Special Commission meeting on the Child Support Convention and on the Maintenance Obligations Protocol
The first special commission for HCCH 2007 Child Support Convention was held in a hybrid format at the Hague from 17 to 19 May 2022. Child Identity Protection (CHIP) had the privilege attending noting that this Convention reiterates the importance of the child knowing their family relations as part of their identity, in order to fully access all their rights, including child support (cf. Art. 27 Convention on the Rights of the Child).
The child’s right to have one’s family relations legally established or recognised is a stand-alone right according to Art.8 CRC, which may be a pre-condition for the application of the HCCH Child Support Convention (Arts. 2(1)a, 2(3)). Family relations include connections that arise as a result of the child’s genetic, gestational, social and legal history, its continuity or separation, encompassing birth, adoptive and intending parents in surrogacy arrangements, and other potential ties that could be considered responsible persons such as grandparent(s).
All participants acknowledged the sensitive nature of information shared between authorities and need for robust data protection mechanisms. The CRC Committee General Comment General Comment No. 25 (2021) on Children’s rights in relation to the digital environment and UNICEF’s 2021 publication on The Case for Better Governance of Children’s Data: A Manifesto may provide some useful guidance to ensure that digital communication protect the child’s data, including use of biometrics, blockchains, cryptography, encryption and electronic identification.
Furthermore, given the importance of co-operation between Central Authorities, it may be useful to work closely with the Civil Registry and Vital Statistic Offices to ensure portability of civil status documents. This may be facilitated through the different International Commission on Civil Status (ICCS) Conventions, which encourage direct international communication between the civil registrars.
Given all the benefits of the HCCH Child Support Convention, CHIP looks forward to promoting its widest implementation and having more States parties, given that child support is one benefit of the child having a full and correct identity. CHIP notes in particular recommendations 8, 9 and 18, which encourages the principle of non-discrimination as well as notes the relevance of “family relations”.
Source: HCCH Conclusions and Recommendations, https://www.hcch.net/en/news-archive/details/?varevent=858
