Summary & score
Thailand is a Contracting Party to the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention, in force since 2002-11-01 (Accession), with an Article 38 acceptance check required for some country pairs. Its provisional Index score reflects the categories that can currently be measured — chiefly transparency and participation — while return-outcome and cost data remain unpublished (see limitations).
Ranking breakdown
Show the exact calculation
Only categories with evidence enter the score; unmeasured categories are excluded (not scored as zero), then the remaining weights are renormalised. See the methodology.
What helped: —. What hurt: a weak/uncertain return-outcome signal.
Cooperation basis: U.S. IPCA 2024: 'cooperative relationship,' but 'delays in communication from the Thai Central Authority in the past have jeopardized the timely filing of Convention applications.' Not cited for a pattern of noncompliance. U.S.-proxy
Transparent calculation object (per component, with verification)
| Component | Normalized (0–100) | Weight | Weighted pts | Scored (driver)? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return effectiveness | 46.7 | 45% | 21 | ✓ yes |
| Speed & enforcement | null | 30% | — | ✓ yes |
| Cooperation & compliance | 60 | 15% | 9 | ✓ yes |
| Transparency | 0 | 0% | 0 | — |
| Cost efficiency | null | 0% | — | — |
| Data quality & confidence | 65 | 10% | 6.5 | ✓ yes |
v2 overall = weighted blend of the measured DRIVER categories (Return effectiveness 45, Speed & enforcement 30, Cooperation 15, Data quality 10), renormalised over those with evidence. Transparency and Cost are shown for context but are NOT drivers (weight 0). A country with no return-outcome or timeliness evidence is "insufficient", not scored.
Second verification (formula): displayed overall 52.2 vs. independently recomputed 52.2 → ✓ match.
Warnings: return effectiveness is U.S.-proxy (U.S.-related cases only), not the country’s global outcomes; return effectiveness from a very small sample (N=4); shrunk toward the baseline; cost_per_returned_child relies on PROXY / estimated return data — indicative only; cooperation signal is U.S.-perspective proxy (U.S.-related cases only).
Machine-readable object for every country: calculations.json.
Quick facts
| Hague 1980 status | Contracting Party · in force 2002-11-01 · Accession |
|---|---|
| Article 38 check | Yes — confirm acceptance for your specific country pair |
| EU member state | No |
| Central authority | Office of the Attorney General — International Affairs Department — Office of the Attorney General of Thailand |
| Latest data year | 2021 (HCCH statistical study) |
| Data scope | HCCH 2021 survey not answered — per-country data is U.S.-proxy only |
| Budget transparency | No public budget line located |
Case outcomes
U.S.-related cases only (CY2024) proxy data
U.S.-related cases only — four return cases involving four children in CY2024; two resolved, two open at year end. This is NOT Thailand's global caseload and 'resolved' does not necessarily mean the child was returned.
| Return cases | Resolved | Open at year end | Children |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 (50%) | 2 | 4 |
One access case involving two children (opened 2023) was resolved by year end.
Source: U.S. Department of State, Office of Children's Issues — Annual Report on International Child Abduction 2025 (reporting on calendar year 2024) E2 · proxy. “Resolved” is not the same as “returned.” This covers only cases involving the United States.
Speed & enforcement
No per-country timing data is published for Thailand. No per-country timing data; the U.S. did not request location assistance in 2024 and reported one case before the Thai judiciary.
Public cost & cost efficiency
| Direct Central Authority cost estimated | 1,150,000–9,720,000 THB ≈ $32,200–$272,160 |
|---|---|
| Broad public implementation cost estimated | 2,300,000–29,160,000 THB ≈ $64,400–$816,480 |
| Returned children (denominator) | not usable proxy U.S.-proxy only (2024): 2 of 4 U.S.-related return cases resolved — NOT necessarily physical returns and NOT global. A cost-per-returned-child figure is not meaningfully computable. |
| Cost per returned child (broad, est.) | Not meaningfully computable insufficient return data |
| Cost per active case (est.) | n/a |
| International public support | Not an EU member; pays an HCCH assessed contribution (amount not public). No inbound international public support located. |
FTE 2–6 × fully-loaded cost 500,000–1,200,000 THB × overhead 1.15–1.35 → direct; × broad multiplier 2–3 → broad public cost. FX THB→USD 0.028 (2026-07, approx). Budget transparency 0.05/1.
Sources: UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office / HCCH Central Authorities directory — Thailand Central Authority — Office of the Attorney General, International Affairs Department (Child abduction in Thailand) E2 · official · OECD — Average annual wages / general government compensation (loaded-cost benchmark) E3 · secondary · U.S. Department of State, Office of Children's Issues — Annual Report on International Child Abduction 2025 (reporting on calendar year 2024) E2 · proxy
Central authority & legal system
Office of the Attorney General — International Affairs Department verified
Office of the Attorney General of Thailand
| Implementing law | Child Abduction Act B.E. 2555 (2012) — Thailand's implementing legislation for the 1980 Convention. |
|---|---|
| Court structure | The Central Juvenile and Family Court (Bangkok) hears return applications. |
| Appeals | Appeals within the juvenile and family court system — detail not independently verified. |
| Enforcement | Enforcement mechanism not independently verified; requesting states have reported communication delays. |
| Legal aid | Availability for Convention cases not independently verified. |
| Mediation / voluntary return | Not independently verified. |
International support
HCCH provides the multilateral framework, statistical studies, and the Malta Process. Per-country funding amounts from the EU, HCCH, UN, or Council of Europe are not published as discrete line items and are recorded as a data gap.
Transparency assessment
| Responded to HCCH 2021 statistical survey | No |
|---|---|
| Reports incoming & outgoing flows | No |
| Reports access cases | No |
| Dedicated budget line | Unknown — not located |
| Return-outcome / enforcement disclosure | Not published per-country (global aggregate only) |
| Transparency score | 0 / 100 |
Did not respond to the HCCH 2021 statistical survey (absent from the responding-states table).
Data quality & limitations
- Full ranking withheld: Thailand did not respond to the HCCH statistical survey, so there is no uniform E1 data.
- The only per-country data is U.S.-proxy (four U.S.-related cases in 2024).
- Central-Authority identity and legal-framework details are not yet independently verified.
- No public Central-Authority budget line located.
Confidence: Medium (0.56) — confidence reflects the strength and breadth of evidence, separately from performance. A low confidence means "we cannot yet fully evaluate," not "this country performs badly."
Sources & evidence
| Source | Publisher | Tier | Supports |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status table — 1980 Child Abduction Convention (cid=24) | Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) | E1 · official | hague_1980_status, entry_into_force_date, accession_or_ratification_type, article_38_acceptance_required |
| Prel. Doc. No 19A — Statistical study of applications made in 2021 (5th Global Study, updated Sept 2024) | HCCH (Prof. Nigel Lowe & Victoria Stephens) | E1 · official | caseload, transparency_survey_participation, global_return_rate, average_resolution_days, outcome_distribution |
| Central Authorities directory — 1980 Convention (cid=24) | HCCH | E1 · official | central_authority |
| Annual Report on International Child Abduction 2025 (reporting on calendar year 2024) | U.S. Department of State, Office of Children's Issues | E2 · proxy | cooperation, speed_proxy, us_related_case_counts |
| 1980 Hague Convention, Article 11 (six-week decision aspiration) | HCCH | E1 · official | speed_benchmark |
FOIA / public-records questions
Tailored requests that would raise Thailand's confidence score and unlock the return-outcome and cost categories:
- Which government body is Thailand's designated Central Authority under the 1980 Convention, and what are its verified contacts?
- What implementing legislation governs 1980 Convention cases, and where is the official text published?
- How many incoming and outgoing Convention applications did Thailand handle in each of the last five years?
- How many children were physically returned under the Convention in each of the last five years?
- Why did Thailand not respond to the HCCH 2021 statistical survey, and will it respond to the next study?
- What is the Central Authority's annual budget and FTE count for Convention casework?
- What is the average time from application to first-instance decision at the Central Juvenile and Family Court?
- What steps are being taken to address the communication delays noted by requesting states?
- Is legal aid available to left-behind parents in Convention proceedings, and at what public cost?
- Does Thailand publish any national Hague Convention statistics?
Use the data
Machine-readable data for every country: countries.json · rankings.json · rankings.csv · sources.json. Last updated 2026-07-06. Cite as: “SafeReturn Alliance, Hague Return Accountability Index (provisional), 2026-07-06.”