Hague Mothers’ Project Team

Some of the women who are working with us have been involved for many years in the fight for justice, some are new to the campaign. Some have joined the project because of their personal experiences, others through knowing or hearing about mothers whose lives have been torn apart by the Convention.

Heartfelt thanks to all of you – including those who have to remain anonymous for reasons of personal safety.

*Our movement for justice is growing… we’ll update this page on a regular basis.

International Strategy Group

Our stellar International Strategy Group will work to increase our influence and effectiveness on a global stage. In addition to the members listed below, three Hague mothers have joined our International Strategy Group. They have experience of the Hague in South America, India, Europe and Australia, and have also amassed extensive expertise about the implementation of the Convention and its devastating impact on mothers and children. They have asked to remain anonymous. We are enormously grateful for their input.

Adrienne Barnett (UK)

Adrienne is a Reader in Law at Brunel University London, and Divisional Lead, Private and Commercial Law. She practised as a Family Law barrister in London for over 25 years. Her specialist area of research for the past 26 years has been domestic abuse and family court proceedings and, more recently, parental alienation. She has published widely on these issues and has presented papers at numerous academic and professional conferences in the UK and abroad. Adrienne was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice to undertake a literature review to support their inquiry into domestic abuse and family court proceedings, published in June 2020. She is a member of the Advisory Group of Rights of Women, a founder member of the SHERA Research Group, and a co-director of Right to Equality’s campaign to end the presumption of contact with abusive parents. Her current research projects include domestic abuse and parental alienation in family court proceedings, and Hague Convention judgments in England and Wales.

Sally Jackson (UK)

Sally Jackson is a volunteer, the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) lead and Trustee for FiLiA Women’s Rights Charity. She has worked in the VAWG sector for over 35 years in the local, national, and international arena. Sally developed the first health-based domestic abuse advocate service and one of the first domestic and sexual abuse advocate services in the UK. She delivers training to professionals from a wide variety of sectors including doctors, magistrates, and international Police Commanders and was an independent expert advisor on Gender for ODIHR on Freedom of Assembly. As a feminist she is passionate about not just responding to but preventing VAWG in the first place. She believes male violence against women is both a cause and consequence of women’s inequality and is passionate about making the world better for women.

Stephanie Brandt (US)

Stephanie Brandt MD is an Adult & Child Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst in private practice where her primary clinical focus is on complex diagnosis. She treats families in and out of litigation where domestic violence is a factor. She is an experienced forensic expert witness in child-focused litigation in both domestic (custody) and international litigation (Hague Convention). She has been appointed as a neutral expert witness in many cases in NY Family and Supreme court. In recent years she has concentrated on testimony in Hague Convention cases in both the EDNY and SDNY. Stephanie is also a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Hospital. She is a faculty member, supervising analyst, and Chair of the Ethics Committee at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute where she teaches ethics in clinical practice, child psychoanalytic technique, and theories of sexuality. Stephanie has published a volume on Domestic Violence in 2020 in the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies. Another volume on Misogyny is forthcoming this fall.

Merle Weiner (US)

Merle is the Philip H. Knight Professor and the founder of the Domestic Violence Clinic at the University of Oregon School of Law, of which she was the faculty director for twenty years. She is an expert in domestic abuse law, family law, international and comparative family law, family law policy and the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. She co-wrote the first US casebook on international and comparative family law, entitled ‘Family Law in the World Community’, which is now in its third edition. Her latest article, ‘You Can and You Should’, was written to help trial courts apply the Hague Abduction Convention justly when the respondent is a domestic violence survivor.

Yvette Cehtel (AUS)

Yvette is the CEO of Women’s Legal Service Tasmania, a specialist service for women with a focus on family violence, with 22 years post admission experience predominately in the legal assistance sector in Tasmania. Yvette has a Masters of Law in human rights and has dedicated her career to addressing structural inequalities. Yvette is also the Women’s Legal Service Australia representative on the National Women’s Safety Alliance.

Miranda Kaye (AUS)

Miranda is an Associate Professor at UTS law school in Sydney. She teaches and researches family law. Her research is interdisciplinary, drawing on socio-legal research methods to investigate real world impacts of family law principles and procedures. Miranda uses qualitative research methods to make recommendations for improved access to justice. For example, with UTS colleagues, Miranda completed a study funded by the Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) on the effects of self-representation in the Family Law Court in matters involving allegations of family violence. Miranda researched the Hague Convention and its impact on victims of domestic violence in the late 1990s and has revisited the issue over the last couple of years.

Nicole Fidler (US)

Nicole Fidler is the Director of the Pro Bono Project and the Narkis Golan Hague Convention and International Abduction Initiative at Sanctuary for Families, a New York-based non-profit organization dedicated to serving survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and other forms of gender-based violence. Nicole represents survivors seeking help with orders of protection, child custody, child support, and Hague Child Abduction cases. Nicole is the former co-chair of the New York City Bar Association’s Pro Bono & Legal Services Committee and a member of the Public Interest Pro Bono Association. She regularly trains on issues related to domestic violence and trauma.

Sudha Shetty (US)

Sudha is the founder and director of The Hague Domestic Violence Project at UC Berkeley. Her research focuses on the intersection of international child abduction and battered mothers. She has been working with judges, lawyers and academics across the US to create judicial benchguides and training, to protect women and their children from the unintended consequences of The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction. Sudha is a founding member and chair of Chaya, a grass-roots South Asian domestic violence prevention program in Seattle. She is the recipient the Father Drinan Award for forwarding the ethic of pro bono and public service in law schools through personal service, program design and management.

Mothers’ Expert Group

Our Mothers’ Expert Group helps ensure that we stay focused on the realities of the Convention, and on solutions which will help us achieve our collective goal. The group includes ‘stuck’ mothers, those whose experience of being ‘Hagued’ was a long time ago, and those who are currently fighting to protect their children and retain custody. Heartfelt thanks to them for their generosity in giving their time and energy to help with the campaign.

The majority have to remain anonymous. Others are listed in our Team Members’ section.

Team Members

Our team members support us in a host of ways; producing information and resources for Hague mothers and those at risk of becoming Hague mothers, extending our understanding of the impact of domestic violence, running undergraduate programmes on the HAC, producing training for organisations, helping us become more trauma-informed, heading up research, writing academic papers and media articles, hosting podcasts, lobbying politicians, raising awareness, and generally being wonderful.

Australia, New Zealand, Japan

Yvette Cehtel: see International Strategy Group.

Miranda Kay: see International Strategy Group.

Lisa Ogawa is Hague mother who successfully won her case...

…and now resides in her homeland with her child. She only learned first-hand how unprotected women and children are from family violence and how the Hague Convention and other family court systems are being used by the abusive fathers to continue their control over women and children. In Japan, the fathers’ rights movement has been ‘imported’ in recent decades. Fathers are pushing to change the family system that currently values primary caretakers – usually mothers – as the parent who holds parental authority post-divorce. Lisa’s Hague experience led her to connect with other survivors and experts, raise awareness, lead advocacy projects, and start campaigns to stop this change from happening. Lisa founded Hague Mothers Japan (https://hague-mother-japan.webflow.io), a volunteer organization to support Hague mothers in her home country.

Samantha Fill is a Hague mother, losing her case last year and returning with her child to the country they left due to family violence...

Samantha successfully won her relocation case and now resides back in her home country with her son.
Samantha works with Ministry for Children and frequently talks on her social media platform about The Hague Convention in hopes of raising awareness and empowering other mothers. She is in the process of starting up a charity in her home country with another Hague mother to help support other mothers, as well as raising awareness and encouraging legislative change to Article 13b of the Convention.

Gina Hope Masterton is a feminist and an activist for women’s human rights...

A former solicitor and barrister (Queensland, Australia), she is currently an Indigenous Post-Doctoral Researcher with the Queensland University of Technology Centre for Justice in Australia. Her research includes investigating how domestic and family violence affects women and children, specifically Indigenous women. Gina’s PhD looked at how The Hague Child Abduction Convention affects abused women and children.

Anna Kerr is a founder and Principal Solicitor of Feminist Legal Cinic Inc...

They are a community legal service based in Australia and is focused on advancing the human rights of women and children. She has been practising as a solicitor for 30 years and now specialises in domestic violence and discrimination law. She also coordinates a Women’s Court Support Service in the Sydney Family Court. Anna is also the Australian country contact for the Women’s Declaration International.

Tamara Kurata is a Hague mother whose decision to stay in the (then) Covid-free state of Western Australia...

Lily Fetter is a health professional and a family violence and social justice campaigner and advocate...

Lily is a health professional and a family violence and social justice campaigner and advocate. She draws on her own lived experience of surviving family violence, including ‘image-based abuse’ and multiple forms of systemic and legal abuse, including Victoria Police collusion, corruption and perjury. She is committed to being part of the change I want to see, to improve safety and support for women and children who are leaving, or who have left, violent or abusive relationships.

Janet Fraser is a mother, poet, historian and has been National Convenor of the Australian homebirth network, Joyous Birth since 2004...

She writes about feminism, history, human rights, birth and parenting. Janet is the convenor of the Feminist Legal Clinic and cofounded the NSW Women’s Guild in 2019. She was a winner of the Eva Bacon Award in 2021, given in honour of the Communist organiser Eva Bacon and awarded by IWD Brisbane Meanjin, for her long commitment to women’s liberation. Her book, ‘Born Still: a memoir of grief’ was published in 2020 by the Australian publishers, Spinifex Press. She has been published in the Melbourne University journal, Hecate, the Hunter Writers Centre, Grieve collection and other journals. She is currently working on a law degree.

United Kingdom & Europe +

Adrienne Barnett: see International Steering Group.

Rachel Horman-Brown is Head of the Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Forced Marriage Department at Watson Ramsbottom solicitors...

She was highly commended in the Female Lawyer of the Year Category at the Law Society Excellence Awards 2016, won the Eva Business Award 2016, the Jordans Family Law Partner of the Year Award in 2014 and the National Family Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Award in 2012 as recognition of her work in these areas.
Rachel has sat on two All Party Parliamentary Groups for Stalking & Harassment and Domestic Violence, and is the Chair of the charity Paladin, the National Stalking Advocacy Service.
She was personally involved in changing the law to create a criminal offence of coercive control or emotional abuse which came into force in December 2015 and is currently involved in advising the police and government around other problems with the current law in relation to stalking and domestic abuse.

Anita Gera is a co-founder of Hague Explained CIC...

…a non-profit founded in 2023; she has an MA in Woman and Child Abuse. Hague Explained works to raise awareness of the wide-reaching effects that a Hague case can have, not only on the parents and children involved, but also on society in general. Anita returned voluntarily to the USA with her two children in 2014, following a Hague case in London. The subsequent family court case resulted in de facto loss of custody of her two children who were then aged 8 and 10. She has now not seen her children for almost ten years.

Sally Jackson: see International Steering Group.

Ali Morris is a feminist activist and campaigner who has...

…worked in the Violence Against Women & Girls sector for over 25 years. She is a qualified social worker and was the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence Coordinator for Swansea Council for 12 years. She encouraged the Council to adopt a zero tolerance policy for strip clubs in the area and obtained the first ever funding for a local project supporting women in prostitution. She is involved in a number of women’s organisations on a voluntary basis. Ali is the director of Inspire, a specialist VAWDASV Consultancy and Training business, and is FiLiA’s VAW lead in Wales.

Evelyn Tilly is a feminist mother of two daughters who discovered the pitfalls of the Hague Convention when...

…someone very close to her was forced to leave her own country to live near her abusive, estranged spouse. Finding that few people know about or are interested in this outdated treaty moved Evelyn to volunteer to help our cause and, hopefully, her loved one. She hopes to use her experience of governmental ways of working to drum up support in Parliament to amplify mothers’ voices and bring the Hague Convention into the 21st century.

Sonja Ayeb Karlsson is an Associate Professor at University College London...

Her research is broad and interdisciplinary in the area of policy, intersectionality, migration, human (im)mobility and trafficking. In the area of the Hague Convention, she is particularly interested in its overlaps with psychological and legal entrapment. Dr Ayeb-Karlsson leads the Everyday Disasters and Violences Research Group at UCL and is a core-member of SHERA and the Lancet Countdown. Her work is well published and covered by the media world wide.

Elizabeth Dalgarno is a lecturer in...

…Healthcare Sciences and Public Health at University of Manchester, teaching Global Women’s Public Health and Health Systems Challenges. She leads on the sociological and public health input into the undergraduate medical degree at Manchester. She is interested broadly in inequalities in health and social care with specific interests in violence against women and children, global women’s health, health systems challenges in low and middle income countries and the intersection of health and social care policy and practice.
She is Chair and Founder of SHERA Research Group leading global, innovative research into the health, social, human rights and economic impacts of domestic abuse / violence on women and children, with a particular focus on the impact of Family Court proceedings on women and children.
She is currently leading several national and international projects including investigating mothers’ experiences of domestic violence and family court proceedings in England and Brazil.

Ria Gonsalves holds a Masters of Law in Human Rights, and a PhD in Medical Sciences...

…the current focus of her research and writings. She was drawn to study law after becoming aware of the Hague Abduction Convention, particularly the impact on abused mothers and children and the way that the Convention can be and is used as a tool to further abuse mothers and their children in the courts.

Ria is a legal advisor and counsellor. Her areas of interest include human rights, international divorce, the Hague Abduction Convention, the rights and protection of women and children, domestic violence and child abuse. She aims to help bring about a change in the way the Convention is applied in legal proceedings in order to protect victims of domestic violence and abuse.

Hannah Jones is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Psychiatry & Mental Health and...

…Programme Director for the MSc programme in Forensic Psychology & Mental Health, accredited by the BPS. She is a Chartered Forensic Psychologist and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. She completed her Doctorate in Forensic Psychology at the University of Birmingham, with research focusing on the link between childhood experiences, personality and parenting behaviour.

Hannah frequently works as an Expert Witness across the Justice System, with a focus on the Family Courts. She is experienced in the assessment and treatment of a range of mental health, personality, and risk related difficulties. Hannah has specific expertise in the assessment of parents within the Family Courts, employing a trauma informed and domestic abuse informed approach.

Hannah’s research interests surround parents in the Family Court, coercive control, personality pathology, in addition to the relationship between childhood maltreatment and offending behaviour.

Roz Osborne is the CEO of GlobalARRK...

She founded the organisation in 2012 and since then has overseen the growth of the charity which now supports hundreds of families each year. Roz has a deep understanding of the challenges stuck parents typically face and works tirelessly to improve the plight of stuck parents on every level: attending international events, meeting with policymakers and working with individual parents.

Julia Erickson is a Hague mother and certified nurse in Vienna...

…who has personally experienced the devastating effects of losing custody of her child. However, instead of allowing her experience to defeat her, Julia has turned her adversity into a powerful force for change.

Through her advocacy work, Julia is determined to inform and educate other mothers about Hague proceedings, children’s rights, constitutional rights, and domestic violence in these cases. Her goal is to spare other mothers from the same pain she has experienced and to provide them with the knowledge and support they need to navigate the legal system successfully. Her aim is to bring about a legislative change in the application of the Hague procedure for the protection of children’s rights and victims of domestic violence.

Jo Gough is a feminist with a master’s in social policy...

…and a keen interest in feminist research and its practical application for those impacted by violence and abuse especially where asset-based community development is central.

Jo is the CEO of RISE, a specialist women-led, women-centred domestic and sexual violence service; based in Brighton and delivering across Sussex. She has been CEO for seven years during a challenging time with Covid and the introduction of a new Domestic Abuse Act. Previously, Jo worked for twenty+ years in the third sector (locally and nationally) with fifteen of these in senior management roles including almost four years at RISE as Head of Quality and Business Development.

Jo spent almost six years as a Trustee and Vice Chair of Women’s Aid Federation England (WAFE) also holding the Chair role in the Research, Policy and Communication Sub Committee of the WAFE Board. She co-chairs a national CEO group for Women’s Aid member organisations

She has contributed to local and national campaigns to change policy and practice including contributions to All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) on safeguarding and domestic abuse.

Saira Khan is a HCPC registered Chartered Counselling Psychologist...

…and human rights advocate who earned her licensure (LCSW) in California after graduating from UCLA & Columbia University in New York City. Her doctorate research explored post-traumatic growth and best practice for survivors of coercive control and gender-based violence and her special interest is in post-traumatic stress. She works is a member of the SHERA research group (www.shera-research.com) and runs a social enterprise called Mendality (www.mendality.com).

Shona Paterson is the Director for the Centre for Global Lives at Brunel University London...

Her work centres on the co-production of knowledge, in partnership with societal actors, embracing plural ways of knowing and cognitive as well as social justice. Her recent research focuses on risk and inequality, especially with regards to how risk is (re)created and locked-in over time. Shona’s work deliberately bridges science and policy, facilitating fit-for-audience communication and equitable engagement processes, to ensure to open and impactful discourse.

Kim Fawcett lectures at the Law School, Brunel University London...

She gained a first-class degree in Law from Teesside University. Her research interests include the Hague Abduction Convention and its impact on mothers’ fleeing domestic violence and she is currently waiting to be examined for her PhD: ‘When women abduct: do we need a defence for women who abduct their children internationally in order to flee domestic abuse?’ A Hague mother herself, Kim was a trustee and a Parent Support Volunteer at GlobalARRK, assisting victims of the Hague, most of whom were also domestic violence survivors. She has also worked as a Family Support Worker in Low Newton Women and Young Offenders Prison.

Jan Ford is a Hague veteran...

As a mother of three sons, twenty-years ago she faced charges of International Child Abduction, with consequences beyond imagining. Author of ‘the Loving Abductor’ she documents her experience to echo the invincible power of a mothers love amid an abhorrent, abusive justice system. Combining her teaching and assessing skills she is passionate to campaign for change by disseminating information via various formats, using the book as an essential weapon in her armoury. She is keen to highlight how the subsequent ripple effect of being ‘criminalised’ plays out over the years, and its impact on the family socially, emotionally and financially.

Rima Hussein is a Senior Lecturer and Director of...

…equality, diversity and inclusion in the Business and Law Faculty of Northumbria University. She specialises in research on gender-based violence and is principal investigator of a CAPE funded project creating vlogs to support women domestic abuse survivors entering into the family law court system in England and Wales. Project partners are Women’s Aid Cardiff, Support through Court and the Ministry of Justice. Her focus on justice originates from lived experience and awareness of the gaps that those suffering domestic abuse are still encountering in the legal system and the activism required for change.

Allie Langley is a medical practitioner, psychiatrist and psychotherapist...

…who specialises in trauma (PTSD), GBV, sexual violence and women’s health. She is also an advocate for women’s rights and is the founder of LIFT (Liberty International Foundation Taskforce), a NGO that advocates for the rights of single parents who are survivors of domestic violence, and who have faced wrongful persecution and systemic injustices by their country’s government or legal systems which have caused them to be exiled from their respective countries.

She has extensive experience in mental health, women’s health, forensics and international aid and criminal profiling, amongst other areas. She is also a survivor of domestic violence and had to flee her home country due to corruption within the legal system, and the Hague Convention. Allie is currently living in exile with her children and fights every day to bring about justice for single parents escaping across international borders due to domestic violence.

As the CEO of FiLiA, Lisa-Marie Taylor was the instigator of the Hague Mothers’ legacy project...

She and we see it as a feminist issue – one that explicitly aligns with FiLiA’s mission. She came to feminism in her late 30s but has certainly made up for lost time! Proud of the work that FiLiA does in creating and strengthening connections between women locally, nationally and internationally, she believes that we are in the midst of the global feminist revolution. She has extensive experience of working with volunteers, and bringing disparate groups together for a common cause, alongside a decade’s experience of organising conferences, events, workshops and direct action. Under her leadership FiLiA has gained international credibility and support from women and those who fight for women’s rights.

United States, Canada, South America

Catherine Amador is a Mexican architect with Colombian origins...

For thirty years Leighann Burns worked in both crisis and second-stage shelters for women...

…and children fleeing violence, where she bore witness to routine failures of systems to respond appropriately to violence women experienced. For sixteen years she practiced family law exclusively with women and children fleeing violence. Throughout these decades, Leighann has actively worked for legal, social and policy changes aimed at all levels of government within Canada and occasionally internationally, as well as with the various systems survivors
of violence frequently encounter, especially police, family and criminal court and child welfare. These days she is focused on synthesizing lessons learned in order to pass them on to future generations of activists.

Stella Furquim is a co-founder of GAMBE, a grassroots organisation that supports...

…Brazilian women in vulnerable situations around the world. Stubborn since birth, she believes we are all equal and that the future belongs to us all. A disruptive person while promoting gender equality, preventing violence against women – especially migrant women – and de-constructing intersectional stereotypes.

Stella believes in the richness that comes from plurality. A woman, a mother, a matchmaker by nature. Social entrepreneur in The Netherlands and expatriated for the past 23 years and counting. Diversity and inclusion consultant with a focus on migrant women from the global south.

Donna Johnson was a counsellor at Lanark County Interval House in Ontario, Canada from 1986-2002...

Along with a small group of front-line workers, in 1992 she helped establish Canada’s first monument to women murdered by their intimate partners. She has trained judges in responding to violence against women; worked in the crisis unit of a police service; taught feminist practice at the School of Social Work, Carleton University; spoken at international conferences; and published many articles describing the plight of women navigating a justice system determined to keep them in their place.

Dorothy Kozak Snoke is a licensed human rights attorney...

… and professional writer, whose work spans both legal and creative endeavors. As a lawyer, Dorothy successfully litigated her first Hague case as a sole practitioner, specifically expanding recognition of the Fugitive Disentitlement Doctrine as it applies to the Hague Law. She has experience working with domestic violence victims, and in the foster care system. As a writer, Dorothy focuses on true stories that thematically explore social justice, gender, law, treatment of women, and expansion of human rights protections worldwide. She has sold multiple television shows and film projects, and most recently created an award winning podcast for Amazon studios.

Breffni Wahl went through a Hague case in 2008-9 between USA and Ireland...

After losing her case she came back to the California with her daughter. Her first-hand experience of the unfairness and one-sided nature of the Hague hearing led her to decide to raise awareness about this international treaty. After meeting with and being contacted by hundreds of mothers who have been through Hague cases, she founded the Hague Collective, a nonprofit organisation committed to education, research and awareness-raising.

Kate Amber holds a Master of Science in the Psychology of Coercive Control...

…from the University of Salford, a post-graduate certification in Executive Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania in Violence and Abuse Prevention, a Certification in Human Rights Consulting from the US Institute of Diplomacy & Human Rights and an ADA Advocacy Certification from Equal Access Advocates.

She founded End Coercive Control USA (ECCUSA) to help educate and transform the systems designed to assist persons harmed by coercive control, and restore their dignity, autonomy and freedom. She is an international speaker, consultant, trainer, writer and expert witness on domestic abuse, extremist groups and coercive control. Kate’s master’s research and dissertation, for which she was awarded Distinction, focused on her PsychoSocial Quicksand Model™ of Coercive Control (The PSQM™), a synthesis of seventy years of research and theory in domestic abuse, human trafficking, cults, gangs, extremist groups and torture.

Information about her work can be found here: www.endccusa.com

Louise Godbold left the UK to work in Hollywood, but quickly found she was more drawn to working...

…in the nonprofit sector to address social issues. She became interested in trauma in 2010 when she started work at Echo, a nonprofit that under her leadership now specializes in trauma training. Louise was one of the first women to come forward in October 2017 about Harvey Weinstein. She has given TV and press interviews internationally on the topic of trauma and resilience and her writing has appeared in The Smithsonian Magazine, Pacific Standard, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Slate, Vox, The Imprint, Culturico, and Huffington Post (France).

Linda MacDonald is a relational feminist who grew up in a family...

…with a very violent misogynistic father and through her suffering, by the age of four knew her father’s violence was wrong. She became a nurse, married and has three adult children and three little granddaughters. In 1993, along with her friend and nursing colleague Jeanne Sarson, Linda started a nursing private practice, Flight into Freedom, helping others heal from relational abuse. That same year a woman who had been tortured and trafficked since she was a toddler came asking for help.

This experience transformed Linda’s world view and launch a whole new activism focus and expertise on non-State torture. Over the past 30 years Linda has worked with Jeanne on their pro-bono campaign Persons Against Non-State Torture, educating, researching, speaking and advocating globally for legislative and social support structural changes to include non-State torture (NST) as a grave crime and human rights violation against primarily women and children. Together with Jeanne she co-authored a first book – Women Unsilenced Our Refusal To Let Torturer-Traffickers Win.

Valentina Shaknes is a founding partner at Krauss, Shaknes, Tallentire & Messeri LLP...

She has litigated matters in both Supreme and Family Courts, and has appeared before the appellate courts for the First and Second Judicial Departments. Valentina has also successfully litigated international child custody and international child abduction disputes, under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. She has published a number of articles on the Hague Convention, including ‘Ameliorative Measures Gut the Grave Risk Exception under the Hague Convention’ (2021), and has presented on the issue of domestic violence in the context of the Convention.

Valentina received her law degree from Brooklyn Law School, where she served as the associate managing editor of the Journal for Law and Policy.

She was honoured as ‘Best Lawyer for Family Law in New York 2022-2024.

Lisa Fischel-Wolovick, JD, MSW is an attorney who has represented...

…battered women for over thirty years. She is the author of numerous publications, including her recent book: ‘Traumatic Divorce and Separation: The impact of domestic violence and substance abuse in custody and divorce’ (OUP 2018) and ‘Battered Mothers and Children in the courts: A lawyer’s View’ in the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies. She also helped to organize the first Criminal Court that specialized in domestic violence in New York State. Lisa currently teaches family violence, child maltreatment, and the psychology of the victim, at the City University of New York, in John Jay College’s graduate program in Forensic Psychology. She is on the Board of the National Family Court Watch Project and is a frequent speaker on domestic violence, child custody, and trauma at national and international conferences and judicial trainings. Before becoming an attorney, she obtained her master’s in social work and worked in medical social work, which included advocacy and counselling for battered women. She has provided consultation for attorneys, mental health professionals, and the judiciary on custody, domestic violence, and trauma.

Laura Velázquez Arroyo an Associate Researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas and...

…professor of Private Law and History of Law at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).

She holds a Master’s Degree in Philosophy of Law from UNAM, Specialist in Legal Argumentation from the University of Alicante, and Doctor in Law from the University of Rome. In 2022 and 2023, she won the Robbins Fellowship, awarded by the University of California, Berkeley.

In the field of international child abduction, Laura focuses on intersectionality and human rights, particularly in cases involving domestic violence. She also works with associations in this field and with mothers who suffer or have suffered the loss of their children as a result of an international restitution process.

Laura is a member of numerous scholarly associations and has lectured in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Peru, and USA.

Jacquelyn Graham is a Hague mother and was a party to the first family law case to be taken to the U.S. Supreme Court...

She was also taken to the Chilean Supreme Court when the father of her child was fighting to keep from paying child support. Jacqueline has been asked to speak or submit letters regarding her experiences at Senate hearings, DVLEAP fundraisers, The Hague, and the Washington D.C. Women’s Bar Association among others. She is currently on the board of the Hague Collective. Her goal is to help raise awareness and support for women and children being subjected to post-separation coercive-control utilizing financial and judicial abuse.

Samantha Santillán recently graduated from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Her research interests are in the human rights field, with a focus on children and women. She was an intern in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice. Currently, Samantha is a candidate for a specialisation in Public International Law.

Samantha received cum laude for her thesis about bad practices during the international children restitution in Mexico, and continues to research the legal problems around international families and the negligent state reaction. She has also participated in projects to eradicate gender violence in the public and private sphere such as amicus curiae (friend of the court) for different organisations, legislative initiatives, and training programmes.

Growing up, Jeanne Sarson witnessed many forms of violence inflicted by her father...

…inflicted on her mother; she now has a non-violent husband and equality-based twin sons. Jeanne pursued nursing and education professions, spending 11 years in isolated Aboriginal communities in the Canadian Arctic.

In 1993, along with Linda MacDonald, Jeanne began supporting the recovery of women who disclosed family and intimate-partner relationships involving non-State torture (NST) and exploitation into prostitution and pornographic victimizations, facilitated by perpetrators embedded in informal criminal networks. Linda and Jeanne’s current pro-bono activism is raising awareness that NST is a torture crime perpetrated by private individuals such as parents, other family members, and non-family groups or gangs, that needs criminalization in national criminal codes and at United Nations level. Their website includes practical resources, and they have many published works including Women Unsilenced Our Refusal To Let Torturer-Traffickers Win.

Stephanie Brandt MD: see International Strategy Group.

Lesley Johannsen is the Senior Staff Attorney for the Narkis Golan International Child Abduction Initiative...

…at Sanctuary for Families in New York. Lesley previously served as a court attorney for over a decade, working for three different jurists in New York State Supreme Matrimonial, Supreme Integrated Domestic Violence Part, and Family Court. Most recently, Lesley was a Court Attorney-Referee, sitting in Bronx Family Court and hearing custody and order of protection related matters. Prior to law school, Lesley served as a New York City Urban Fellow, working for the New York City Department of Homeless Services. Lesley is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School, where she received the Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship, and Trinity College.

Sudha Shetty: see International Strategy Group.

Merle Weiner: see International Strategy Group.

FiLiA Hague Mothers is woman-led and woman-focused. We wish, however, to acknowledge Jeffrey Edleson (UC Berkeley) for his continuing and much appreciated support for our campaign. A link to his 2013 book on the impact of the Hague Abduction Convention on mothers and children fleeing domestic violence can be found on our resources page.

Ruth Dineen is co-ordinating the project with invaluable help from FiLiA volunteers.

Ruth with FiLiA Administrator Michelle (Glasgow 2023)

Krisztina Les

Ruth Dineen is our international coordinator. She is supported by Administrator Krisztina Les, with invaluable help from FiLiA volunteers.

Ruth is a FiLiA volunteer and the founder of the FHM campaign. She is also one of the co-founders of Merched Cymru, a grassroots group of women from across Wales working to protect and promote the rights of women and girls. Ruth previously established the Co-production Network for Wales, based on Edgar Kahn’s principles of collectivism and social justice, and is a co-production trainer and facilitator. She was formerly the Head of Department of Creative Communications at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Krisztina is a social worker with extensive experience addressing violence against women. She has worked for several years with NGOs focusing on women’s rights, including supporting survivors of domestic violence through crisis intervention and individual case management. She has also played a key role in organising events and campaigns to raise awareness about gender-based violence and reproductive rights. Passionate about feminist principles, Krisztina has delivered training workshops for volunteers and social workers and collaborated with international partners to advocate for systemic change.

Partnerships

Our knowledge and networks are very much strengthened by a growing number of formal partnerships with both grassroots groups and NGOs. Our thanks to them for their willingness to collaborate with us and to share their expertise.

They are: Backbone Collective (NZ), Brunel University London, Global Lives Research Centre; Gambe; GlobalARRK; Hague Collective (US); Hague Explained CIC; Her Hague Story; Hague Mothers Japan; Liberty International Foundation Taskforce (LIFT); New Zealand Hague Collective; Revibra Europe; SHERA Research Group; Survivor Family Network; University College London, Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction; Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE Network); Women’s Legal Services Australia.