Every year about 1,000 American children are victims of international child abduction. Approximately 40 percent of these children will never be returned to the United States. These American children had a fundamental Human Right of a Child stripped from them, the Right to freely associate with their loving parents.
These children are not “Denied” Consular Access because our foreign Consulates do not even ask for such access. Their detainment is not treated with the same level of Diplomatic urgency as detained adults are. Yet, these children are the most innocent and vulnerable Little Americans on our Planet.
The issue of International Child Abduction of Little American US Citizens has been discussed in Washington and yet there has not been any meaningful correction of US Policy that addresses the Rights of our Little Americans. This site is calling for a real change in the following ways.
Policy Objectives:
- Every American Child who is in divorce proceedings abroad be assigned a legal advocate who is independent of both parents and whose objective is to defend the Human Rights of the Child.
- Stronger automatic policy response for denying Consular access to any American Citizen including the expulsion of that country’s diplomats from US soil.
- Extension of US legal jurisdiction over all Little American citizens who are not governed under bilateral treaties such as the Hauge Convention.
We need to draw a line that cannot be crossed, a basic set of Rights that we are unequivocally determined to fight for no matter what the cost.