The Impact of The UN Convention on The Right of The Child on The Hague Convention on The Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction

Abstract

The UN Convention on the rights of the Child (UNCRC) is an international legal instrument aimed in creating minimum standards for the most universal aspect in the human existence, which is producing safe environment for children to develop. This Convention was adopted in 1989 and now represents universal standard that determines the rights of children. On the other hand, Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague Child Abduction Convention) represents a legal instrument of the Hague Conference of Private International Law, created in 1980 aimed in deterring the abductor from unilaterally choosing the forum in which the case will be heard relating to parental responsibilities and mitigation of the harmful effects of the abduction which are reflected on children. Although these two instruments are almost a decade apart, the UNCRC has significant influence in the understanding and the implementation of the Hague Child Abduction Convention and represents a moral ground for most of the solutions provided in the Hague Child Abduction Convention such as: illicit transfer and non-return of children, right of the child to be heard, right of the child to have meaningful relationship with both parents and child’s best interest. This article will provide for overview of the Child Abduction regime and the particular influence that the UNCRC has on the Hague Child Abduction Convention with notion that without the UNCRC, the development of the Hague Abduction Regime would be left out without doctrinal and moral grounds.