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’’;
H. Con. Res. 293—2
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 recov-
ering 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 con-
tracting 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 concur-
ring), That Congress urges—
(1) all contracting parties to the Hague Convention, particu-
larly 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 inter-
national 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.