28th plenary meeting

7 May 1982

Protection of the rights of children and parents in cases of removal or retention of children

The Economic and Social Council,

Bearing in mind the Declaration of the Rights of the Child proclaimed by the General Assembly in its resolution 1386 (XIV) of 20 November 1959,

Recalling that, under the terms of principle 2 of that Declaration, the child shall enjoy special protection, and shall be given opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means, to enable him to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially, in conditions of freedom and dignity,

Concerned about the proliferation of conflicts between couples of different nationalities, and at the consequences which result therefrom for children, concerned particularly by their removal from the country of one spouse to the country of the other, without the consent of one of the two spouses, and without or in violation of a judicial or administrative decision, and, lastly, concerned about the cases of child retention in which such situations sometimes end,

Noting the existence of a common interest in the elaboration of a full and detailed international convention on the rights of the child, as already evinced by the representatives of many countries and international organizations,

Recalling that the universally acknowledged standards and principles in the field of human rights impose on States the obligation to protect all individuals under their jurisdiction from infringements of their freedom and dignity by any private person,

1. Calls the attention of States to the proliferation of cases of removal and retention of children and invites them to co-operate actively with a view to preventing the occurrence of such cases and to solving them speedily, out of concern for the interest of the child;

2. Invites States to organize such co-operation through the conclusion of bilateral arrangements or through accession to regional conventions or international conventions such as the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, of 25 October 1980, which is open to all States;

3. Invites the Commission on Human Rights, when drafting the convention on the rights of the child, to take into consideration the protection of the rights of the child in cases of unauthorized international removal;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to consult with Governments on this problem and to report to the Commission on Human Rights at its thirty-ninth session, under the agenda item entitled "Question of a convention on the rights of the child".