DESPAIR AMONGST BRAZIL’S YOUTH: DOES THE HAGUE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION NEED MORE BITE?

For decades, international child abduction by one parent from the legal custody of the other has been a persistent issue which continues to be overlooked by international organizations and countries from around the world. While the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction has helped to initiate certain progress in addressing acts of international child abduction by parents, signatory states including Brazil have failed to enforce rulings and provisions of the convention. This article addresses how the convention does not account for structural inadequacies of Brazilian court systems which prevent thorough enforcement of international custody and visitation rulings. Further, this article consists of a few alternatives to implementing the Child Abduction Convention, as seen with non-member states such as India, as well as several proposed strategies which Brazil can adopt in order to improve its compliance with the Child Abduction Convention. Such strategies will encompass Brazil enacting additional implementing legislation such as the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA) used in the U.S., having Brazil make additional bilateral agreements with more compliant signatory states such as the U.S., and examining enforcement techniques in Denmark as a model state.