Access to justice: objecting children as parties in Hague Convention cases heard in England and Wales

Abstract Using data from an original empirical study, this article explores the position of children who wish to directly exercise their Article 12 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) participatory rights by being joined as parties to proceedings about them brought by one of their parents, who following the wrongful removal or retention by the other parent, seek an order for their immediate return under the 1980 Hague Convention in the jurisdiction of England and Wales. It does so within the context of access to justice for children, the subject of the UNCRC’s soon to be published General Comment 27. Two practical routes open to children to be joined as parties are identified and through a children’s rights lens the legal, procedural, and attitudinal barriers that exist to the achievement of this status are discussed. This includes commentary on the experiences of children who approach Solicitors directly to represent them. The article concludes that neither time nor space is afforded to children who object to being returned and who wish to participate directly in fulfilment of their Article 12 UNCRC participatory rights upon which their access to justice depends and calls for policy and procedural change. The data support the view that there is an appetite for attitudinal change from paternalism to active engagement.