Delegates and observers from more than sixty nations and fourteen NGOs met in The Hague from October 10-17, 2017, to consider the practical operation of two Hague agreements: the 1980 Child Abduction Convention and the 1996 Child Protection Convention. Materials from Special Commission meeting, including the final Conclusions and Recommendations, are available on Hague Conference website (here).
Senate Investigates Trafficking of Refugee Children
Following labor trafficking indictments in federal court brought against individuals who forced young refugees to work on egg farms in Ohio, the U.S. Senate committee on investigations reported on "Protecting Unaccompanied Alien Children from Trafficking and Other Abuses: The Role of the Office of Refugee Resettlement."
Protecting Unaccompanied Child Migrants in the US
News stories about the recent surge in unaccompanied minor children entering the United States from Central America have begun to address the applicable legal framework: the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which provides for these children to be transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettleme
UNHCR on the Humanitarian Crisis for Children in Central America
In this MSNBC video interview, Leslie Velez, Senior Protection Officer for the UN High Commissioner on Refugees, discusses the humanitarian crisis behind the large numbers of children heading to the United States from Central America.
News watch: Unaccompanied Children Entering US in Record Numbers
Many media outlets are reporting on the unprecedented wave of children arriving in the United States in recent months, reported to be more than 52,000 unaccompanied children and 39,000 adults with children since October 2013. on track to reach a total of 60,000 for the current year. New York Times coverage by Julia Preston includes these articles:
CRC Committee Reports on the Vatican and Children’s Rights
As a Contracting State to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Vatican appeared before the Committee on the Rights of the Child during its 65th session in January 2014 to report on its progress in implementing the treaty. The Committee’s Concluding Observations and Recommendations, posted online on February 5, have drawn wide attention for its strongly worded criticisms. See, for example, Lau
"Rehoming" Children after Adoption?
Reuters has published a five-part investigative report by Megan Twohey called “The Child Exchange: Inside America’s Underground Market for Adopted Children.” The first installment, titled “Americans use the Internet to Abandon Children Adopted from Overseas” (September 9, 2013), describes a process in which adoptive parents and others advertise unwanted children in Yahoo and Facebook groups “and then pass them to strangers with
UCCJEA Amendments Proposed for International Cases
At its annual meeting in July, the Uniform Law Commission will take up proposed amendments to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), designed to assist the United States in implementation of the 1996 Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children.
Hague Developments
Among other news from the Hague Conference this month: