To hear or not to hear : reasoning of judges regarding the hearing of the child in international child abduction proceedings

The objective of the present Article is to analyze whether there is a tension between the legal framework on the right of the child to be heard and the arguments judges employ in their judgments against the hearing of the child in (non)return proceedings. Thus, the reasoning of judges is critically assessed against what is expected from them based on the applicable legal framework. The legal framework will be set out in Part I. Part II will give a brief overview of the research and the main results with regard to the hearing of the child. In Part III, the reasoning judges use to argue why not to hear the child in an international child abduction case will be discussed and assessed against the States’ legal obligations