The Task Force on Child Custody Disputes, which is chaired by the Directorate-General for Italians Abroad and includes representatives of the Ministry of Justice and of the Interior, held its first meeting of the year at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Task Force examined the 514 recorded cases of international abduction and child custody disputes as at December 2021, mainly focusing on some particularly serious cases the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is dealing with and identifying the most effective strategies and intervention methods for solving them.
Child custody disputes continue to be rather common in Europe (308 cases dealt with in 2021), while there are fewer cases in the Americas (92), the Mediterranean and Middle East (65), Asia and the Pacific (35) and Sub-Saharan Africa (14).
