The Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors is a treaty of the Organization of American States (OAS) that was adopted at

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, on March 19, 1994, at the Fifth Inter-American Specialized Conference On

Private International Law Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad t ...

. In consideration of the importance of ensuring comprehensive and effective protection for minors, through appropriate mechanisms to guarantee respect for their rights, and awareness that the international traffic of minors is a universal concern in the light of conventions on the international protection of minors, particularly the provisions of Articles 11 and 35 of the

Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Co ...

, and convinced of the need to regulate civil and penal aspects of the international traffic in minors, the OAS reaffirmed the importance of international cooperation to achieve effective protection of the best interests of minors by agreeing upon the Inter-American Convention on the International Return of Children.

Convention aims

The Convention begins by broadly describing its intent in Article 1: Accordingly, the States Parties to this Convention undertake to: a) ensure the protection of minors in consideration of their best interests; b) institute a system of mutual legal assistance among the States Parties, dedicated to the prevention and punishment of the international traffic in minors, as well as adopt related administrative and legal provisions to that effect; and c) ensure the prompt return of minors who are victims of international traffic to the State of their habitual residence, bearing in mind the best interests of the minors., Article 1, Inter-American Convention on the International Return of Children

Members

Over half of the 35 Member States of the Organisation of American States are party to the

Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction or Hague Abduction Convention is a multilateral treaty that provides an expeditious method to return a child internationally abducted by a parent from one member countr ...

, and over a third of Member States are also party to the Inter-American Convention on the International Return of Children. When a State is party to both Conventions, Article 34 of the Inter-American Convention assigns priority to the Inter-American Convention over the Hague Abduction Convention unless otherwise agreed upon between the States individually. To date there are no known instances of this Convention being used for parental child trafficking.

References

External links

Text of the treaty
Human trafficking treaties Organization of American States treaties on Private International Law International child abduction Treaties concluded in 1994 Treaties entered into force in 1997 Treaties of Argentina Treaties of Belize Treaties of Bolivia Treaties of Brazil Treaties of Colombia Treaties of Costa Rica Treaties of the Dominican Republic Treaties of Ecuador Treaties of El Salvador Treaties of Honduras Treaties of Nicaragua Treaties of Panama Treaties of Paraguay Treaties of Peru Treaties of Uruguay 1994 in Mexico {{International-law-stub