State Department's Annual Report on International Child Abduction: China

The U.S. State Department has recently released their annual report on International Child Abduction. Below is our fourth post in a series here focusing on the twelve countries classified as “demonstrating patterns of noncompliance.”  Today’s country is China.

Country Summary: China does not adhere to any protocols with respect to international parental child abduction. In 2017, China demonstrated a pattern of noncompliance. Specifically, the competent authorities in China persistently failed to work with the Department of State to resolve abduction cases. As a result of this failure, 75 percent of requests for the return of abducted children remained unresolved for more than 12 months. On average these cases were unresolved for two years.

Initial Inquiries: In 2017, the Department received two initial inquiries from parents regarding possible abductions to China where no additional assistance was requested.

Central Authority: In 2017, the competent authorities in China demonstrated a pattern of noncompliance by regularly declining to work with the Department of State toward the resolution of pending abduction cases. Moreover, the competent authorities did not address remedies for left-behind parents.

Location: The Department of State did not request assistance with location from the Chinese authorities.

Judicial Authorities: The United States is not aware of any abduction cases brought before the Chinese judiciary in 2017.

Enforcement: The United States is not aware of any abduction cases in which a judicial order relating to international parental child abduction needed to be enforced by the Chinese authorities.

Department Recommendations: The Department will continue to encourage China to accede to the Convention, and expand public diplomacy activities related to the Convention.