International Child Abduction : an Islamic and Hague Convention perspective

This study is intended to address the problem of international parental child abduction from Islamic and international perspectives. During a decade of working as a judge in the state of Qatar a number of cross-border child abduction cases occurred involving GCC, Arab and Western parents. In none of these cases has the Hague Convention on The Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (1980) been consulted or mentioned. There is no evidence that the attention of Qatari judges has ever been drawn to the existence of this important international treaty. However, for the reasons given throughout this study, it will be argued that The Hague Convention is too important to be totally ignored by Muslim countries, while these countries will probably start to face an increasing number of cross-border child abduction cases. The benefits of acceding to the Convention are made clear by considering a diversity of international cases where the solutions of the Convention best serve the welfare of the abducted children by procedurally ordering their prompt return to their habitual residence, thus putting to an end an arbitrary act of abduction unjustifiably carried out by one of the carers. It is hoped that in the end this research will bring Islamic and Convention understandings closer to each other with regard to the problem of international parental child abduction.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo