mination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women” (article 5(a)). CEDAW refers to the interests of children being paramount in relation to the common responsibility of men and women for their children’s upbringing and development (article 5(b)) as well as in regard to States Parties’ ensuring the same rights and responsibilities between men and women as parents in matters relating to their children and in matters of guardianship, wardship, trusteeship, and adoption of children (article 16 (1)(d) and (f)). CEDAW also proscribes betrothal and marriage of children and calls for action to specify a minimum age for marriage and to make marriage registration compulsory (article 16(2)).
V. Child Protection and Placement Agreements
Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, etc., for the Protection of Children 1996
The Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children (1996 Convention) covers a wide range of civil child protection measures, “from orders concerning parental responsibility and contact to public measures of protection or care, and from matters of representation to the protection of children’s property.” The Preamble confirms “that the best interests of the child are to be a primary consideration.” Article 2 stipulates that the Convention is applicable “to children from the moment of their birth until they reach the age of 18 years.” The 1996 Convention provides a structure to resolve disputes over contact and custody issues when parents are separated and living in different countries and has uniform rules to determine which country’s authorities are competent to take the necessary protection measures. Provisions on recognition and enforcement ensure that primacy be given to decisions taken by the authorities of the country where the child has his or her habitual residence, reinforcing provisions of the 1980 Hague Convention (see below). There are also provisions on cooperation procedures to better protect unaccompanied minors who cross borders and are in vulnerable situations and children placed in alternative care across frontiers. The latter includes arrangements such as foster care and the Islamic law institution of Kafala, a functional equivalent of adoption falling outside the scope of the 1993 Intercountry Adoption Convention (see below).
Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, etc., Relating to Adoptions 1965
The Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law and Recognition of Decrees Relating to Adoptions (1965 Convention), the first Hague Convention on the issue, apparently has no contracting parties at present. The Convention is applicable “to all international adoptions, not only where a child originated from another country but also to adoptions where the only international aspect is the foreign nationality of the child.” It has been characterized as incorporating four important provisions. The authorities are not to grant an adoption “unless it will be in the interest of the child.” Before granting an adoption, the authorities should conduct “a thorough inquiry” relating to the adopter(s), the child, and the child’s family. The inquiry should be carried out “as far as possible … in cooperation with public or private organizations qualified in the field of inter-country adoptions” and with the help of specially trained or qualified social workers (article 6). Furthermore, the national law of the child is to be applied in decisions pertaining to consent and consultation issues, rather than that of the adopter, family, or spouse (article 5, paragraph 1). The 1965 Convention also allows States Parties to make a declaration at the time of signature, ratification, or accession but revocable at any time, specifying provisions of domestic law prohibiting adoptions founded upon certain specified grounds, e.g., the existence of a previous adoption of the child o