On September 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of State issued its annual “action report” outlining the specific actions that the U.S. government has taken with regard to the countries it listed in its June 2022 compliance report. Learn more about the compliance report and read it here.

Included in the September 2022 action report are concrete steps, such as meetings, that the U.S. government took with respect to the foreign governments of those countries who were considered not compliant with returning children abducted from the United States. Proximate to the release of the compliance report, the U.S. government delivered demarches to each of these foreign governments. [“A demarche is a formal diplomatic representation of one government’s official position, views, or wishes on a given subject to an appropriate official in another government or international organization.  Demarches generally seek to persuade, inform, or gather information from a foreign government.  Governments may also use a demarche to protest or object to actions by a foreign government.” 7 FAM 034]

The action report, like the compliance report, is mandated by the International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act.