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Written question asked by Sandra Gidley (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 17 October 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 24 October 2002. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Thursday, 24 October 2002 on behalf of the Lord Chancellor's Department.

Lord Chancellors Dept

Question
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, if he will list, by country, the number of child abduction cases dealt with by his Department which exceeded the six week deadline for a hearing (a) in each year since 1998 and (b) in 2002 to date. - Inc tables and fact that information is not available in the format sought.
Answer

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list, by country, the number of child abduction cases dealt with by his Department which exceeded the six week deadline for a hearing (a) in each year since 1998 and (b) in 2002 to date. [76408] Ms Rosie Winterton: Article 11 of the Hague Convention makes reference to a six week ``deadline'', but does not oblige courts to conclude a case within six weeks. Information is not available in the format sought. The Child Abduction Unit only keeps figures for the last 2 years. The attached table details the average times taken for countries to conclude cases from the time of referral to the date when the final court decision is made. The UK average conclusion time was 84 days in 2000 and 76 days in 2001. Average length of time (days) in which Hague Convention cases are concluded in these countries from the date of referral to the date of the final court decision _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Country Year 2000 2001 Australia 121 35 Austria 140 * Belgium 198 * Canada 72 92 Cyprus * 131 France 99 141 Germany 127 115 Greece 96 350 Hong Kong 138 * Ireland 108 177 Italy 69 169 Netherlands 115 * New Zealand 115 * Poland 167 * Portugal 28 40 Romania * 235 South Africa 257 548 Spain 136 231 Sweden 98 372 Turkey * 62 USA 115 129 Venezuela * 309 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: * Where there is no data this could either be because there were no cases involving that country or that cases did not involve a final hearing eg Netherlands and New Zealand resolve many cases outside the court arena.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
76408; 391 c481-2W;391 c478-9W
Session
2001-02
Subjects
Children Abduction Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Child Abduction Unit
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk