H. Con. Res. 293 Agreed to June 23, 2000

One Hundred Sixth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,

the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand

Concurrent Resolution

Whereas the Department of State reports that at any given time

there are 1,000 open cases of American children either abducted

from the United States or wrongfully retained in a foreign

country;

Whereas many more cases of international child abductions are

not reported to the Department of State;

Whereas the situation has worsened since 1993, when Congress

estimated the number of American children abducted from the

United States and wrongfully retained in foreign countries to

be more than 10,000;

Whereas Congress has recognized the gravity of international child

abduction in enacting the International Parental Kidnapping

Crime Act of 1993 (18 U.S.C. 1204), the Parental Kidnapping

Prevention Act (28 U.S.C. 1738a), and substantial reform and

reporting requirements for the Department of State in the fiscal

years 1998–1999 and 2000–2001 Foreign Relations Authorization

Acts;

Whereas the United States became a contracting party in 1988

to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International

Child Abduction (in this concurrent resolution referred to as

the ‘‘Hague Convention’’) and adopted effective implementing

legislation in the International Child Abduction Remedies Act

(42 U.S.C. 11601 et seq.);

Whereas the Hague Convention establishes mutual rights and

duties between and among its contracting states to expedite the

return of children to the state of their habitual residence, as

well as to ensure that rights of custody and of access under

the laws of one contracting state are effectively respected in

other contracting states, without consideration of the merits of

any underlying child custody dispute;

Whereas article 13 of the Hague Convention provides a narrow

exception to the requirement for prompt return of children, which

exception releases the requested state from its obligation to return

a child to the country of the child’s habitual residence if it

is established that there is a ‘‘grave risk’’ that the return would

expose the child to ‘‘physical or psychological harm or otherwise

place the child in an intolerable situation’’ or ‘‘if the child objects

to being returned and has attained an age and degree of maturity

at which it is appropriate to take account of the child’s views’’;
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Whereas some contracting states, for example Germany, routinely

invoke article 13 as a justification for nonreturn, rather than

resorting to it in a small number of wholly exceptional cases;

Whereas the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

(NCMEC), the only institution of its kind, was established in

the United States for the purpose of assisting parents in recovering their missing children;

Whereas article 21 of the Hague Convention provides that the

central authorities of all parties to the Convention are obligated

to cooperate with each other in order to promote the peaceful

enjoyment of parental access rights and the fulfillment of any

conditions to which the exercise of such rights may be subject,

and to remove, as far as possible, all obstacles to the exercise

of such rights;

Whereas some contracting states fail to order or enforce normal

visitation rights for parents of abducted or wrongfully retained

children who have not been returned under the terms of the

Hague Convention; and

Whereas the routine invocation of the article 13 exception, denial

of parental visitation of children, and the failure by several contracting parties, most notably Austria, Germany, Honduras,

Mexico, and Sweden, to fully implement the Convention deprives

the Hague Convention of the spirit of mutual confidence upon

which its success depends: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress urges—

(1) all contracting parties to the Hague Convention, particularly European civil law countries that consistently violate the

Hague Convention such as Austria, Germany and Sweden,

to comply fully with both the letter and spirit of their international legal obligations under the Convention;

(2) all contracting parties to the Hague Convention to

ensure their compliance with the Hague Convention by enacting

effective implementing legislation and educating their judicial

and law enforcement authorities;

(3) all contracting parties to the Hague Convention to honor

their commitments and return abducted or wrongfully retained

children to their place of habitual residence without reaching

the merits of any underlying custody dispute and ensure

parental access rights by removing obstacles to the exercise

of such rights;

(4) the Secretary of State to disseminate to all Federal

and State courts the Department of State’s annual report to

Congress on Hague Convention compliance and related matters;

and

(5) each contracting party to the Hague Convention to

further educate its central authority and local law enforcement

authorities regarding the Hague Convention, the severity of

the problem of international child abduction, and the need
H. Con. Res. 293—3

for immediate action when a parent of an abducted child seeks

their assistance.

Attest:

Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Attest:

Secretary of the Senate.