To Hear or Not to Hear: Reasoning of Judges Regarding the Hearing of the Child in International Child Abduction Proceedings

Introduction

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) guarantees the right of the child to be given the opportunity to be heard in Article 12.¹ The legal instruments applicable in cases of international child abduction, namely the Hague Convention on Child Abduction (HCCA) and the EU’s Regulation concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility (Brussels IIbis), also foresee hearing the child.² In Brussels IIbis, this right is guaranteed under Article 11(2), whereas the HCCA provides for hearing the child under Article 13(2).