Anglo-Spanish rift on Gibraltar 'threatens child protection issues' (Diana Wallis MEP)

Diana Wallis MEP <info@dianawallismep.org.uk>

Anglo-Spanish rift on Gibraltar 'threatens child protection issues'

May 11, 2005 1:04 PM

There are growing concerns that a rift in the Council is blocking the ratification of the 1996 Hague Convention which would provide justice to parents in child protection issues, including cases of child abduction.

Diana Wallis, Liberal Democrat MEP will today demand the Council confirm whether a long-standing disagreement between the UK and Spain, over the future of Gibraltar, is the cause of the delay.

The apparent block by Spain and the UK would bar the19 EU states, not yet signatories of the convention, from having any treaty relations with any non-EU countries who have signed up, such as Morocco, and could result in thousands of child from being removed from their homes and taken across borders without any legal protection.

Diana Wallis, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Legal Affairs said:

"It is unacceptable that the issue of Gibraltar's sovereignty should be allowed to destroy the lives of thousands of children and their parents."

"The Hague Convention would provide justice and relief to parents in the case of child abduction between the EU and third countries of all continents, including those within the Islamic tradition."

Notes

1996 Hague Convention on Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children in the rest of the European Union - The Convention covers issues of parental responsibility in relations between EU States and third countries and there is also a Council Regulation which covers relations between Member States. Because the two instruments complement each other, it was intended that they be ratified in parallel and would enter into force ideally about the same time.

The Convention covers issues of parental responsibility in relations between EU States and third countries and there is also a Council Regulation which covers relations between Member States. Because the two instruments complement each other, it was intended that they be ratified in parallel and would enter into force ideally about the same time.

Diana Wallis MEP has been appointed the European Parliament's representative on behalf of the Legal Affairs Committee to the Hague Conference on Private International Law. At a meeting in April she was approached by the Hague Conference Secretariat concerning their inability to get a response from the Council (correspondence from February 2005 remains unanswered) to a problem that has arisen in the ratification process of the 1996 Hague Convention on Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children.

The Regulation was adopted in 2003 and entered into force on 1 March 2005. Fourteen Member States had ratified the Convention in April 2003 and only Hungary and Malta have still to sign from the new Member States. It was envisaged that the EU Member States would jointly deposit their instruments of ratification before 1 January 2005, but this is being blocked by the UK and Spain because of an issue concerning the application of the Convention to Gibraltar. The same issue was raised over the Regulation, but was resolved. Although the issue has no direct relevance to the international protection of children, it continues to block the ratification of the Convention by 19 EU Member States.