Helen Pajumaa

Parental Custody Rights in Correlation to Child Abduction Helen Pajumaa

In globalizing world and in Europe, where the free movement of labor force is favored there are therefore a large number of international marriages and the parents of the children are from different countries. After the separation or divorce, frequently a problem arises ? with whom and in which country the children should reside? Parents often take their children to the country of their origin without the other custodial parent´s consent. According to several court decisions, it can be seen that the court practice has been quite dissimilar concerning child abduction cases. Although Child Abduction Convention provides that the child should not be returned only in exceptional circumstances, the court practice shows that in many cases proceedings of returning the child have taken years because of the deficient national regulation and helplessness of the national authorities.