Accession of Kazakhstan to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (A8-0268/2016 - Angel Dzhambazki)
Martina Anderson, Lynn Boylan and Liadh Ní Riada (GUE/NGL),in writing. – We voted in favour of this report to endorse the Council decision to authorise the accession of Kazakhstan to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Convention is a multilateral treaty to ensure that children wrongfully taken into another country, often by a parent or guardian, are brought back to their home country.
A ruling of the European Court of Justice in 2014 found that the EU now has exclusive external competence in these matters, but the Convention does not allow for international organisations – such as the EU – to sign the Convention themselves. This Council decision is therefore necessary to allow Member States to accept the accession of Kazakhstan to the Convention, bringing the Convention into force between the entire EU and Kazakhstan.