2007 Press Releases
The United States Accepts Latvia’s Accession to the Hague Abduction Convention of October 25th, 1980
Riga, March 23, 2007. – The Government of the United States has accepted Latvian accession to the October 25th, 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The treaty will go into effect between Latvia and the United States on May 1, 2007. On March 26, Elizabeth Cherry, a representative from the U.S. Department of State's Office of Children’s Issues, will meet with representatives of the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs of Latvia (Agris Skudra, chief of the International Cooperation Division, Department of Children and Family Policy, Laura Kornete, chief of the Adoption Division, Department of Out-of-family Care), as well as Iveta Lielmane, representative from the Riga Orphan Court, to discuss the treaty and future cooperation.
The Hague Convention is a civil legal mechanism available to parents seeking the return of, or access to, their child. The countries that are party to the Convention have agreed that a child who habitually resides in one party country, and who has been taken to or held in another party country in violation of the left-behind parent's custodial rights, shall be promptly returned. The Convention can also help parents exercise visitation rights abroad.
U.S. Embassy, Riga, Public Affairs Section
Smilšu iela 7
Rīga, LV 1050
Phone: 371 750-9022
Internet: http://riga.usembassy.gov
Media specialist’s e-mail: dilanes@state.gov, lubinad@state.gov