US announces visa curbs over international child-abduction cases

US announces visa curbs over international child-abduction cases

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday announced a new visa-restriction policy targeting foreign officials and others involved in parental child-abduction cases, a measure that could have implications for Pakistan as well. Announcing the policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would restrict visas for individuals “responsible for, or complicit in” impeding the prompt resolution of such cases, as well as their immediate family members. “Protecting American children abducted across international borders and reuniting them with their parents is a top priority for the Trump Administration,” Rubio said in a statement. The policy covers foreign government officials, judges, judicial administrators, law-enforcement officials and others who intentionally obstruct efforts to resolve such cases or fail to implement or comply with laws, policies or court orders intended to secure the return of children to their country of habitual residence. Rubio described the measure as a new accountability tool for pressing countries to meet their international obligations. The move is relevant to Pakistan because Pakistan is a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and is a treaty partner of the United States under the convention. The Hague framework seeks the prompt return of children wrongfully removed from or retained outside their country of habitual residence. Washington’s new policy specifically refers to officials who intentionally fail to implement or comply with applicable laws, policies or court orders. The policy is not, however, a blanket measure against any country’s officials or citizens. Its application would depend on the US government’s determination that an individual falls within the criteria announced by the State Department. The announcement also has significance for India, where cross-border parental-abduction cases have been a longstanding issue in US-India consular relations. India is not a party to the Hague Abduction Convention and is not a US treaty partner under the convention. The absence of a Hague treaty framework does not mean that Washington has no channels for dealing with such cases. The US State Department has previously engaged Indian authorities on international parental-child-abduction cases. The new policy could also resonate in the Middle East, where the United States has dealt with parental-abduction cases involving countries outside the Hague framework. Its significance for individual countries will depend on how Washington applies the new policy and whether it identifies officials or others as deliberately obstructing cases. The policy is potentially significant because it shifts some of the pressure from governments and legal systems to individuals. Rather than imposing a general visa restriction on nationals of a particular country, Washington says it will target people whom it determines have deliberately obstructed the resolution of individual cases. Their immediate family members may also face visa restrictions. “This policy gives the department a new accountability tool to press non-compliant countries to meet their obligations,” Rubio said. The State Department, he said, would continue working to prevent international parental child abductions and facilitate the safe return of abducted children to their country of habitual residence.