Another example of a country where the government bureaucrats noticed a problem and decided to do something about it. They inform the public about the consequences of a child abduction: emotional, psychological and (yes) legal as well.
British government, after noticing a 100% increase of international child abductions from their country, started a media campaign. They created a short video, which found its way to Youtube.com
No such luck with Poland. The Polish Ministry of Justice, which is the central authority for all international child abduction cases, has done NOTHING in last 2 decades. in improving the situation of cases coming to Poland. No education, no law change to improve the enforcement. The only reaction that a left behind parent may find from people working for the office of MoJ is … bullshit emails and empty broken promises.
When there is a problem in particular cases, and time to do some real work, these folks get “upset” and stop responding to any requests for further help. Currently, I am in a contact with such a father, who all of the sudden was treated by a cold shoulder by a judge-bureaucrat , because this desperate parent complained the way another judge in Warsaw, presiding over his Hague Convention case, removed an American consulate observer from the court proceedings, and pointing the fact, that whe started to ignore the Hague Convention law rules by treating the case as a normal custody proceedings.
Let’s remind folks, that this is the CONSTANT complaint by most of the foreign governments about Poland. Twenty years have passed and the same bureaucrats have not worked with Polish politicians to implement new law, train Polish judges in these not so complicated legal cases (notice – I didn’t use word “emotional”, which certainly these cases are full of). Ordering a left behind parent living abroad to provide a proof from a foreign police department that a parent abductor would not face any legal ramifications, is beyond comprehension, or legality for that matter. It clearly shows how little regard, or legal knowledge, such judge has, all under the umbrella of “judicial independence” (in Poland, the shortcut for “F…k you, I can do whatever I please, and you can kiss my alabaster ass” arrogance). Sure, there is always an appeal, but even those judges are many times as arrogant and as willing to break the law, as some “nobody” judge from a regional court, indeed.
For years, I have been campaigning with people working for the Ministry of Justice to propose a new law, that would create a limited number of dedicated courts in Poland, to handle just such cases. No such luck. NOBODY wants to take a chance to be seen as a radical, or somebody who can thing “outside the box” (that would be even more dangerous for his/her career, where a mediocrity is a virtue, not a sin).
I doubt, that these folks have even written any proposal, and ask their bosses for any change; I guess, every new Minister of Justice that was being installed during last decade (and boy, they have been changing these people as often as most of us our underwear) was busing taking bribes on public contracts,instead of doing their real jobs.
I doubt, that they proposed the changes to the law to criminalize an act of hiding of a child by the other parent, that was ordered to be returned abroad. No, this would not sound good for the Polish nationalistic sentiments of different sort of media outlets. Total incompetence and stagnation. Same people, taking more and more money, for doing the same mindless work of shuffling papers, emails and faxes, with NO RESPONSIBILITIES taken what so ever; waiting possibly, until the retirement time arrives. Pathetic indeed Mr. … you know,whom I’m taLKing about.