High Court of Justice (England and Wales), Family Division

High Court of Justice (England and Wales), Family Division

United Kingdom - England and Wales

24 May 2024

Re N (A Child) (Ukraine: Art 13(b)) (No. 2)

[2024] EWHC 1282 (Fam)

First instance

Article 23(1)

Not provided

Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985

Re N (A Child) (Ukraine: Art 13(b)) [2024] EWHC 871 (Fam)

This case involved a father's application for the summary return of his 12-year-old son, N, to Ukraine under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The mother opposed the return, citing concerns related to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine while the father presented evidence of alternative locations in Ukraine that were distant from the conflict zones, which he argued were safe for the child. Furthermore the father offered to relocate to a relatively safe town which would also allow for contact between the child and his mother. The primary legal issue was whether returning N to Ukraine would expose him to a "grave risk of harm" or place him in an "intolerable situation," as per Article 13(b) of the Hague Convention. The court held that returning to Ukraine, in a safer location, would not amount to a grave risk.

Proceedings under the 1980 Hague Convention concerning the return of a child from England to Ukraine. Following an earlier judgment, the father produced evidence of alternative accommodation in western Ukraine away from the area of active hostilities. The court rejected the mother's Article 13(b) defence and ordered the child's return. Protective undertakings were accepted regulating the father's residence, conduct and contact arrangements pending determination by the Ukrainian court. The court treated the undertakings and orders as measures for the purposes of Article 23 of the 1996 Hague Convention. It rejected the submission that the child's return should be delayed until the measures had first been formally registered in Ukraine, noting that Convention measures are recognised by operation of law and that the undertakings would in any event be lodged with the Ukrainian court immediately following the return.