[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 11, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S2164]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 37--A BILL CALLING ON OFFICIALS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF 
BRAZIL AND THE FEDERAL COURTS OF BRAZIL TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS 
OF THE CONVENTION ON THE CIVIL ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION 
 AND TO ASSIST IN THE SAFE RETURN OF SEAN GOLDMAN TO HIS FATHER, DAVID 
                                GOLDMAN

  Mr. LAUTENBERG submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 37

       Whereas Sean Goldman is the son of David Goldman and Bruna 
     Goldman, and is a United States citizen and a resident of 
     Tinton Falls, New Jersey;
       Whereas Bruna Goldman took Sean Goldman to Brazil on June 
     16, 2004;
       Whereas, after Bruna and Sean Goldman arrived in Brazil, 
     Bruna Goldman informed David Goldman that she would remain 
     permanently in Brazil and would not return Sean Goldman to 
     David Goldman in New Jersey;
       Whereas, on August 26, 2004, the Superior Court of New 
     Jersey issued a ruling awarding David Goldman physical and 
     legal custody of Sean Goldman and ordering that Sean Goldman 
     be immediately returned to the United States;
       Whereas David Goldman initiated judicial proceedings in the 
     Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro, under the Convention on the 
     Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, done at the 
     Hague October 25, 1980 (TIAS 11670) (the ``Convention''), to 
     which both the United States and Brazil are parties;
       Whereas the Convention requires that a child who is a 
     habitual resident of a country that is a party to the 
     Convention, and who has been removed from or retained in a 
     country that is also a party to the Convention in violation 
     of the custodial rights of a parent of that child, be 
     returned to the country of habitual residence;
       Whereas, despite the petition filed in the Federal Court of 
     Rio de Janeiro by David Goldman for the return of his child, 
     less than one year after Sean Goldman was taken to Brazil, 
     David Goldman was prevented from exercising his legal custody 
     of Sean Goldman by rulings of the Federal Regional Court and 
     the 3rd Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Brazil;
       Whereas Bruna Goldman passed away in August 2008, and her 
     new husband filed a petition to replace the name of David 
     Goldman with his own name on the birth certificate of Sean 
     Goldman;
       Whereas the new husband of Bruna Goldman filed a petition 
     for custody of Sean Goldman with the 2nd Family Court of 
     Brazil on August 28, 2008;
       Whereas the 2nd Family Court of Brazil granted temporary 
     custody to the new husband of Bruna Goldman, despite specific 
     provisions in the Convention that prohibit action by a family 
     court while a case brought under the Convention is pending;
       Whereas Sean Goldman remains in the temporary custody of 
     the new husband of Bruna Goldman;
       Whereas David Goldman traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 
     in October 2008 for court-approved visitation with Sean 
     Goldman;
       Whereas the new husband of Bruna Goldman failed to present 
     Sean Goldman for such visitation;
       Whereas the Convention requires the Government of Brazil 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 Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro has failed to 
     comply with the obligations of the Government of Brazil under 
     article 11 of the Convention by failing to expeditiously 
     adjudicate the petition of David Goldman under the 
     Convention;
       Whereas it is customary under international law to 
     adjudicate a petition under the Convention within six weeks;
       Whereas the Department of State reported in the 2008 report 
     on compliance with the Convention, as required under section 
     2803 of the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 
     1998 (42 U.S.C. 11611), that the judicial authorities of 
     Brazil ``continued to demonstrate patterns of noncompliance 
     with the Convention'';
       Whereas the Special Secretariat for Human Rights of the 
     Presidency of the Republic of Brazil, the central authority 
     for carrying out the Convention in Brazil, wrote to the 
     Office of the Attorney General of Brazil to express concern 
     with the manner in which the 2d Family Court of Brazil 
     conducted the case of Sean Goldman and to state that the 
     issuance of temporary custody rights by the 2d Family Court 
     of Brazil was a violation of the Convention;
       Whereas Sean Goldman is being deprived of his rightful 
     opportunity to live with and be raised by his biological 
     father, David Goldman; and
       Whereas it is consistent with international law that Sean 
     Goldman be reunited with his father, David Goldman, in New 
     Jersey: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate calls on officials of the 
     Government of Brazil and the federal courts of Brazil--
       (1) to fulfill the obligations of Brazil under the 
     Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child 
     Abduction, done at the Hague October 25, 1980 (TIAS 11670); 
     and
       (2) to assist in the safe return of Sean Goldman to his 
     father, David Goldman, in the United States.

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