Access Rights

Under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction

Remedies for Breach

“Access rights,” which are synonymous with “visitation rights”, are also protected by the Convention, but to a lesser extent than custody rights. While the Convention preamble and Article 1(b) articulate the Convention objective of ensuring that rights of access under the law of one state are respected in other Contracting States, the remedies for breach of access rights are those enunciated in Article 21 and do not include the return remedy provided by Article 12.

Defined

Article 5(b) defines “access rights” as including “the right to take a child for a limited period of time to a place other than the child’s habitual residence.” A parent who takes a child from the country of its habitual residence to another country party to the Convention for a summer visit pursuant to either a tacit agreement between the parents or a court order is thus exercising his or her access rights. Should that parent fail to return the child at the end of the agreed upon visitation period, the retention would be wrongful and could give rise to a petition for return under Article 12. If, on the other hand, a custodial parent resists permitting the child to travel abroad to visit the noncustodial parent, perhaps out of fear that the child will not be returned at the end of the visit, this interference with access rights does not constitute a wrongful retention within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention.

The parent whose access rights have been infringed is not entitled under the Convention to the child’s “return,” but may request the Central Authority to assist in securing the exercise of his or her access rights pursuant to Article 21. Article 21 may also be invoked as a precautionary measure by a custodial parent who anticipates a problem in getting the child back at the end of a visit abroad. That parent may apply to the CA of the country where the child is to visit the noncustodial parent for steps to ensure the return of the child at the end of the visit — for example, through appropriate imposition of a performance bond or other security.

Procedure for Obtaining Relief

Procedurally Article 21 authorizes a person complaining of, or seeking to prevent, a breach of access rights to apply to the CA of a Contracting State in the same way as a person seeking return of the child. The application would contain the information described in Article 8, except that information provided under paragraph (c) would be the grounds upon which the claim is made for assistance in organizing or securing the effective exercise of rights of access. Once the CA receives such application, it is to take all appropriate measures pursuant to Article 7 to promote the peaceful enjoyment of access rights and the fulfillment of any conditions to which the exercise of those rights is subject. This includes initiating or facilitating the institution of proceedings, either directly or through intermediaries, to organize or protect access rights and to secure respect for conditions to which these rights are subject.

If legal proceedings are instituted in the Contracting State in which the noncustodial parent resides. Article 21 may not be used by the noncustodial parent to evade the jurisdiction of the courts of the child’s habitual residence, which retain authority to define and/or condition the exercise of visitation rights. A parent who has a child abroad for a visit is not to be allowed to exploit the presence of the child as a means for securing from the CA (or court) in that country more liberal visitation rights than those set forth in a court order agreed upon in advance of the visit. Such result would be tantamount to sanctioning forum-shopping contrary to the intent of the Convention. Any such application should be denied and the parent directed back to the appropriate authorities in the State of the child’s habitual residence for consideration of the desired modification. Pending any such modification, once the lawful visitation period has expired, the custodial parent would have the right to seek the child’s return under Article 3.

The Perez-Vera Report gives some limited guidance as to how CA’s are to cooperate to secure the exercise of access rights: . . . it would be advisable that the child’s name not appear on the passport of the holder of the right of access, whilst in ‘transfrontier’ access cases it would be sensible for the holder of the access rights to give an undertaking to the Central Authority of the child’s habitual residence to return the child on a particular date and to indicate also the places where he intends to stay with the child. A copy of such an undertaking would then be sent to the Central Authority of the habitual residence of the holder of the access rights, as well as to the Central Authority of the State in which he has stated his intention of staying with the child. This would enable the authorities to know the whereabouts of the child at any time and to set in motion proceedings for bringing about its return, as soon as the stated time-limit has expired. Of course, none of the measures could by itself ensure that access rights are exercised properly, but in any event we believe that this Report can go no further: the specific measures which the Central Authorities concerned are able to take will depend on the circumstances of each case and on the capacity to act enjoyed by each Central Authority. Perez-Vera Report, paragraph 128 at page 466.

Alternative Remedies

In addition to or in lieu of invoking Article 21 to resolve visitationrelated problems, under Articles 18, 29 and 34 an aggrieved parent whose access rights have been violated may bypass the CA and the Convention and apply directly to the judicial authorities of a Contracting State for relief under other applicable laws. In at least one case it is foreseeable that a parent abroad will opt in favor of local U.S. law instead of the Convention. A noncustodial parent abroad whose visitation rights are being thwarted by the custodial parent resident in the United States could invoke the UCCJA to seek enforcement of an existing foreign court order conferring visitation rights. Pursuant to section 23 of the UCCJA, a state court in the United States could order the custodial parent to comply with the prescribed visitation period by sending the child to the parent outside the United States.

This remedy is potentially broader and more meaningful than the Convention remedy, since the latter does not include the right of return when a custodial parent obstructs the noncustodial parent’s visitation rights, i.e., by refusing to allow the other parent to exercise those rights. It is possible that a parent in the United States seeking to exercise access rights with regard to a child habitually resident abroad may similarly find greater relief under foreign law than under the Convention.

Resources

Further Reading

Explanatory Report by E. Perez-Vera, Hague Conference on Private
International Law, Actes et documents de la Quatorzieme session, vol. III, 1980,
p. 426.
Anton, A.E. — The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction; 30
Int’l & Comp. L.Q. (1981), p. 537.
Bodenheimer, B. — The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction; XIV
Fam. L.Q. (1980), p. 99.
Chatin, L. — Les conflicts relatifs a la garde des enfants et au droit de
visite en droit international prive; Travaux du Comite francais de droit
international prive, Seance du 12 mai 1982, Publication du Ministere de la
Justice.
Crouch, R.E. — Effective Measures Against International Child Snatching; 131
New L.J. (1981), p. 592.
Deschenaux, D. — La Convention de La Haye sur les aspects civils de
l’enlevement international d’enfants, du 25 octobre 1980; XXXVII Schweizerisches
Jahrbuch fur internationales Recht (1981), p. 119.
Dyer, A. — International child abduction by parents; 168 Recueil des Cours
de l’Academie de droit international de La Haye (1980), p. 231.
Eekelaar, J.M. — The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International
Child Abduction; Explanatory Documentation prepared for Commonwealth
Jurisdictions, Commonwealth Secretariat, 1981.
Farquhar, K.B. — The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction Comes
to Canada; 4 Can. J. Fam. L. (1983), p. 5.
Frank, R.J. — American and International Responses to International Child
Abductions, 16 N.Y.U.J. Int’l L. & Pol. (Winter 1984), p. 415.
Hoff, P., Schulman, J. and Volenik, A. — Interstate Child Custody Disputes
and Parental Kidnapping: Policy, Practice and Law, Legal Services Corporation —
American Bar Association, 1982.
Huesstege, R. — Internationale Kindesentfuehrungen und [*10516]
Landesverfassungsrecht; IPRax (1982), p. 95 — Der Uniform Child Custody
Jurisdiction Act — Rechtsvergleichende Betrachtungen zu Internationalen
Kindesentfuehrengen, Verlag fur Standesamtswesen, Frankfurt am Main, 1982.
Morgenstern, B.R. — The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of
International Child Abduction: The Need for Ratification; 10 N.C.J. Int’l L. &
Com. Reg. (1985), p. 463.
Reymond, P.H. — Convention de La Haye et Convention de Strasbourg. Aspects
comparatifs des conventions concernant l’enlevement d’un enfant par l’un de ses
parents; Revue de droit suisse 1981, p. 329.
Schulman, J. — cf. Hoff, P.
Vink, E.L.M. — Enkele civielrechtelijke aspecten van de internationale
ontvoeringen van kinderen door een van de ouders; Leiden, mai 1981.
Volenik, A. — cf. Hoff, P.
Westbrook, G.R. — Law and Treaty Responses to International Child
Abductions; 20 Va. J. Int’l L. (1980), p. 669.