Cross-Border Protection of Children: The 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention

Rising rates of international mobility have raised significant concerns regarding the protection of children in cross-border situations. Children make up half of the global population on the move across borders. The increase in transnational families over the past three decades has heightened the risk of international abduction and severed contact with parents, along with a growing need for cross-border placement of children and alternative care options. This research project aims to address the legal challenges surrounding the protection of children in cross-border situations involving transnational families. It examines the effectiveness of the post-Brexit legal framework, which no longer includes European regulations and is instead governed by the 1996 Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement, and Cooperation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children (the ‘1996 Hague Convention’).

The research will provide a systematic, high-quality analysis of the Convention, assess its application across different jurisdictions, and contribute to legal scholarship, judicial practice, and policymaking. It builds on findings from a recently completed collaborative project ‘Protection of international families with links to the European Union post-Brexit: Collaborative Scotland-EU partnership’ (generously funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh), and will result in a co-authored research monograph to be published by Oxford University Press.

The project commenced on 01 March 2025 and will end on 28 February 2026. It is funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh under the Personal Research Fellowship award scheme. The project Principal Investigator is Professor Katarina Trimmings.

The project has several key objectives:

1. To enhance understanding of global private international law concerning child protection.
2. To promote uniform application of the 1996 Hague Convention across Contracting States.
3. To identify gaps and recommending reforms in cross-border child protection law.
4. To create a searchable case-law database compiling judicial decisions from different jurisdictions.
5. To engage stakeholders through an international webinar to share best practices.

1. Co-authored research monograph: Cross-Border Protection of Children: The 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention, published by Oxford University Press.
2. Case-law database: A publicly accessible, searchable resource to aid judges, lawyers, and policymakers in applying the 1996 Hague Convention.
3. Webinar: A platform for discussion among international stakeholders on the application and interpretation of the Convention.

More details will follow as the project progresses.

More information to follow.