Update

It has been some time since we have been able to update this website - as can sometimes happen, busy periods at work delayed things and then restarting regular updates became more difficult.

Looking back at the dates of our past updates, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since we last updated on significant cases or other events in the world of international family law.

It is our intention for that to change, starting from this week. As such, we intend to in the coming days put the following up onto the website:

1) An update from the Eighth Meeting of the Special Commission on the Practical Operation of the 1980 Child Abduction Convention and the 1996 Child Protection Convention which took place at the Peace Palace in the Hague between 10 and 17 October 2023;

2) An update on the proceedings in London Borough of Hackney v P & Ors [2022] EWHC 1981 (Fam) (original post here) which, since our analysis of the judgment at first instance, has been to the Court of Appeal;

3) A general update in relation to the decision of the Supreme Court in G v G (judgment here) in circumstances where the relationship between applications for return under the 1980 Hague Convention and applications for asylum were the subject of discussion at the Eighth Meeting of the Special Commission, and where the operation of that decision (both practically and in terms of legal analysis) remains controversial. Of some note, it was identified in AAA (Syria) & Ors, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] UKSC 42 (the ‘Rwanda’ litigation in the Supreme Court - judgment here) that whilst “Argument in the appeal of G v G proceeded on the basis of a concession by the Secretary of State for the purposes of that appeal that the relevant provisions of the Procedures Directive remained in force in the domestic law of the United Kingdom as retained EU law.”, there had been no argument in relation to that point and, it transpired, that concession was wrongly made. In fact, “…articles 25 and 27 of the Procedures Directive do not have effect in the domestic law of the United Kingdom as retained EU law”. As such, there may be scope to reargue the principles identified in G v G, either in whole or in part.

Apologies for the lack of updates. Hopefully we will do better at regularly updating this website from this point on.