AG/RES. 1958 (XXXIII-O/03)

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM OF COOPERATION TO PREVENT AND REMEDY CASES OF INTERNATIONAL ABDUCTION OF MINORS BY ONE OF THEIR PARENTS 

(Resolution adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 10, 2003) 

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 

HAVING SEEN the observations and recommendations of the Permanent Council on the annual reports of the organs, agencies, and entities of the Organization (AG/doc.4228/03), in particular as they pertain to the Annual Report of the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IACI) to the General Assembly (CP/doc.3699/03);  

BEARING IN MIND: 

Resolution CD/RES. 14 (78-R/03) of the Directing Council of the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IACI), adopted in Santiago, Chile, on June 6, 2003; and 

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, of October 25, 1980; the Inter-American Convention on the International Return of Children, of July 15, 1989; and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, of November 20, 1989; 

            RECALLING its resolutions AG/RES. 1691 (XXIX-O/99), “International Abduction of Minors by One of Their Parents”; AG/RES. 1733 (XXX-O/00), “Inter-American Year of the Child and the Adolescent”; AG/RES. 1742 (XXX-O/00), “International Abduction of Minors by One of Their Parents”; and AG/RES. 1835 (XXXI-O/01), “Inter-American Program of Cooperation to Prevent and Remedy Cases of International Abduction of Minors by One of Their Parents,” and AG/RES. 1891 (XXXII-O/02),  “Inter-American Program of Cooperation to Prevent and Remedy Cases of International Abduction of Minors by One of Their Parents”; 

CONSIDERING: 

That, pursuant to resolution AG/RES. 1891 (XXXII-O/02), the Meeting of Government Experts on the International Abduction of Minors by One of Their Parents was held in Montevideo, in the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, on August 12 and 13, 2002; 

That the Meeting of Government Experts drew up recommendations that include a draft Inter-American Program of Cooperation to Prevent and Remedy Cases of International Abduction of Minors by One of Their Parents; and  

That, in resolution CD/RES. 14 (78-R/03), the IACI Directing Council requested the General Assembly to extend the period during which the mandates set out in resolution AG/RES. 1891 (XXXII-O/02) would be in effect until the thirty-fourth regular session of the General Assembly, in 2004;  

REITERATING: 

            That the abduction of children by one of their parents is a problem with dire repercussions on their integral development and well-being and one that may be exacerbated by the increasing displacement of persons outside national borders in a progressively more globalized society; and 

            That the Plan of Action of the Third Summit of the Americas recognized that promoting the rights of children and their development, protection, and participation are essential to ensure that they reach their full potential, and encouraged cooperation to reduce cases of international abduction of children by one of their parents; and  

CONSIDERING the need to boost and intensify, through inter-American cooperation activities, the efforts of member states to prevent the international abduction of minors and to promote their return, for which progress must be made toward the adoption of an inter-American program of cooperation to prevent and remedy cases of international abduction of minors by one of their parents, 

RESOLVES: 

1.                   To renew the mandate issued  in resolution AG/RES. 1891 (XXXII-O/02); and, to that end, to request the Director General of the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IACI) to prepare, in consultation with the member states and taking into account the recommendations of the 2002 Meeting of Government Experts on the International Abduction of Minors by One of Their Parents, a preliminary Draft Inter-American Program of Cooperation to Prevent and Remedy Cases of International Abduction of Minors by One of Their Parents, and to present the draft to the IACI Directing Council at its next meeting for consideration and approval. 

2.                   To request the Permanent Council to examine the draft inter-American program approved by the IACI Directing Council and to present it to the General Assembly at its thirty-fourth regular session for its consideration. 

3.                   To entrust the organs, agencies, and entities of the Organization, in particular the IACI, with continuing to focus on this topic. 

4.                   To request the Permanent Council to report to the General Assembly at its next regular session on the implementation of this resolution.