Blondinv.Dubois-USDepartmentofState.doc

United States Court of Appeals FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT Docket No. 00-6066 ------------------ FELIX BLONDIN, Petitioner-Appellant, - v. - MARTHE DUBOIS, Defendant-Appellee. --------------------- BRIEF FOR AMICUS CURIAE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SUPPORTING PETITIONER-APPELLANT AND SUPPORTING REVERSAL --------------------- Preliminary Statement Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 517 and Rule 29 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, the United States submits this brief as amicus curiae to express its views on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Hague Convention or the Convention), Oct. 25, 1980, T.I.A.S. No. 11670, implemented by the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (the ICARA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 11601-11610. INTEREST OF THE UNITED STATES The Hague Convention is designed to “protect children internationally from the harmful effects of their wrongful removal or retention and to establish procedures to ensure their prompt return to the State of their habitual residence.” Hague Convention Preamble. The Department of State has long been involved in the difficult human, legal, and diplomatic problems surrounding international parental child abduction. The Department of State represented the United States at the negotiation of the Convention, and was instrumental in proposing its implementing legislation to Congress. (A237). The Department of State has also attended periodic international meetings to review the operation of the Convention. (A237-38). The Hague Convention requires each party State to designate a Central Authority to cooperate with its counterparts in other party States to secure the prompt return of children and to achieve the other objects of this Convention. Hague Convention, arts. 6, 7. The Department of States Office of Childrens Issues is the designated Central Authority in this country. 22 C.F.R. § 94.2.* To facilitate the proper functioning of the Convention, the Office of Childrens I