CONCENTRATION OF JURISDICTION UNDER
THE 1980 CHILD ABDUCTION CONVENTION
Second Meeting of the Mexican Network of Judicial
Co-operation for the Protection of Children
Training in International Child Abduction
Maja Groff, Legal Officer, HccH
Mexico, 21-22 February 2011
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Legal Systems in which jurisdiction to hear
return application has been concentrated in
a relatively small number of courts / judges
Australia
France
Cyprus
Germany
Czech
Republic
Ireland
England and
Wales
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Northern
Ireland
Romania
Sweden
Switzerland
2
Germany
Population: 80 million
• 80 incoming return applications (2003)
• 18 incoming access applications (2003)
• Before concentration: more than 600 courts
• After concentration: 26 courts (one court per
lander)
26 courts = 30 judges
Result: Martina Erb-Klünemann (member of the
IHJN) heard more than 50 child abduction cases in
her career
3
United Kingdom
Population: 60 million
• 142 incoming return applications (2003)
• 17 incoming access applications (2003)
• Before concentration: more than 100 judges
• After concentration: 3 courts (England & Wales,
Scotland, Northern Ireland)
3 courts = about 26 judges
Result: Mathew Thorpe (member of the IHJN)
heard more than 50 child abduction cases in her
career
4
Mexico
Population: 111 million
• 27 incoming return applications (2003)
• 0 incoming access applications (2003)
• Before concentration: ???
• After concentration: 31 state courts + 1 Federal
District Court
32 courts = ?? judges
5
Benefits of Concentration
Specialisation
• More cases = more experience
Core task
• Dealing with child abduction cases becomes the
core part of the work (priority)
Identifying cases for INCADAT from your State
Reading INCADAT cases
Contributing to the Judges Newsletter
Reading latest articles and making summaries
Attending conferences and circulating information
Providing training
Becoming a resource person
6
Information
Secretariat at the Permanent Bureau of the
Hague Conference on Private International Law
Scheveningseweg 6
2517 KT The Hague
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (70) 363 3303 or Fax: +31 (70) 360 4867
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.hcch.net
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