Delegation from the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice attends HCCA working conference in Wustrau and Berlin
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- Published: May 19, 2018

From 14 to 19 May 2018, a delegation from the Ministry of Justice for Ukraine was invited by the IRZ to attend a working conference on the implementation of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (HCCA) in Wustrau and Berlin.
Following on from the conference led by the IRZ last year on the “HCCA and Mediation”, this event focussed on the necessary changes to national Ukrainian legislation in connection with the implementation of the HCCA.
The delegation was made up of the head of the department responsible for international agreements, Tamara Andriieva, the responsible section head, Olha Zozulia, and other representatives from the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice. The Ministry for Social Affairs and other authorities affected by the implementation of the HCCA, such as the National Border Service, the legal service of the Supreme Court and the National Police, were also involved.
From the German side, the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) was represented by Simon Trost and the German Federal Office of Justice, the main authority responsible for the HCCA, was represented by Christian Höhn. The liaison magistrate for the HCCA, Martina Erb-Klünemann, a judge at the Local Court of Hamm, also attended the conference.
The event offered an opportunity for participants to discuss the proposed changes set out in the draft agreement. Following on from the expert discussions with their German colleagues, who reported on the German experience of implementing the HCCA and on the relevant legal regulations, the members of the delegation devoted themselves to working in more depth on their draft texts.
To round off the working week, further concluding talks were held at the BMJV, attended by two heads of division, Senior Government Official Dr. Nicola Wenzel and Chief of Department, Dr. Matthias Heger.
In the past, this German-Ukrainian meeting has led to definitive practical progress in the settlement of child abduction cases in accordance with the HCCA, offering the potential for a direct exchange of expertise between the authorities and people concerned. The work on the changes to legislation should make a further contribution to the effective implementation of the HCCA in Ukraine.