David Hodson on International Family Law: Madeleine McCann and Amber Alerts

Published today is Madeleine (Bantam Press 2011) by Kate McCann. It tells the hugely sad disappearance of Madeleine McCann four years ago and the continued search for her. Today is her eighth birthday.

Child abduction by family members or strangers is such an inhumane crime and causes such devastation that much more can and should be done to prevent it by national agencies and governments and by international organisations. Means and sources of communication and notification are available now which did not exist even 10 years ago.

The EU with its unguarded national borders could quite easily introduce the equivalent of the highly successful US AMBER alert system combining local and national media police and port authorities and coordinated at national government level. Gerry and Kate McCann have had an appalling ordeal since their daughter Madeleine was abducted in May 2007 in Portugal and are campaigning for such a scheme across the EU. Some...

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