Posts
The U.S. State Department has recently released their annual
report on International Child Abduction. Below is our second post in a series
here focusing on the twelve countries classified as “demonstrating patterns of
noncompliance.” Today’s country is The
Bahamas.
Country Summary: The
Hague Abduction Convention has been in force between the United States and The
Bahamas since 1994. In 2017, The Bahamas demonstrated a pattern of
noncompliance. Specifically, the Bahamian Central Authority regularly fails to
fulfill its responsibilities pursuant to the Convention. Additionally, The
Bahamas’ judicial branch regularly fails to implement and comply with the
provisions of the Convention. As a result of these failures, 50 percent of
requests for the return of abducted children under the Convention remained
unresolved for more than 12 months. On average these cases were unresolved for
seven years and two months. The Bahamas has been cited as noncompliant since
2011.
Central
Authority: The Bahamian Central Authority demonstrated a pattern
of noncompliance with the Convention due to a lack of effective communication
with the U.S. Central Authority regarding IPCA cases.
Location: The
competent authorities regularly took appropriate steps to locate children after
a Convention application was filed. The average time to locate a child was
three months and 16 days.
Judicial Authorities: The
Bahamian judicial authorities demonstrated a pattern of noncompliance with the
Convention due to serious delays in deciding Convention cases. As a result of
these delays, cases may be pending with the judiciary for over one year.
Bahamian courts cause delays by routinely requesting home study evaluations in
all Convention cases, regardless of whether respondents raise defenses to
return under the Convention. Additionally, the judicial authorities continue to
require apostilles for supporting documents in Convention applications. These
extra requirements impeded prompt resolutions.
Enforcement: As
a result of serious delays by the Bahamian judicial authorities in deciding
Convention cases, the United States is not aware of any instances where law
enforcement was asked to enforce a return order in 2017.
Department Recommendations:
The Department will continue intense engagement with the Bahamian authorities
to address issues of concern and expand public diplomacy activities related to
the resolution of cases.
Access: In 2017, the
U.S. Central Authority had no open access cases under the Convention in The
Bahamas.
