PARENTAL CHILD ABDUCTION CASES: PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE

The past few decades have witnessed an unprecedented growth of child abduction cases that has generated the need for legislative framework governing such cases. This happened, after a period of uncertainty on how the courts should deal with abduction cases, as a result our South African legislature incorporated the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Act 72 of 1996. The Act came into operation on the 01 October 1997, making the Hague Conventionapplicable in South Africa. This paper will look into the issue of prevention of parental child abduction and whether such prevention will promote the child's best interests in such cases.