The key instrument providing for a worldwide regulation of international parental child abduction has long been the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child.  The Convention has been in force since 1983 and has proved a phenomenal success. Within the European Union, the operation of the 1980 Convention has been modified by certain provisions of the Council Regulation (EC) No. 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgements in Matrimonial Matters and the Matters of Parental Responsibility, repealing Regulation (EC) No. 1347/2000.  The Regulation entered into force on 1 March 2005 and applies to child abduction cases between the EU Member States except for Denmark.  This regional instrument aims at creating even more ambitious rules on child abduction by imposing stricter obligations to assure the prompt return of a child. Despite the ambitious goal of strengthening the deterrence of child abduction within the borders of the Union, the new child abduction regime did not receive a warm welcome by commentators. The thesis aims at critically evaluating the evolution of the new intra-EU child abduction regime, and examining to what extent the European Union complied with its standards of good legislative drafting during the negotiations on the Brussels II<i>bis</i> Regulation.  It also seeks to demonstrate that there was no real legal need for the involvement of the European Union in the area of child abduction, and tightening the 1980 Hague Convention return mechanism. Not less importantly, the thesis aspires to reveal how effectively the new return mechanism operates and what are the points of concern in respect to the functioning of the new child abduction scheme.

This study is intended to address the problem of international parental child abduction from Islamic and international perspectives.  During a decade of working as a judge in the state of Qatar a number of cross-border child abduction cases occurred involving GCC, Arab and Western parents.  In none of these cases has the Hague Convention on The Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (1980) been consulted or mentioned.  There is no evidence that the attention of Qatari judges has ever been drawn to the existence of this important international treaty. However, for the reasons given throughout this study, it will be argued that The Hague Convention is too important to be totally ignored by Muslim countries, while these countries will probably start to face an increasing number of cross-border child abduction cases.  The benefits of acceding to the Convention are made clear by considering a diversity of international cases where the solutions of the Convention best serve the welfare of the abducted children by procedurally ordering their prompt return to their habitual residence, thus putting to an end an arbitrary act of abduction unjustifiably carried out by one of the carers.  It is hoped that in the end this research will bring Islamic and Convention understandings closer to each other with regard to the problem of international parental child abduction.

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