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In 1993, The Hague passed the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. This legislation was passed in order to insure a uniform standard by which intercountry adoption were carried out, and to ensure that such adoptions were in the best interest of the children involved. This legislation also seeks to put a stop to the trafficking and outright sale of children.

• Passage of this legislation by The Hague did not force member nations to accept it unilaterally. Each member nation must individually ratify it and agree to its terms.

The Hague is a building located in the Netherlands. It began life modestly enough as a hunting lodge and was expanded to become the royal residence and the seat of legislative power in the Netherlands. The Hague has a long tradition of hosting the signing of peace treaties, dating back to the 1600's.

The Hague Convention came into being on July 29, 1899 when a peace treaty was signed for the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. An important element of this convention was the establishment of a permanent 'Court of Arbitration' which would sit in The Hague.

• In 1900 Andrew Carnegie financed the building of the Peace Palace, to house the court.

This court was charged with mediating international disputes. Since its inception, the court has issued a series of conventions and protocols. These have covered a wide range of issues including war, slavery, neutrality, the use of biological weapons, standardization of international documents, intercountry adoptions, and matters related to child abductions.

• In 1946, the United Nations took over control of the Court of Arbitration and renamed it the International Court of Justice.

Legally, the court acts more as a mediator than as a court with enforcement power. In this regard, The Hague cannot force a country to follow its rulings. Voluntarily, each country must ratify the convention, or agree to abide by its terms. Therefore, each Hague convention is only enforceable between those countries that have agreed to be bound by its rulings.

In the case of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, many countries have yet to ratify it – including the U.S. When a country fails to ratify a Hague convention, it does not necessarily mean that they disagree with the intent of the convention. It may be that they see its rulings as a restriction upon their own sovereignty. Ratification can also be delayed due to difficulties incorporating the Hague legislation with a country's existing laws.

Canada ratified the Intercountry Adoption Convention in 1997. However, in doing so, it became necessary for each province and territory to pass new legislation that would enable them to adhere to the dictates of the convention. Ratification also necessitated changes in Canada's immigration laws.

• By ratifying the convention, Canada made it easier, and cheaper, for its citizens to adopt children from other countries.

In 1994, the U.S. signed onto the convention, stating that the U.S. intended to ratify the convention. To date, the U.S. has failed to meet this obligation. However, ratification is still under consideration. The ratification bill is wending its way through congress and is currently in the House of Representatives. It is being debated as the Intercountry Adoption Act of 1999. An additional amendment, the Gilman-Geidenson Amendment, was added to this bill in March of 2000.

• When, and if, the U.S. ratifies the convention, the process of foreign adoptions will become simplified. This simplification will involve not only the process of actually adopting the child, but also of streamlining the child's acquisition of American citizenship.
• Ratification of the convention will provide a mechanism by which custody cases between parents of different nationalities can be settled. It will also help reunite U.S. parents with their children when the children have been abducted by a non-custodial parent and taken to another country.
• Another aspect of the ratification would be that non-U.S. parents could more easily adopt children that are U.S. citizens.
• Ratification would also ensure that intercountry adoptions are officially recognized by the countries involved.
• However, according to the American Adoption Congress, the wording of current ratification legislation is not adequate to implement the convention. Therefore, they are urging lawmakers to rectify the deficiencies inherent in HR2909, and to thereafter pass the legislation.