The problem, activists and mothers say, is that other countries don't show the same commitment to foreigners.
In the United States, the country where most Brazilian children are illegally abducted (31 cases are pending before the SNJ), the cases are dropped “if there is no agreement between the parents because of the difficulty of paying a lawyer “said General Michele Najara, coordinator of Acaf, in a meeting in the Senate to discuss the issue.
“It’s complicated when help isn’t offered for free,” Michele said. Still, “we don’t have to give up our aid in order to punish other countries for not receiving that aid.”
Each country that has signed the Hague Convention has its own central authority. According to Michele Najara in the Senate, the authorities behave “in different ways”.
In a recent case, he said, the U.S. company refused to allow visitation to a Brazilian child who was in the country, the Brazilian court found. He claimed that this was not the authority's responsibility. Acaf had to contact the Brazilian consulate to obtain information about the child.
Dead letter
The exceptions envisaged when children are at risk upon their return or are integrated into the country to which they were brought “should be applied only to the extent possible, but not beyond, (…) To ensure that “the convention does not become a dead letter,” the Good Practice Guide provides information about the agreement launched in 2020.