Type: Judgment

Authority: National Courts House of Lords

Date: 12/05/2007

Subject: The case concerns the claim of a mother against the decision which established the repatriation of the children to Zimbabwe, after she had taken them to England against the husband’s will, violating art. 12 of the Hague Convention on the civil aspects of International Child abduction of 1980. According to such article, if a child is illegally taken away from the place of residence and, when the judicial proceeding starts, less than a year has passed from the illegal abduction, then the authority will “certainly” order the repatriation. If more than a year has passed, the repatriation is not “binding”. According to the Court, in this case, the norm can be applied with discretionary criteria, since more than two years have passed from the abduction and the children have settled in the new context.

Original language: English

Classification: Equality - Art. 24 Children’s rights

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