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A BBC documentary – ‘Mums on the Run: failed by the Family Court’ revealed the desperation of mothers who flee to Northern Cyprus in an attempt to safeguard themselves and their children. In doing so, they leave their families and friends, their homes, and their jobs. Many end up in poverty, trapped in the country they have fled to. They are criminalised, labelled as abductors. 

This article, co-authored by HM team members Dr Elizabeth Dalgarno, Dr Rima Hussein, and Ruth Dineen, looks at what has gone so wrong in our courts that exile is seen as a solution.

Last October 10th and 11th, we stood outside the Eighth Hague Special Commission meeting,  handing out a copy of our Hague Mothers’ booklet to the 100+ delegates as they arrived. We asked them to work with us to end the abuse and heartache suffered by mothers and children whose only crime is ‘being a victim of domestic violence in a foreign country’.

The booklet is dedicated to loving mothers across the world whose lives have been decimated by the Hague Abduction Convention. 

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed.

Download the Hague Mothers Booklet here.

Narkis Golan was a protective mother who took her Hague Convention case all the way to the US Supreme Court. Seven judges found unanimously that both she and her young son were victims of severe and persistent domestic violence at the hands of the child’s Italian father. And that her son would be at ‘grave risk’ if forced to return to Italy.

Nonetheless, the lower court Hague judge continues to ignore both the Supreme Court judgment, and allegations that the abuse has not stopped. A report by NBC News in June 2023, stated that physical violence has been targeted at the child during court ordered visitations, despite there being an order of protection against the child’s father. 

Unconscionably, it seems that the judge intends to force the child back to Italy, away from the loving aunt who has cared for him since his mother’s untimely death, and in to a situation of grave risk and continuing trauma. The court will convene in less than a week.

Please sign and share our petition which calls on President Giorgia Meloni and the Italian Government to protect Narkis’s son, and retract the Hague petition presented by this known abuser. 

An overview of the injustices of the Hague Convention by trauma expert (and US team member) Louise Godbold for Culturico.

Read the article here.

Image is shared from article

Hague expert and activist (and HM Australia team member) Gina Masterton was recently asked about the Convention. She has given us permission to publish her eloquent and comprehensive reply:

I’m not opposed to the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention (HCAC) not being amended, as it works well for its original purpose i.e. cases involving fathers abducting their children over international borders. Those are the only cases that the HCAC should be applied to. It should NOT be invoked and enforced against mothers who flee abuse perpetrated against them and/or their children by their child’s father or his family, or in cases where children have witnessed abuse perpetrated by their father or his family against their mother.

However, if the HCAC is to continue to be applied in domestic violence related cases where protective mothers have rescued themselves and their child from abuse, then the exceptions embedded in the HCAC must be amended to focus on protecting abused mothers and children, not on persecuting them.

First: the exception allowing children to have a voice about who they live with must be made more available. The test must not be so hard to satisfy, children’s feelings and experiences must be genuinely listened to, and their testimony must not be so easily disregarded by judges. 

Second: no Indigenous / First Nations child is to ever be returned by any court under the HCAC.

Third: the best interests of individual children are to be taken into account by Hague judges in each case involving evidence of domestic abuse/violence perpetrated by a father against a mother/child. Also, regarding the grave risk of harm/intolerable situation exception, judges must be made aware that abuse or violence committed against a mother or her child by the child’s father is equivalent to a grave risk of harm or intolerable situation for that child. In these circumstances, no return order for a child must be made by any judge or judges. 

Fourth: once an exception is evidenced and accepted by the court, no ‘discretion’ can be used by Hague judges to override this defence and make a return order anyway. The ‘discretionary power’ of judges is often used to violate the civil and human rights of women and children, and the rule of law. It must be limited.

Fifth: any independent children’s lawyer (ICL) appointed must be approved by both parents or their legal representatives. In so many cases ICLs take the side of the Central Authority since, in most countries, they are paid by the government.

Sixth: all respondent mothers in Hague cases must have their legal fees paid for by the government of the country that is hearing the Hague application and they should be able to chose their own legal representatives. Both parties should have their legal fees paid for by the government.

Seventh: no conditions, promises or undertakings are to be attached by judges to any return orders ever. They are unenforceable and put mothers who return with their children in danger of poverty, homelessness, isolation, further abuse and even death at the hands of their abusive ex partners. 

Eighth: no country should be allowed to jail a mother for rescuing herself and her child from abuse. The HCAC is an administrative law, not a criminal law. 

Ninth: if mothers do have to return to dangerous situations with their children, they should be afforded all the protection that the authorities in that country can offer, with free follow-up by social workers, medical professionals, community assistance and government help. Women who are not legal residents/citizens of a country they have fled from, and now have to return to, should be afforded all the resources available to refugees in any country, as they are in fact, refugees in their abuser’s country, returning to no home, no money, no employment, no friends/family, to face the abuser they fled from. 

Tenth: no domestic family court should be permitted to grant a father full legal and physical custody of a child in a mother’s absence. No parental orders should be made until the mother returns (if she returns) and, in those cases, a mother should never have less than 50% legal and physical custody of the child. Violation of such orders by a father should be dealt strictly by any court as a breach.

Mothers and their supporters were in The Hague today as delegates from all parts of the world arrived for the Eighth Meeting of the Special Commission on the practical operation of the Hague (HCCH) Child Abduction Convention.

The Convention was set up in 1980 to address civil aspects of cross-border child abductions. It aims to protect children by providing a system of cooperation between Contracting Parties and a procedure for the swift return of the child to their State of habitual residence. The Convention is based on the principle that nthe return of a wrongfully removed or retained child is in their interests, unless one of the exceptions applies, including the “grave risk” exception established in Article 13(1)(b). 

While originally it was primarily non-custodial fathers who abducted or retained their children abroad, nowadays in over 75% of the cases it is primary-carer mothers who are taking their children, mostly back to their country of origin, often in order to escape domestic abuse. 

This change of pattern involves inherent risks for a safe return of mothers and their children, in particular in situations when the ‘left behind’ father is a perpetrator of domestic abuse. 

These important matters will be addressed by the Special Commission meeting.

In the margins of the meeting, representatives of GlobalARRK and Hague Mothers, two charities working to support and safeguard mothers and children in these circumstances, handed a global #ProtectHagueVictims petition with over 37,000 signatures to the Secretary General of the HCCH, Dr Christophe Bernasconi. Receiving the petition, the Secretary General said that he did so ‘as an expression of respect and empathy for the mothers and families who have endured the pain and trauma of domestic violence’. He also committed ‘to listen, empathise, and understand the gravity’ of their experiences, and to remain available for discussions beyond the Special Commission meeting.

The petition was created by GlobalARRK in partnership with: FiLiA Hague Mothers; New Zealand Hague Collective; Ark of Hope, Australia; Hague Collective, US; Sanctuary for Families, US; Hague Mothers Japan; Maes de Haia, Brazil; Revibra, Europe/ Brazil; and Far From Home, India. The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls had also sent a letter to the HCCH regarding the operation of the Child Abduction Convention in cases involving domestic violence.

Mothers impacted by the Hague Abduction Convention, EU Hague Mothers and Pinay sa Holland – Gabriela, were also represented at the event.

Petition Link: www.change.org/ProtectHagueVictims

Media Contact: Ruth Dineen Hague@FiLiA.org.uk | Roz Osborne: roz@globalarrk.org

Ahead of the October Special Session on the 1980 Child Abduction Convention, we have sent this open letter, signed by over 90 international experts, with the following requests: 

1. A recognition, reflected in the summary and conclusions of the Special Session, that improvement is needed in the implementation of the Hague Abduction Convention for survivors of domestic abuse who flee for safety with their children. A commitment by the Permanent Bureau and State Parties to improve matters in this regard.

2. An agreement, reflected in the summary and conclusions of the Special Session, to assemble a new working group with the specific purpose of advancing improvements to the application of the Hague Abduction Convention for this population. 

We have received a very positive interim reply from the Secretary-General in which he has agreed to circulate the letter to all delegates, and assured us that the issue of domestic violence in relation to Article 13b (grave risk) will be on the agenda. 

He has also offered to meet with us to discuss the concerns we have raised.

Our thanks to every one of the signatories.

Thanks too to UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur Sexual Exploitation of Children Mama Fatima Singhateh, and UN Special Rapporteur Torture Dr Alice Edwards, for their letter to the The Hague Conference which raises similar concerns (see update here). 

We are particularly grateful to Reem Alsalem for her advice to, and ongoing support for, our campaign.