European Commission proposes signing the Council of Europe convention on contact concerning children, October 2002

The European Commission proposed on 2 October 2002 that the European Community should sign the Council of Europe's convention on contact concerning children, which aims to strengthen the fundamental right of children and their parents and other persons having family ties with the child to maintain contact on a regular basis.

The origins of the Convention stem from the third European conference on family law, held in the Spanish city of Cadiz in April 1995, when delegates noted that the question of transfrontier access to children was becoming more topical and agreed that the Council of Europe should examine ways to improve matters relating to access. A Working Party on custody and access was duly established by the Committee of experts on family law and this group prepared a draft Convention on contact concerning children. The draft Convention was approved by the Committee of family law experts on 14 September 2001 and by the European Committee on legal co-operation in December of that year.

in Vilnius, Lithuania on 3 May 2002 the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers adopted the text of the Convention and agreed that it should be opened for signature on 14 October 2002 to coincide with the 6th European Conference on family law. The Convention has three key objectives:

• to determine general principles to be applied to contact orders

• to fix appropriate safeguards and guarantees to ensure the proper exercise of contact and the immediate return of children at the end of the period of contact

• to establish co-operation between central authorities, judicial authorities and bodies which are concerned by a contact order

Speaking about the European Commission's proposal, the Commissioner responsible for Justice and Home Affairs, António Vittorino, said:

'This Convention aims at ensuring that a child whose parents live in different States can maintain regular contacts with his or her parents and other persons having family ties. This is in line with the Commission policy to facilitate cross-border access rights within the Community. Transfrontier access rights have become an increasing problem with the mobility of citizens within the European Union. It is important to find solutions, which are in the best interest of the child, at international level. The Convention will play an important role in this respect and complement the Commission's work in the area of recognition and enforcement of judgments.'

The European Commission has already sought to enforce the principle of the right of children to maintain contact with their parents in a proposal on mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments, which was put forward on 3 May 2002.

Links:

European Commission:
	02.10.02:	Press release: Commission proposes to sign Council of Europe Convention to promote children's right to maintain contact with both parents [IP/02/1413]
	03.05.02:	Commission proposes EU-wide recognition of family law rulings to tackle child abduction [IP/02/654]
	Proposal for a Council Regulation concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and in matters of parental responsibility [COM(2002)222]
Council of Europe:
	Council of Europe: Convention on contact concerning children [text of the treaty]
	Council of Europe: Convention on contact concerning children [explanatory report]
Human Rights Watch:
	Children's Rights

Helen Bower
Compiled: Monday, 7 October 2002

The European Commission proposed on 2 October 2002 that the European Community should sign the Council of Europe's convention on contact concerning children, which aims to strengthen the fundamental right of children and their parents and other persons having family ties with the child to maintain contact on a regular basis.