New Treaty Proposal on Safety for Survivors of Family Violence

Professor Merle Weiner is the Philip H. Knight Professor of Law at the University of Oregon, and a hugely appreciated member of our International Strategy Group. Her commitment to the protection of victim-survivors caught up in the Hague Abduction Convention has resulted in a number of important papers including the powerful You Can and You Should:  How Judges can Apply the Hague Abduction Convention to Protect Victims of Domestic Violence, published in 2021, and two FHM Expert Papers, one on the ‘grave risk exception’ and one on the inadequacy of Protective Measures.

Professor Weiner has now produced a compelling and eloquently-argued treaty proposal that would ‘fix the “domestic violence problem” that plagues the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction’. 

The proposal has been sent to signatory representatives across the world, and to the HCCH Secretary-General Christophe Bernasconi. We will be asking that the treaty proposal is considered at the Brazil Forum later this year.

The Convention on Safety offers a practical and effective way to safeguard mothers and children who are victim-survivors – of abuse and of the Hague Convention. It remains to be seen whether or not those in power are willing to act on it.

Read the treaty proposal here: Convention on Safety for Survivors of Family Violence Involved in International Custody Disputes, 46 Cardozo L. Rev. 1167 (2025).