Relations pertaining to the return of a child wrongfully removed to or retained in the Republic of Armenia to be regulated by law

On 5 September, under the chairmanship of Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Suren Krmoyan, a discussion on the relevant draft Law developed for implementation and application of the Hague Abduction Convention was held with the experts of the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ).

Judge of the Court of First Instance of Hamm of the Federal Republic of Germany Martina Erb-Klüneman, Head of the Civil Status Acts Registration Agency of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Ani Mkhitaryan, Head of Department 113 for matters relating to international custody, child abduction and protection of children and adults of the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection of Germany Christian Hühn, Head of the Department for International Legal
Co-operation of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Christine Grigoryan and members of the Working Group for development of the draft law participated in the discussion.

Deputy Minister Suren Krmoyan greeted the participants of the meeting and expressed his gratitude to the German counterparts for always sharing with the Ministry of Justice their best practice in the legal sector.

Suren Krmoyan also emphasised the importance of the meeting devoted to the topic and noted that Armenia has been making efforts to fully protect the rights of minors in conflict with law for the past few years. "Child abduction issues are the major issues that the international community currently regulates through respective international legal instruments. In Armenia, there are authorities operating on the basis of the Convention as well. However, due to a number of practical issues, we have decided to amend this legislation. The main problem was that the decision on returning or not returning the abducted child would be rendered by the administrative body, not the court. A person's right to judicial protection was not protected. Besides, the absence of a court decision did not permit to engage the Compulsory Enforcement Service in the process either," the Deputy Minister noted.

Head of the Agency Ani Mkhitaryan and expert of the Working Group for developing of the Law Tatevik Sarukhanyan presented to the German experts a number of provisions envisaged by the new legislation and touched upon the procedures for the return of a child wrongfully removed to Armenia or retained in the Republic of Armenia, the comprehensive legal regulation of relations pertaining to co-operation between the central body determined by the Government of the Republic of Armenia and other competent state and local self-government bodies, as well as the application of a number of mechanisms envisaged by the new Law.

Judge Martina Erb-Klünemann and Head of Division 113 for matters relating to international custody, child abduction and protection of children and adults of the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection of Germany Christian Hühn greeted the Armenian counterparts and noted that a number of positive and visible amendments had been made to the relevant legislation, allowing us to say that Armenia has chosen the right path.