DECREE NO 3,951, DE October 4, 2001

Designates the Central Authority to comply with the obligations imposed by the Convention on Civil Aspects of the International Abduction of Children, creates the Board of the Federal Administrative Central Authority against Sequestrian Children's International and Establish the National Program for Cooperation in the Return of International Children and Adolescents Abducted Internationally.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, in the use of the assignments conferring you the art. 84, incisos IV and VI, of the Constitution, and in accordance with Decree No 3,413 of April 14, 2000,

D E C R E T A:

Art. 1º It is designated as the Central Authority, the one referred to as art. 6º of the Convention on Civil Aspects of the International Abduction of Children and Adolescents, concluded in The Hague on October 25, 1980, passed by Legislative Decree No. 79 of June 12, 1999 and promulgated by Decree No. 3,413 of 14. April 2000, the Secretary of State for Human Rights of the Ministry of Justice.

Art. 2º Compete to the Central Authority:

I-represent the interests of the Brazilian state in the protection of children and adolescents from the injurious effects resulting from change of domicile or unlawful retention ;

II-establish the procedures that ensure the immediate return of children and adolescents to the state of their habitual residence ;

III-receive all communications originating from the Central Authorities of the Contracting States ;

IV-promote actions of technical cooperation and collaboration with the Central Authorities of the Contracting States and other public authorities, in order to locate the child or adolescent displaced or withheld illicitly and to ensure, in the administrative plan, if necessary and timely, their return ;

V-take appropriate measures to:

a) provide information regarding Brazilian legislation and statistical data regarding the abduction of children and adolescents ;

(b) inform each other about the operation of the Convention and, as far as possible, remove the obstacles that may arise ;

c) to exchange information relating to the social situation of the child or adolescent in case of need ;

d) standardize applications for return of children or adolescents and for the organization and effective exercise of the right of visit, in accordance with the recommendation of the Convention on the Civil Aspects of the International Kidnapping of Children ;

e) to ensure voluntary restitution of the child or adolescent or facilitate a friendly solution ;

f) to ensure the organization or protection of the effective exercise of the right of visit ;

g) to ensure together with the Federal Police Department of the Ministry of Justice, through the International Criminal Police Division-INTERPOL, the location of displaced or unlawfully-displaced children and adolescents ; and

h) avoid further harm to the child or adolescent or injury to interested parties by taking or making the preventive measures provided for in Title III of Law No. 8,069 of July 13, 1990 ;

VI-use data stored in the Information System for Infancy and Adolescence-SIPIA, for analysis and decision as:

a) to the names of those interested in the process of requesting assistance, so as to ensure the return of the child or adolescent who has been displaced or removed from his habitual residence in the violation of the right to custody ;

b) to the names of missing children and adolescents or who have been displaced or removed from their usual residence ;

c) the intersection of the data on missing children with those of children given in international adoption, for possible identification of illegal adoptions ; and

d) the statistics regarding information on missing children and adolescents or who have been displaced or withdrawn from their usual residence in violation of a custodial right ;

VII-take action in conjunction with other public authorities to wake up or facilitate, as per the circumstances, obtaining legal and legal assistance ;

VIII-provide the Federal Police Department with the data regarding the missing children and adolescents or who have been displaced or withdrawn from their usual residence in violation of the right of custody, so that they are made national and international representations ; and

IX-adopt the arrangements, in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with the Federal Police Department, to ensure the return of Brazilian children and adolescents illegally transferred abroad.

Art. 3º It is created the Board of the Federal Administrative Central Authority against the International Kidnap of Children, composed of the following members:

I-Central Authority, which will chair it ;

II-Chairman of the National Council on the Rights of the Child and the Adolescent ;

III-a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ;

IV-a representative of the Federal Public Defensoria ;

V-a representative of the National Antidrug Registry ;

VI-a representative of the National Bureau of Justice ;

VII-a representative of the Department of the Child and the Adolescent ;

VIII-a representative of the Federal Police Department.

Single Paragraph. You will be able to integrate, still, the Council that treats the present Decree:

I-a representative of the Prosecutor-General of the Republic ;

II-a representative of the Order of Lawyers of Brazil ;

III-a representative of the National Council of the Bishops of Brazil-Pastoral of the Minor ; and

IV-a representative of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics.

Art. 4º It is instituted, within the framework of the Department of the Child and the Adolescent, the National Program for Cooperation in the Return of Brazilian Children and Adolescents Abducted Internationally.

Art. 5º This Decree comes into force on January 7, 2002.

Brasilia, October 4, 2001 ; 180º of Independence and 113º of the Republic.

FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO

Jose Gregori