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I NTERNAT I ONAL COMMERC I AL LAW
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Convention on Contact Concerning Children
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The ratification of the Convention on Contact Concerning Children
was approved by Law numbered 6066, published in the Official Gazette of
30 November 2010.
Contact with children and the possible restrictions thereon, when
these are considered necessary for the best interests of the child, is a major
concern for the member States of the Council of Europe. The Convention
also addresses non-member States of the Council of Europe and will
therefore also be open to their accession to this Convention.
The inherent problems with respect to the exercise of contact give rise
to significant disputes in many countries. Some parents are reluctant to
grant contact rights while others are deprived of the possibility of obtaining
or of maintaining any type of contact at all with their child. Disputes
relating to contact are often long and painful for the parties concerned and
raise problems as regards making, modifying, and enforcing court orders
relating to contact. Furthermore, the internationalization of family relations
and the difficulties created by geographical separation, which brings with
it the application of different legal systems, different languages, and
cultural differences, illustrate just some of the problems encountered in
transfrontier contact.
The aim of the Convention is to improve certain aspects of the right of
national and transfrontier contact and, in particular, to specify and reinforce
the basic right of children and their parents to maintain contact on a regular
basis. This right may be extended, if necessary, to include contact between
a child and persons other than his or her parents, in particular when the
child has family ties with such a person.
Acontact order is defined as a decision of a judicial authority concerning
contact, including an agreement concerning contact which has been
confirmed by a competent judicial authority or which has been formally
drawn up or registered as an authentic instrument, and is enforceable.
In this respect, the object of the Convention is to determine the general
principles to be applied to contact orders, as well as to fix appropriate
safeguards and guarantees to ensure the proper exercise of such contact
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Article of November 2010