Family Law

The Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) has published Vol XXII of the Judge's Newsletter on International Child Protection. This issue of the newsletter focuses on 'The Child’s Voice – 15 Years Later' in co-operation with Professor Marilyn Freeman of the University of Westminster and Associate Professor Nicola Taylor of the University of Otago in the context of their British Academy research grant on the 'objection of the child' exception under Art 13(2) of the Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The articles in the special focus are contributions received from several speakers who participated in the related workshops organised in Auckland, Genoa and London.

The publication aims to:

• provide an opportunity to share good practices in an area where the HCCH has not yet published a Guide to Good Practice;
• outline examples of guidelines and normative work developed in relation to the voice of the child; and
• provide an opportunity to raise trust and confidence between the different international actors in an area where there are as many practices on how to hear the voice of the child as there are legal cultures and tradition.

The newsletter goes on to cover International Child Protection Conferences including the HCCH-UNICEF Workshop on the 'Role of the Hague Conventions in Cross-Border Child Protection in South Asia', held in Kathmandu and the Expatriate Law International Family Law Conference held in Dubai. It also provides coverage of the third meeting of the Expert’s Group on the Parentage/Surrogacy Project in February 2018 (the fourth meeting in September 2018 will focus on general private international law rules on legal parentage) and highlights the publication of a new brochure to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.

Read the newsletter in full here.