UK: 500 children a year abducted from Britain: report

AAP General News (Australia)
08-10-2009
UK: 500 children a year abducted from Britain: report

LONDON, Aug 10 AFP - Almost 500 children were abducted from Britain and taken abroad
last year, the Guardian newspaper said on Monday, highlighting Pakistan as a hotspot.

Other abduction hotspots included Australia, France and Egypt, the Guardian said.

An estimated 470 youngsters were abducted in the UK in 336 separate cases reported
to authorities in 2008, a 20 per cent increase on 2005 figures, according to data obtained
by the newspaper under freedom of information laws.

More children were taken illegally to Pakistan than anywhere else, with 30 cases, while
23 were taken to the United States, 22 to Ireland and 21 to Spain.

Abductions usually occur when marriages break down between couples of different nationalities,
and the parent not awarded legal custody kidnaps their children and flees abroad, it said.

The cases are not normally publicised because they are dealt with in the family courts
where reporting restrictions apply to any cases involving the welfare of minors.

The British government has little power to intervene in around 40 per cent of all abduction
cases as they involve children being taken to countries not a signatory to the Hague convention.

The international treaty obliges nations to promptly return children wrongfully detained
in their jurisdiction.

Cases involving non-treaty countries include Bangladesh, Iraq, Nigeria and Russia, it said.

AFP maur

KEYWORD: UK KIDNAP

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