Europe's top human rights body today called on countries to toughen penalties against parents who abduct their children after divorce and take them abroad, often in acts of revenge.
The Council of Europe parliamentary assembly was considering a resolution calling on countries to stiffen penalties for international abductions, set up special courts to resolve disputes between mixed-nationality partners before they lead to kidnappings and offer legal aid to parents trying to get their children back.
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Cross-border abductions are on the rise across Europe, with 1,500 children forcibly taken abroad from France alone every year, according to Mr Michael Hancock, a British MP.
The resolution presented by Mr Hancock, who heads the assembly's family and social affairs commission, states that penalties, which vary from country to country, "are often insufficient".
"Parents who abduct their children to take them back to their country cite family or educational reasons, but in nearly 100 per cent of cases they act purely out of revenge or frustration, or to punish the other parent", said Mr Hancock.
"They take the child as they would take the car or the house," Mr Hancock lamented. "Abducted children are treated like objects."
AFP