View source for Hague Convention on Parental Responsibility and Protection of Children

{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox Treaty
|name                = Hague Convention 1996<br>Hague Protection Convention
|long_name           = Convention of 19 October 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children
|image               =Hague Convention 1996.svg
|image_width         =260
|caption             =Status of the convention
{{legend|#cc88f9|Signatories}}
{{legend|#f9cc88|Parties}}
{{legend|#88ccf9|Parties (not yet in force)}}
|type                =
|date_drafted        =
|date_signed         = 19 October 1996
|location_signed     = [[The Hague]], the Netherlands
|date_sealed         =
|date_effective      = 1 January 2002
|condition_effective = Ratification by 3 states
|date_expiration     =
|signatories         = 35
|parties             = 54 (ratifications/accessions)
|depositor           = [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands)]]
|language            =
|languages           = English and French
|wikisource          =
}}
The '''Hague Convention on parental responsibility and protection of children''', or '''Hague Convention 1996''', officially '''Convention of 19 October 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children''' or '''Hague Convention 1996''' is a convention of the [[Hague Conference on Private International Law]] ("Hague Conference" or HCCH). It covers civil measures of protection concerning children, ranging from orders concerning parental responsibility and contact to public measures of protection or care, and from matters of representation to the protection of children's property. It is therefore much broader in scope than two earlier conventions of the HCCH on the subject.

The convention has uniform rules determining which country's authorities are competent to take the measures of protection. The Convention determines which country's laws are to be applied, and it provides for the recognition and enforcement of measures taken in one Contracting State in all other Contracting States. The co-operation provisions of the Convention provide the basic framework for the exchange of information and for the necessary degree of collaboration between administrative authorities in the Contracting States.

The Convention entered into force 1 January 2002 and as of October 2022 has 54 contracting States.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hague Convention of 19 October 1996 Status Table|url=http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.status&cid=70 |date=Jan 2016}}</ref> Argentina, Canada, North Macedonia and the United States have signed the convention, but have not ratified it.

==Scope and application==
The 1996 Convention aims to avoid orders about children's property and welfare (excluding parental responsibility and contact) being made in any state other than the state in which the child is habitually resident. It also allows orders made in the child's state of habitual residence to be registered and made enforceable in other Convention countries. It establishes a framework for the co-ordination of legal systems, and for international judicial and administrative co-operation.

==General background==

===The Hague Children's Conventions===

The Hague Conference has, for more than a century, been involved in measures of protection under civil law of children at risk in cross-frontier situations. Three Hague Children's Conventions have been developed over the last twenty-five years, a fundamental purpose being to provide the practical machinery to enable States which share a common interest in protecting children to co-operate together to do so.

===The 1996 Convention===
The 1996 Convention is the broadest in scope of those three, covering as it does a very wide range of civil measures of protection concerning children, ranging from public measures of protection or care to matters of representation to the protection of children's property. It also covers:

* [[Unaccompanied minor]]s
* Cross-frontier placements of children

== Implementation in the European Union ==
The subject of the convention is one of the subjects treated in the EU's [[Brussels II]] regulations. Between member states this regulation takes precedence over the Hague Convention as it is "at least as favourable as the rules laid down in the Convention".<ref name=EUratificition/> The subjects of convention furthermore is an area of mixed competence between the European Union and [[Member states of the European Union|its member states]], which means that the European Union has to authorise it member states to sign and to ratify the convention and state so. The European Union authorised signature and ratification in 2002<ref>{{cite web|url=http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/justice_freedom_security/judicial_cooperation_in_civil_matters/jl0046_en.htm|title=Convention on parental responsibility and protection of children|work=[[EUR-Lex]]|accessdate=11 February 2012|date=19 December 2002}}</ref> and 2008 respectively.<ref name=EUratificition>{{cite web|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/Notice.do?val=472155:cs&lang=en&list=472155:cs,&pos=1&page=1&nbl=1&pgs=10&hwords=&checktexte=checkbox&visu=#texte|title=2008/431/EC: Council Decision of 5 June 2008 authorising certain Member States to ratify, or accede to, in the interest of the European Community, the 1996 Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation in respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children and authorising certain Member States to make a declaration on the application of the relevant internal rules of Community law – Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation in respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children|work=[[EUR-Lex]]|accessdate=11 February 2012|date=15 June 2008}}</ref>

The ratification directive was delayed as a result of the [[disputed status of Gibraltar|Gibraltar dispute]] between Spain and the United Kingdom. In January 2008 an agreement was reached to resolve the situation to allow progress on this and other treaties. Britain and Spain compromised on a so-called "post-boxing" system under which communications between Spain and Gibraltar involving the treaties will go through London.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/09/content_7391857.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013044432/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/09/content_7391857.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 October 2012|title=Britain, Spain cut deal on Gibraltar to revive treaties|publisher=Xinhua News Agency|date=9 January 2008|accessdate=15 January 2011}}</ref> After this deal the Convention entered into force for several EU countries, including Spain and the United Kingdom. All EU member states have ratified the convention.

== Implementation in the Russian Federation ==

The 1996 Convention entered into force in Russia on 1 June 2013. The first<ref>{{cite news|title='Abducted' children returned to the UK|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-28402556 |publisher=BBC London News|date=21 July 2014}}</ref><ref name=Rapsinews>{{cite news|title=American mother reunites with children abducted by Russian father|url= http://rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20140722/271772433.html |publisher=Russian Legal Information Agency, aka Rapsi News|date=22 July 2014}}</ref> use of the Convention in Russia, known as the Neustadt case,<ref name="Rapsinews"/><ref>{{cite journal |title=The first year of application of the 1996 Hague Convention on Protection of Children in Russia: a success story|journal=International Family Law |pages= 165–169 |publisher=Jordan Publishing |date=September 2014}}</ref> concerned the retention in Russia of two minors by their <ref>{{cite news|title=Neustadt boys to return to their mother - Moscow City Court|url= http://rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20131121/269748792.html |publisher=Russian Legal Information Agency, aka Rapsi News|date=21 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=My partner abducted my child: the parents left behind|url= https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/sep/21/partner-abducted-child-parents-left-behind |work=The Guardian|date=21 September 2013}}</ref> father when an order made in the United Kingdom had said they should live with their mother.  The case was heard by the Moscow City Court in September 2013, which ruled to recognize and enforce English court orders for a return of the children to their mother in the United Kingdom.  The father appealed, but in November 2013 the Moscow City Court upheld their first ruling and the orders to return the children became final.  The order was not enforced until the end of June 2014 when Russian law enforcement officials found the children, who had been kept hidden by their father for over seven months since he lost his appeal.<ref>{{cite news|title=Successful return of children from Russia in child abduction case|url= http://www.dawsoncornwell.com/en/news.html |publisher=Dawson Cornwell|date=July 2014}}</ref>

==External links==
* [http://hcch.e-vision.nl/index_en.php?act=conventions.text&cid=70 Treaty text]
*[http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.status&cid=70 Ratifications]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Treaties concluded in 1996]]
[[Category:Treaties entered into force in 2002]]
[[Category:Hague Conference on Private International Law conventions]]
[[Category:Treaties of Albania]]
[[Category:Treaties of Australia]]
[[Category:Treaties of Austria]]
[[Category:Treaties of Barbados]]
[[Category:Treaties of Belgium]]
[[Category:Treaties of Bulgaria]]
[[Category:Treaties of Cape Verde]]
[[Category:Treaties of Croatia]]
[[Category:Treaties of Cyprus]]
[[Category:Treaties of Cuba]]
[[Category:Treaties of the Czech Republic]]
[[Category:Treaties of Denmark]]
[[Category:Treaties of Ecuador]]
[[Category:Treaties of Estonia]]
[[Category:Treaties of Finland]]
[[Category:Treaties of Fiji]]
[[Category:Treaties of France]]
[[Category:Treaties of Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Treaties of Germany]]
[[Category:Treaties of Greece]]
[[Category:Treaties of Guyana]]
[[Category:Treaties of Honduras]]
[[Category:Treaties of Hungary]]
[[Category:Treaties of Ireland]]
[[Category:Treaties of Italy]]
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[[Category:Treaties of Montenegro]]
[[Category:Treaties of Morocco]]
[[Category:Treaties of the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Treaties of Nicaragua]]
[[Category:Treaties of Norway]]
[[Category:Treaties of Paraguay]]
[[Category:Treaties of Poland]]
[[Category:Treaties of Portugal]]
[[Category:Treaties of Romania]]
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[[Category:Treaties of Switzerland]]
[[Category:Treaties of Turkey]]
[[Category:Treaties of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Treaties of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Treaties of Uruguay]]
[[Category:Treaties of the Dominican Republic]]
[[Category:Treaties of Armenia]]
[[Category:Treaties of Lesotho]]
[[Category:Family law treaties]]
[[Category:1996 in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Treaties extended to Curaçao]]
[[Category:Treaties extended to the Caribbean Netherlands]]
[[Category:Treaties extended to Gibraltar]]
[[Category:Treaties extended to Greenland]]
[[Category:20th century in The Hague]]
[[Category:Parental responsibility (access and custody)]]