The international abduction of minors has “increased exponentially in recent years” from “89 cases in 1998 to 266 in 2009”. Minister Frattini cited statistics as he opened a conference on the concept of habitual residence in Community Family Law held at the Foreign Ministry in Rome, organized by the Centre for the Study of Family Law in Europe and sponsored by the MFA. Moreover, Frattini added, 60% of abductions take place in Europe, showing that the children “are not contested only by parents with marked cultural or religious difference, but more and more by mixed European couples”.
The minister explained that there is a problem in the homogeneous application of Family Law in the EU, and that the concrete goal of “a common European space is still far off”. Indeed, Member States still “tend to impose internal procedures, hindering European ones”, while, for example, European law on minor abduction “aims, in a certain sense, to give the last word to the jurisdictional authority of the Member State where the minor habitually resides”. Nevertheless, “determined and courageous steps” still need to be taken. The Italian government is seeking to strengthen application of European norms since “the effective restitution of abducted minors is still not guaranteed”.
Frattini then recalled the MFA’s commitment to preventing the abduction of minors. First of all, through “public awareness raising” and then by means of a handbook for parents. The ministry also set up an inter-ministerial task force in May 2009 that brings in officials from the interior and justice ministries to meet periodically on pending cases that, as Frattini assured, “are bearing fruit”.