From 10 to 17 November a Special Commission of the Conference on Private International Law (hereafter HCCH) on the implementation of the 2007 Child Support Convention and of the Protocol on Applicable Law will meet at the Peace Palace in The Hague.[1] The Special Commission of the HCCH will discuss the implementation of the 2007 Child Support Convention and of the Protocol on Applicable Law. The new Convention aims to resolve the problems of unpaid or uncollectible child support and the problems of costly, complicated, slow and under-utilized international procedures. It will provide for a simplified procedure to recover child support internationally.
The Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (2007) and the Protocol on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations (2007) are the most recent conventions of the HCCH.
The Hague Conference on Private International Law is a global inter-governmental organization. The purpose of the HCCH is to work for the “progressive unification” of private international law rules.[2] The HCCH has nearly 70 Members (68 States and the European Community) from all continents. As a melting pot of different legal traditions it develops and services multilateral legal instruments, which respond to global needs.[3] According to the HCCH, an increasing number of non-Member States are also becoming Parties to the Hague Conventions. As a result, the work of the Conference encompasses 130 countries around the world.[4]
In case a parent entitled to child support stays behind with the child while the parent who is liable for support lives abroad, it is very difficult to receive maintenance payments from the liable parent. The 2007 Child Support Convention is a necessary modernization and improvement of the existing, outdated international system.
The new Convention aims to resolve the problems of unpaid or uncollectible child support and the problems of costly, complicated, slow and under-utilized international procedures. It will provide for a simplified procedure to recover child support internationally. The Convention is designed to respond to the needs of children and other dependants by providing international procedures which are simple, swift, cost-effective, accessible and fair.[5]
[1]: The meeting is open only to delegates or experts designated by the Members of the Hague Conference, invited non-Member States and International Organisations that have been granted observer status.
[2]: As quoted from the Hague Conference on Private International Law website
[3]: Ibid.
[4]: Ibid.
[5]: As quoted from the HCCH Press Release concerning the Signing of the Final Act of the New Convention on International Child Support.
- HCCH - Hague Conference on Private International Law
- HCCH - Work in Progress. Maintenance Obligations
- HCCH - Draft Implementation Checklist – 2007 Child Support Convention drawn up by the Permanent Bureau [PDF]
- HCCH - Preliminary Document No 6 of September 2009 for the attention of the Special Commission of November 2009 on the implementation of the 2007 Child Support Convention and of the 2007 Protocol on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations [PDF]
- HCCH Press Release - Signing of the Final Act of the New Convention on International Child Support [PDF]
- Interview: Planned international child support convention "promising". Digital Journal, 2 November 2007