The Council of Europe, an international organisation comprising the European parliamentary democracies, is endeavouring to keep a close watch on developments in member states in order to detect as soon as possible new needs and identify subjects suitable for co-operation at European level. Among these subjects, legal co-operation in the field of family law plays an important role taking into account that it is dealing with issues closely linked to the private lives of all persons. On the other hand, it should also be borne in mind that some problems concerning the family cannot be solved only in a national framework because, by their very nature, they go beyond national frontiers (e.g. an improper removal of a child by a parent across a border). (more...)