The council of advisers at its meeting has approved a proposal for Bangladesh to accede to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, 1980, aimed at addressing legal complications faced by Bangladeshi diaspora.

Chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus chaired the meeting at his Tejgaon office in Dhaka on Thursday, the chief adviser’s press wing said on Friday.

Explaining the ground of giving approval to the convention, the press wing said,  currently, approximately 15 million Bangladeshis live in different countries around the world. Many of them enter into marriages with foreign nationals.

In the absence of clear legal provisions, difficulties often arise regarding child custody when such marriages end in separation for any reason, the wing said, adding, with the approval of this proposal, complications related to child maintenance or visitation rights following separation are expected to be avoided.