§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received during the present Parliament about the abduction and taking abroad by their foreign-born fathers of the children of United Kingdom citizen mothers; what information he has of the numbers of such children and the countries where they are now believed to reside; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Eggar[pursuant to the reply, 23 May 1989, c. 455]: Foreign and Commonwealth consular records are kept on an individual case-by-case basis. However, it has been possible to identify 56 cases in which Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers have received, during the present Parliament, representations about British children who have been taken overseas or are being kept overseas against the wishes of their mothers in the United Kingdom.
The following table gives details of the number of cases together with the countries to which the children have been taken or in which they are believed to be being kept.
In five of these cases—one in Cyprus, two in the United States of America, one in Yemen Arab Republic and one in Yugoslavia—custody of one or more of the children concerned has now been restored to their mothers in the United Kingdom.
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Country Number of cases Afghanistan 1 Algeria 3 Chile 1 Cyprus 3 France 1 India 1 Iran 3 Libya 1
Country Number of cases Malaysia 1 Morocco 2 Netherlands 1 New Zealand 2 Pakistan 9 Saudi Arabia 4 Singapore 1 Spain 3 Sri Lanka 1 Thailand 1 United Arab Emirates 3 United States of America 9 Yemen Arab Republic 3 Yugoslavia 2