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 1 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: secretariat@hcch.net http://www.hcch.net 7