Consular Assistance - International Parental Child Abduction

A sad story that deeply affected me this week, is the devastating news of the death of Mariam Magdy, an Egyptian mother, who travelled to Switzerland to reunite with her daughters aged 8 and 6 and regain their custody, after they were abducted by their father seven months before.  After 10 days of active search, local police found Mariam’s body in a river and arrested her husband, the only suspect in the case. 

The couple was living in Egypt when marital disputes started to escalate between them.  When the matter reached the courts, the father, a Swiss citizen, abducted the two daughters and travelled to Switzerland and cut all communication with their mother.  With the help of Swiss civil organisations, Mariam was able to obtain a visa and travel to Switzerland to file a custody lawsuit.  Before a final judgement was rendered, Mariam was killed.  Her last contact with her family was right before a scheduled visit with her children. 

International parental child abduction has become nowadays the biggest threat to children of dual nationalities.  With a rising rate of international marriages, especially in a country with significant multicultural diversity like Canada, we are seeing in Canada, an increasing number of cases where, at the onset of marital conflict, a parent takes a unilateral decision of taking the child to his second country of citizenship, often as a way of punishing the other parent and escaping judicial rulings.   Second to the child, who is the most affected by this horrible crime, is the left behind parent.   The left behind parent, just like in the case of Mariam, must, not only gather her strength during her most vulnerable moments, but face, alone, the overwhelming judicial, social, cultural, and financial challenges of filing a custody lawsuit in a foreign country and return her children.

The question here arises about the kind of assistance provided by Consular Services to Canadian parents whose children have been abducted internationally.   What services are being provided to them while they travel abroad to exercise a visitation right for example or attend a court hearing? In Canada Consular Services are not determined by laws but are provided upon discretion.  The lack of legislation that codify the consular services responsibilities can be very problematic in cases that fail to persuade the intervention of the government due to many different reasons.  Many parents do not receive adequate consular assistance abroad.

Left behind parents should not be left alone, they should be entitled to receive help and assistance with the full force of the Canadian government. Because international child abduction does not only devastate a parent, but it is a major crime against children which can scar them forever.