Whereas, on May 25, 2000, Sean Goldman was born in Red
Bank, New Jersey, the son of David Goldman and Bruna Bianchi Ribeiro Goldman
who were married in New Jersey in 1999;
Whereas Sean Goldman lived with his parents the first four
years of his life in Tinton Falls, New Jersey;
Whereas, on June 16, 2004, Sean and his mother Mrs.
Goldman left together with Mrs. Goldman’s parents for a planned vacation to
Mrs. Goldman’s parents’ home in Brazil;
Whereas upon her arrival in Brazil, Mrs. Goldman called
Mr. Goldman to advise him that their marriage was over and that she would not
be returning Sean to his home in New Jersey;
Whereas Mr. Goldman has been trying unsuccessfully since
June 17, 2004, to secure the return of his son from Brazil;
Whereas, on August 26, 2004, the Superior Court of New
Jersey awarded custody to Mr. Goldman, ordered Mrs. Goldman and her parents to
immediately return Sean to the United States, and indicated to Mrs. Goldman and
her parents that their continued behavior under United States law constituted
parental kidnapping;
Whereas, on September 3, 2004, Mr. Goldman filed an
application for the immediate return of Sean to the United States under the
1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
(the “Hague Convention”);
Whereas the Federal Republic of Brazil acceded to the
Hague Convention on October 19, 1999, and the Hague Convention entered into
force between Brazil and the United States on December 1, 2003;
Whereas, pursuant to article 12 of the Hague Convention,
the judicial authority of Brazil was required to order Sean’s return to the
United States “forthwith,” customarily defined under international law as
within six weeks after an application for return has been filed;
Whereas, on October 13, 2005, the Brazilian court refused
to return Sean in contravention of Brazil’s obligations under the Hague
Convention even though it found that Sean was a habitual resident of the United
States and, pursuant to international law, had been wrongfully removed and
retained in Brazil;
Whereas, on August 19, 2005, the Superior Court of New
Jersey found both Mrs. Goldman and her parents to be in willful contempt of the
court’s orders and further found Mrs. Goldman’s continued retention of Sean
actionable under the International Parental Kidnapping and Crime Act of 1993 as
well as New Jersey’s criminal statutes;
Whereas the contempt of Ms. Goldman and her family
continued after the court’s August 19, 2005, order and Mr. Goldman was afforded
no contact with his son;
Whereas Mrs. Goldman obtained a divorce from Mr. Goldman
without notice through the Brazilian courts and soon thereafter married João
Paulo Lins e Silva;
Whereas, on August 22, 2008, Mrs. Goldman tragically
passed away during childbirth leaving Sean without a mother and separated from
his biological father in the United States;
Whereas in September 2008, Mr. Goldman traveled to Brazil
to visit and rightfully reclaim full custody of his son, Sean;
Whereas, upon his arrival, Mr. Goldman learned that Mr.
Lins e Silva had petitioned the Brazilian courts for custody rights over Sean
and also had secretly petitioned the Brazilian courts to replace Mr. Goldman’s
name with his own name on a new birth certificate to be issued to Sean Goldman,
despite the fact that Mr. Goldman, not Mr. Lins e Silva, is Sean’s biological
father;
Whereas in October 2008, Mr. Lins e Silva failed to make
Sean available for a visitation ordered by the Brazilian Federal Court with his
father, and absconded with Sean for the duration of the scheduled
visitation;
Whereas Brazilian law enforcement did not provide Mr.
Goldman with Sean’s location during the visitation ordered by the Brazilian
court and did not enforce the visitation order, even though they were informed
about Mr. Lins e Silva’s failure to make Sean available for the
visitation;
Whereas, the Government of Brazil, through the Hague
Convention, is obligated to “take all appropriate measures to secure within
[its territory] the implementation of the objects of the Convention,” and “to
use the most expeditious procedures available”;
Whereas the judicial authority of Brazil has failed to
comply with its obligations under article 11 of the Hague Convention to
expeditiously order the return of Sean to the United States;
Whereas, the United States and Brazil, through the Hague
Convention, have expressed the firm conviction that “the interests of children
are of paramount importance in matters relating to their custody”;
Whereas, furthermore, the United States and Brazil have
expressed their desire, through the Hague Convention, “to protect children
internationally from the harmful effects of their wrongful removal or retention
and to establish procedures to ensure their prompt return to the State of their
habitual residence”;
Whereas the U.S. State Department determined in its 2008
Compliance Report to Congress for the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil
Aspects of International Child Abduction, as required under Public Law 105–277,
section 2803 (the “Hague Convention Compliance Report”), that Brazil “continued
to demonstrate patterns of noncompliance with the Convention in its judicial
performance”;
Whereas it is reported that there are nearly 50 cases in
which children who were habitual residents of the United States have been
wrongfully abducted to Brazil and have not been returned to the United States
as required under the Hague Convention; and
Whereas Sean is being deprived of his rightful opportunity
to live and be raised by his biological father, Sean could suffer developmental
and psychological consequences because of this unjust separation, and it is
consistent with international law to be reunited with his father in New Jersey
following the death of his mother: Now, therefore, be it
That—
(1)the House of
Representatives—
(A)calls on the central authority of Brazil to
immediately discharge all its duties under the Hague Convention by facilitating
and supporting Federal judicial proceedings as a matter of extreme urgency to
obtain the return of Sean Goldman to his father, David Goldman, for immediate
return to the United States; and
(B)calls upon the
Brazilian government to fulfill its obligation under international law to take
all other appropriate measures to secure within its territory the
implementation of the objects of the Hague Convention, and to use the most
expeditious procedures available, pursuant to article 2 of the Convention, in
the case of Sean Goldman as well as all other children from the United States
whose rights are not being respected under the Convention; and
(2)it is the sense of
the House of Representatives that the United States should—
(A)make the determination, through the United
States Department of State in its 2009 Hague Convention Compliance Report, that
Brazil is a “Country Not Compliant with the Convention”, given that Brazil
failed in all three performance areas of central authority performance,
judicial performance, and law enforcement performance for fiscal year 2008;
(B)review its
diplomatic procedures and the operations available to United States citizens
through its central authority under the Hague Convention to ensure that
effective assistance is provided to Mr. Goldman and other United States
citizens in obtaining the expeditious return of their children from Brazil and
other countries that have entered into the reciprocal obligations with the
United States under the Hague Convention; and
(C)take any and all
other appropriate measures to ensure that Hague Convention partners return
abducted children to the United States in compliance with the Hague
Convention’s provisions.