At the end of 2018, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) circulated information on the support available to people in cases of international parental child abduction, having provided assistance in 228 abduction cases that year. International parental child abduction is when one parent removes or keeps a child from the country they normally live in, without the consent of the other parent or in breach of a court order preventing their removal. Parents do not always realise that their actions could be classified as abduction or that abduction is a criminal offence.
The Hague Convention
The Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (1980 Hague Convention) is a multi-lateral treaty which seeks to protect children from the harmful effects of abduction and retention across international boundaries by providing a procedure to bring about their prompt return. The convention applies only to children under the age of 16, and currently there are 99 states party to the Hague convention.
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