자녀 국제인도에 관한 헤이그 협약의 내용과 사례

A Study on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Kim, Mi-Kyung* The recent developments in transportation, telecommunication, and increased cultural interchanges result in many bi-national marriages. However such international marriages are also bringing numerous conflicts caused by cultural and religious differences in couples. In cases where such bi-national married couples are divorced or separated from one another, either of the couple who has rights of custody of the child may return to his or her homeland without the consent of the other parent. The international relocation of the child not only infringes upon rights of custody, but also severs the relationship between the child and the other parent. To resolve this problem, which is categorically considered child abduction, the Hague Conferences on Private International Law adopted "Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction(The 1980 Hague Convention)" at its 14th session held on October 25, 1980. This agreement is a product of a multilateral convention whose contracting states have been gradually increased to 78 nations as of June 16th, 2006. The expanding number of participating nations to the convention implies not only that the circumstances needing the application of the agreement are increasing but also that such applications are making progress. The primary purpose of the convention is to promptly return the child to his or her habitual residence and ultimately promote welfare of the child by providing him or her a stable environment to grow up and form their characteristics. In this study, the main content of the convention is reviewed for the preparation of Republic of Korea's prospective membership to the convention. The information regarding central authority, habitual residence, the rights of custody, reasons for exceptions of return and the rights of access are reviewed in details. In addition, the researcher investigates problems encountered in actual applications of the convention by reviewing related judicial precedents of other contracting states such as the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and France. Furthermore, the study reviews and compares domestic laws implemented by such contracting states for the execution of the convention and discusses how Republic of Korea should form a domestic law regarding international child abduction following its membership to the convention. It has been 25 years since the 1980 Hague Convention has become first effective. Nevertheless, Republic of Korea is still not a contracting state of the convention and there have been few attempts on deliberation about the convention. Increasing cases of international divorce and social trends in which the welfare of a childtakes top priority suggest that the membership of Republic of Korea to the 1980 Hague Convention is more urgently required.