Newsletter - January 2010

Family Law

The Department of International Law held a meeting, on 3- 4 November in Washington, D.C., of the Spanish-speaking pilot group that is working to implement an inter-American network of legal cooperation and mutual assistance in family and child law, in compliance with a mandate issued at the Seventh Meeting of Ministers of Justice or Other Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas. Representatives of Argentina, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Spain participated in the meeting, after which the group recommended that the three components of the network be implemented.

The first is the public component, a public website containing legal information on the member states as well as contact information of the authorities in charge of legal cooperation and family and child protection in the given countries.

The second is the private component, and includes drafts of documents, discussion forums, copies of presentations made at the group’s meetings, schedule of activities, and other information related to implementation of the network.

The third and last component is the Secure Electronic Communication System, which is software that allows for the exchange of authentic and confidential information among authorities appointed for the network.

Currently, the Spanish-speaking pilot group is implementing the three components of the network, and an English-speaking pilot group is being created. The second group will begin to implement the three components of the network, based on the experience of the Spanish-speaking group; the English-speaking group will meet in April 2010. As soon as the work of the two pilot groups is completed, a consolidated meeting will be held in the second half of 2010 in order to extend the network to all the member states.

With special emphasis on children’s rights, this network aims to facilitate access to the inter-American system for family and child protection, and will foster legal cooperation in the matter.

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