Decision of the Court of Cassation, I Civil Section, No. 16648 of 29 April 2014

The international abduction of a child occurs if a child is removed from his habitual residence. In a case concerning the alleged abduction of a child by his father (an Italian national), the Court of cassation found that the judges on the merits had ascertained, correctly, that the habitual residence of the child was in Italy, with his father; and their decision was in conformity with the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction of 1980 (executed in Italy through law No. 64/1994). Moreover the judges on the merits had duly taken into account the ‘best interest of the child’ and the principle of hearing children when taking decisions that affect them and, thus, observing the relevant provisions of the New York Convention on the Rights of the Child.