“The Hague Convention” Article 11 question

[rmakielski]

I would like help with understanding Article 11
"The judicial or administrative authorities of Contracting States shall act expeditiously in proceedings for the return of children.  If the judicial or administrative authority concerned has not reached a decision within six weeks from the date of commencement of the proceedings, the applicant or the Central Authority of the requested State, on its own initiative or if asked by the Central Authority of the requesting State, shall have the right to request a statement of the reasons for the delay. If a reply is received by the Central Authority of the requested State, that Authority shall transmit the reply to the Central Authority of the requesting State, or to the applicant, as the case may be."

Since I filed the Hague application, I asume I would be the applicant and I have the right to request a statement of the reasons for delay.
I requested an Article 11 letter from the State Department this was the reply:
"As for the Article 11 letter, this is an intergovernmental communication that is not provided to the left-behind parent."
Can anyone point me to any offical document that supports the State Departments reply? Isnt this a violation  of the Freedom of imformation Act?

[StrngConviction]

As it states ,it can be requested independantly (by you yourself or your legal representation ) or by the CA , and it will reply to the one that requested as the case may be .
  If your CA representative has recieved it and is withholding the reason i would definetly request one myself from the CA of the abducting state  and than call the OCI and ask for whomever told you thats supervisor or whomever can answer your question satisfactorily .
 Read my topic about OCI being just a administrative job . Its a waste of my time and my sons .
Their motto quotes "Our objective is the well being of the child " I replied"Bull Shit or you would verify what you already know to be true facts and request they be presented , it doesnt take diplomacy to request something  ,only a need to stand by" your "motto " and job" of really wanting to see the well being of this child is secured" . And I told her that . She said " you dont understand what I have done for your case your folder is 2" thick  !"  I replied " It must be nice to get paid to file away faxes and fax paperwork i can do without you"  I did tell her I understand ahe may.literally have dozens if not more cases to keep up with when filing and faxing and what she has done is VERY appreciated but that sometimes we have a moral responsibility when we know the truth and the welfare of a child is at sake .
All she could do is cut me off and say that she understands and needed to go . Again BS ......

[Bob D'Amico]

I requested an Article 11 letter from the State Department this was the reply:
"As for the Article 11 letter, this is an intergovernmental communication that is not provided to the left-behind parent."
Can anyone point me to any offical document that supports the State Departments reply? Isnt this a violation  of the Freedom of imformation Act?

This is only THEIR policy, it's not a requirement of the Hague Treaty. I know for a fact that the CA of the Netherlands (Holland) provide this copies to the Left Behind Parent because I have PDF copies of the documents.

[SageDad]

This is only THEIR policy, it's not a requirement of the Hague Treaty. I know for a fact that the CA of the Netherlands (Holland) provide this copies to the Left Behind Parent because I have PDF copies of the documents.

It's not even their policy actually.  They just make shit up as they go depending on the gender of the abductor, the political realities with the foreign CA, the likelihood of bad press, etc.  If they have 2000 different Hague cases they have at least that many policies.  I've requested Article 11 status reports on multiple occasions.

If in fact it is the policy of the State Dept. to not provide Article 11 updates to the LBP I would ask them to provide you a statement of that policy in writing so you can be sure they are treating your case with an equal priority to those of others (they will never give you such a statement in writing though.. hopefully the fact that you ask for it means they will just give you a copy of the report -- or request it, since I suspect they have not done so and are looking for an excuse not to.)