92000E1247

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1247/00

by Pasqualina Napoletano (PSE) to the Commission

(11 April 2000)

Subject: Abduction of Somali children from the Italian families charged with their custody

In recent years there have been numerous cases of children, mainly of Somalian nationality, who had been entrusted to the custody of Italian families being abducted by their (real or alleged) parents and illegally taken to other countries (including various European Union countries).

In some cases it has proved possible to trace the children concerned, but the families to whom they had previously been entrusted encountered considerable problems in seeking to ensure that the rights of such children were protected by the judicial authorities of some Member States of the Union.

There is reason to believe that, in many cases, these minors were not abducted by their real parents but by third parties intent on exploiting them for financial gain.

In particular, many problems have arisen as a result of the fact that in some cases the provisions of the Convention of The Hague on international child abduction have not been fully applied in practice, which has caused difficulties in ascertaining how children are being treated and whether they are in good health, and in exercising the right to visit the children and ensuring that minors are repatriated, as laid down by the Convention. This is due to the tendency of the judicial authorities in some signatory states to consider the merits of the original custody proceedings, in flagrant breach of the spirit of the Convention, which limits the requirement to review the merits of custody arrangements to a few special cases only.

In view of the foregoing:

- Would the Commission state what measures the Union institutions intend to adopt to ensure effective judicial cooperation with regard to the custody and international abduction of children?

- What measures do the Union institutions intend to adopt to ensure harmonisation of the Member States' rules on recognition of child custody arrangements?

- What measures do the Union institutions intend to adopt to ensure that existing international agreements (including the Convention of the Hague) are fully and effectively applied by the Member States' authorities?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(23 May 2000)

The Commission is not currently planning measures to ensure judicial cooperation with regard to the international abduction of minors.

With regard to the harmonisation of the provisions of the Member States relating to the recognition of child custody arrangements, the Commission's scoreboard includes measures on mutual recognition in civil matters, including family matters. Moreover, a seminar, to be attended by the Commission, will be held in Paris on 3 and 4 July 2000 in order to discuss mutual recognition. The French Presidency will be giving priority to an initiative to launch a European enforcement order in respect of family matters (visiting rights).

The Commission has no powers top constrain the Member States to apply the Hague Convention in the appropriate manner.