Posts
Jeremy
Morley
The European Court of
Human Rights has determined, in the case of the abduction of three children
from their habitual residence in Maryland to Slovakia, that the Slovakian legal
system failed to protect the left-behind father’s rights and that Slovakia failed
to comply with the obligation of our treaty partners to return abducted
children promptly. Frisancho Perea v.
Slovakia.
The case illustrates all too well the problems that
arise from lax enforcement of Hague Convention rights, as well as from a lack
of exit controls.
The father commenced his Hague Convention case in
Slovakia within two months of their abduction by his wife. A Slovakian court
granted his application promptly. The wife appealed and lost. The father then
sought judicial enforcement. However the wife brought an appeal to the
Slovakian Constitutional Court on the issue of the enforceability of the return
order. That court eventually remanded the case to the trial court which then
held numerous proceedings. Meanwhile the wife took the children from Slovakia
to Hungary thereby rendering the Slovak proceedings moot.
The European Court ruled -- several years later --
that Slovakia had violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human
Rights, which declares that each citizen has the right to respect for family
life, by failing to apply the Hague Abduction Convention effectively.
Unfortunately the European Court’s powers were
limited to a requiring payment of a small fine.
