From a State-Centered Approach to Transnational Openness: Adapting the Hague Convention with Contemporary Human Rights Standards as Codified in the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Parental kidnapping is an increasing problem throughout the world and the social consequences of globalization have made international child abductions more frequent. In the United States alone, the Department of Justice states that 354,100 children are reported to have been abducted by a family member in a single year. Estimates indicate that one in five parental kidnappings involves a child being taken across international borders. The United Kingdom states that in the last three years there has been a “58 percent increase in the number of international parental child abductions.” In 2000, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which handles all U.S. international child abduction cases, reported 1,697 international abductions, up 66.7 percent over 1999.

The increase of international child abductions has been attributed to the increasing access of international travel and rising divorce rates. International abductions are more traumatic for both the child and the parent than domestic abductions. This is because “sheer distance, language barriers, and differences in cultural, legal, and economic systems intensify the trauma felt by the aggrieved parent as well as the child.” In addition, the child’s separation and complete isolation from his or her former life greatly increases the trauma he or she will endure. Regardless of the cause of the increase in child abductions across international borders, something needs to be done to stop this problem.