Partnership with the Permanent Bureau

The Hague, netherlands (April 2003) L-R: William Duncan, Deputy Secretary General, Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law; Arnie Burns, ICMEC Founding Chair; Hans van Loon, Secretary General, Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law; and Ernie Allen, ICMEC President and CEO.

Since 2003, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) and the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law have been working together to bring about positive changes for the benefit of children and families, including:

• A more consistent and uniform implementation of the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague Convention);

• Creation of “Good Practice Guides” for Hague Convention Contracting States. These guides provide information on how countries should organize their judiciary and systems that deal with international child abduction to best fulfill obligations under the Hague Convention and the goal of the swift return of abducted children;

• Cooperation between countries that have signed the Hague Convention and those that have not, with a focus on Islamic countries; and

• Development of a Legal Training Institute to educate judges on the unique legal concepts necessary to resolve these complex international disputes.

Most recently, in March 2010, ICMEC joined with the Permanent Bureau and the U.S. State Department to host an International Judicial Conference on Cross-Border Family Relocation.