The Hague Abduction Convention and the enabling of abuse.
Submission to UNSR VAWG.
Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls recently completed a fact-finding visit to the UK. Our submission included the stories of two Hague mothers whose lives and freedom of movement are now entirely controlled by their abusive ex-partners, enabled by international law.
“I fear that freedom from his abuse may never come. If there are children involved, abusers know that they can still manipulate and control our lives through the legal system, finances, and the children themselves.”
Our proposals included:
- an automatic right to legal aid for ‘taking parents’
- mandated training in domestic abuse for both judges and lawyers dealing with Hague cases.
- changes to the implementation of the Convention in the UK to ensure that the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985 is compatible with the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. This particularly relates to the definition of domestic abuse, and the recognition that children living with domestic abuse are victims in their own right.
Our thanks to the mothers who shared their stories with us.
