Last year more than 500 children were kidnapped from UK and brought abroad illegally.
In 2008, there were 336 cases of child abduction reported to authorities, which showed an increase of 20% on 2005 figures. According to the police, most of the abducted children are taken to Pakistan. However there still exist other abduction hotspots like, USA, Ireland, Spain, Australia, France and Egypt.
Usually the difference in parents nationality can urge abduction after their divorce. Now is peak abduction season, as children are taken abroad during the school summer holidays and not returned.
Usually, the cases aren't publicised as they are dealt with in the family courts where reporting restrictions apply to any cases involving the welfare of minors. But they are becoming increasingly common – when the Guardian spent a day in a family court in London recently, eight out of 14 cases heard involved child abduction.
The increase in cases is an "inevitable consequence of greater migration", according to Andy Elvin, chief executive of the charity International Social Services, which helps parents secure the return of their children.
"Child abduction is a growing trend as we have an increasing number of families where at least one parent is originally from overseas," he said.
Denise Carter, director of Reunite, a UK charity specialising in international parental child abduction, said: "The increase in international travel and more and more people travelling on short-term contracts and changing their habitual residence also has an effect."
Figures from Reunite show that since 1995, the number of children abducted from Britain and taken to another country has risen by 93%.
The government's figures clearly show the effect of EU enlargement. For example, until Latvia joined the EU in 2004, there had been no reported cases of children being abducted there from the UK in the previous four years. But in 2005, three cases were reported, and there has been at least one new instance every year since.
Similarly, while there were no reported abductions to Poland in 2003, the year before the country's EU entry, there were 10 in 2006 and 2008. "We expect to see more and more cases from countries like Poland as the years go on and more couples marry, have children and get divorced," said Elvin.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "When there is no international mechanism in place, usually the left-behind parent's only option [other than trying to come to an agreement with the other parent] is to file a case in the courts of the country where their child has been taken.
However, pursuing such a case will often be expensive and there is no guarantee the courts will decide that the child should be returned to the UK."
