What is the Hague Convention?

The aims of the Hague Convention are:

• To secure the prompt return of children who have been wrongfully removed to or retained in a contracting state. (i.e. to return the abducted child back to his or her place of residence.)
• And to ensure that rights of residence or contact under the law of one contracting state are effectively respected in other contracting states. (i.e. to ensure contact and residence rights issued in one country are implemented and respected in another.)

To rely on the Hague Convention, the child must be under 16 and have been habitually resident in one contracting state and taken to another.

Habitual residence: There is no legal definition of habitual residence; it is established depending on the different facts of each case, but generally means where the child has been living and is settled.

Wrongfully removed or retained. There must either be:

• Wrongful removal, this occurs when a child has been taken from his or her place of habitual residence without the appropriate consent.
• Or wrongful retention, when the child is not returned.

Rights of Residence/Contact. There must be a breach of residence or contact with the child otherwise the removal or retention of the child is not illegal for the purposes of the Convention. Where the parent has regular contact and exercises his or her parental nature with the child, this can amount to custody within the Hague Convention even though there is no order from the court to prove this. Because of this, some unmarried fathers without parental responsibility will be able to claim custody rights under the Hague Convention.

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