention Cases<br />

by Betsy Tsai<br />

The Hague Convention was drafted in 1980 by the Hague Conference on<br />

Private International Law. Although the United States signed the treaty in 1981,<br />

the Hague Convention did not become law in the United States until 1988<br />

when the International Child Abduction and Recovery Act (ICARA), 2 its<br />

implementing legislation, was passed. The Hague Convention is only<br />

applicable between and among countries that have ratified the Convention,<br />

otherwise known as Contracting States, or countries that have acceded to it. A

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