Child relocation

In a speech to London Metropolitan University last week, Thorpe LJ asked whether common principles could be agreed internationally on the relocation of children.

Uniformity of approach would help parents take responsible decisions about relocation and discourage them from abducting or unlawfully removing their children, he said. Moves to debate the issue of an international law of relocation are gathering momentum and a conference was held on the topic in Washington in March.

Thorpe LJ considered UK case law and the impact of the Human Rights Act, acknowledging the arguments of father’s groups that times may have changed. For example, the courts take into account that “the harmful impact on the mother is taken to be harmful to the child”, an idea which has been criticised by father’s groups as “matricentric and discriminatory”, he said.

“Given that the principle is not derived from expert evidence nor from many research studies in this jurisdiction the challenge cannot be lightly dismissed. The emergence of the principle needs to be seen in the context of social tides that were moving some forty years ago.”