what is the hague convention

The Hague Convention is a series of international treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 were among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the body of secular international law. The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention) is a multilateral treaty between the United States and about 75 other countries that provides safeguards for children and families involved in adoptions between participating countries and also works to prevent the abduction, sale, or trafficking of children. The Convention establishes international standards of practices for intercountry adoptions and safeguards in place to make sure that all intercountry adoptions are in the best interests of the child and respect their human rights. The Convention requires that countries who are party to it establish a Central Authority to be the authoritative source of information and point of contact in that country. The Department of State is the U.S. Central Authority for the Convention. The Hague Convention does not allow private adoptions in the childs home country. Adoption is handled by the provinces and territories, and they all have and follow laws implementing the Hague Convention. The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction provides a lawful procedure for seeking the return of children who have been wrongfully removed or retained in breach of custody rights.