INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC IN MINORS (B-57) Adopted at Mexico, D.F., Mexico, on March 18, 1994, at the Fifth Inter-American Specialized Conference on Private International Law (CIDIP-V) The States Parties to this Convention, CONSIDERING the importance of ensuring comprehensive and effective protection for minors, through appropriate mechanisms to guarantee respect for their rights; AWARE that the international traffic in minors is a universal concern; TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION conventions on international protection of minors, particularly the provisions of Articles 11 and 35 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on November 20, 1989; CONVINCED of the need to regulate civil and penal aspects of the international traffic in minors; and REAFFIRMING the importance of international cooperation to achieve effective protection of the best interests of minors, Have agreed upon the following: CHAPTER ONE GENERAL PROVISIONS Article 1 The purpose of the present Convention, with a view to protection of the fundamental rights of minors and their best interests, is the prevention and punishment of the international traffic in minors as well as the regulation of its civil and penal aspects. Accordingly, the States Parties to this Convention undertake to: a) ensure the protection of minors in consideration of their best interests; b) institute a system of mutual legal assistance among the States Parties, dedicated to the prevention and punishment of the international traffic in minors, as well as adopt related administrative and legal provisions to that effect; and c) ensure the prompt return of minors who are victims of international traffic to the State of their habitual residence, bearing in mind the best interests of the minors. Article 2 This Convention shall apply to any minor who is habitually resident in a State Party or is located in a State Party at the time when an act of international traffic occurs in respect of him or her. For the purpose of the present Convention: a) "Minor" means any human being below the age of eighteen.

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