Protecting the child’s best interest in international parental abduction of children: mediation in the 1980 Hague Convention cases

The 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was the first binding international instrument to address the phenomenon of cross-border child abduction, which appeared as a side-effect of ongoing globalisation in the second half of the 20th century. The 1980 Hague Convention is undoubtedly the most successful and widespread instrument of direct cross-border cooperation between states to deal with the international child abduction. Nonetheless, the practical significance of this 40-year-old instrument is diminished by the fact that it allows only for a limited consideration of the specific situation of an individual child, whose careful consideration the present-day children’s rights approach, in particular the principle of the best interest of the child, otherwise dictates. International family mediation, carried out by a qualified cross-border family mediator, can nevertheless address some of the major downsides of the mandatory return mechanism. The paper explores how in the 1980 Hague Convention cases the child’s best interest can be secured through international family mediation.