Hague Mothers, FiLiA, & Brunel University Global Lives Research Centre are delighted to host an International Webinar on 21 April 2023 at 22.00-23.45 BST*

*Late scheduling is to maximise the opportunity for a global audience to attend - and ensure that our panelists are all awake! Please check your time-zone.

The 1980 Hague Convention was intended to deal with fathers who abduct their children across international borders without the mother’s permission. It has been weaponised. In over 75% of cases abusive fathers now use it to compel children, and therefore mothers, to return to the country they have fled. 

The Hague Mothers campaign aims to end this terrifying injustice. 

(Read our What needs to change? position paper for more information.)

Our stellar international panel will discuss how the Convention puts mothers and children at risk, and consider how they can be protected - through changes to the Convention itself, to its implementation, and to its practical application. Issues covered will include:

•  the Hague courts’ prioritisation of process over justice

•  inequality of arms and the burden of proof

•  the use and abuse of protective measures

•  the rights, safety, and well-being of the child.

There will also be a Q&A section to allow us to consider issues raised by our audience.

Adrienne Barnett chair (UK) is a Reader in Law at Brunel University London. She specialised as a barrister for 25 years in Family Law, primarily representing parents and children in serious care cases and in private law cases involving allegations of domestic abuse. She has researched domestic abuse and child arrangements proceedings for more than two decades. She is a member of the Advisory Group of Rights of Women and of Women’s Aid’s Expert Advisory Group to the Child First campaign, and of the SHERA Research Group.Adrienne was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice to undertake a literature review to support their inquiry into risks of harm and the family courts (published June 2020). She featured as an expert in the 2021 Channel 4 Dispatches Programme ‘Torn Apart – Family Courts Uncovered’ and was commissioned to prepare the programme’s survey report. She is a collaborator in a Canadian funded international research project on domestic abuse and parental alienation allegations in the family courts.

Adrienne is a member of the Hague Mothers International Strategy Group (UK rep). Dr Adrienne Barnett, Brunel University London

Miranda Kaye (Aus) lectures in family law at UTS law school in Sydney. 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 e.g. in a study of the effects of self-representation in the Family Law Court in matters involving allegations of family violence. Funded by the Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) the research made a series of recommendations to improve the experiences and safety of self-represented litigants in such proceedings. She recently represented Hague Mothers at the Family Law Council’s Hague Roundtable in Melbourne in relation to the Attorney-General’s commitment to safeguarding mothers and children who have been victims of domestic violence.

Miranda is a member of the Hague Mothers International Strategy Group (Australia/NZ rep). Miranda Kaye, University of Technology Sydney

Sudha Shetty (US) is Assistant Dean at the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley, and the founder and director of The Hague Domestic Violence Project. 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.

Sudha is a member of the Hague Mothers International Strategy Group (US rep). Sudha Shetty, UC Berkeley, The Hague Domestic Violence Project.

Nicole Fidler (US) is the Director of the Pro Bono Project 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 international abduction cases. Nicole participated in the creation of the New York Hague Child Abduction Bench Guide for Federal and State Judges and has published articles on trauma-informed lawyering and litigating order of protection cases. Nicole is 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.

Nicole is a member of the Hague Mothers International Strategy Group (US rep). Nicole Fidler, Sanctuary for Families, New York

Jeffrey Edleson (US) is the Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School and the Harry and Riva Specht Chair Emeritus at UC Berkeley Graduate School. Prior to joining Berkeley, he was a professor of social work at the University of Minnesota School of Social Work and the founding director of the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse. A leading expert in domestic violence, his current research examines the impact of adult violence on children and how social systems respond to these children. His work also focuses on international parental abduction in cases of domestic violence and the evaluation of interventions and policies on family violence. Jeff was a member of the National Institute of Justice Scientific Review Panel on Family Violence and Violence Against Women and the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women.

Jeff is an advisor to Hague Mothers Legacy Project. Professor Jeffrey Edleson, UC Berkeley

Ben Keith (NZ) is a barrister at Woodward Street Chambers in Wellington, New Zealand. He has conducted proceedings at all levels of the New Zealand courts, and contributed to cases in other jurisdictions, He works with individual, non-governmental, corporate and public sector clients across a broad range of public law issues including asylum and extradition, legislation and law reform, international human rights, and international family law. Ben holds legal aid approvals for civil proceedings and appeals and also undertakes a proportion of pro bono work. He is designated as a special advocate under the Immigration Act 2009; and had been an active member of two New Zealand Law Society law reform committees, as well as taking part in other law reform initiatives. 

Ben is an advisor to Hague Mothers Legacy Project. Ben Keith, Woodward Street Chambers, Wellington

Q&A support: Kim Fawcett Durham University, Sonja Ayeb Karlsson UCL. Hague Mothers UK Steering Group.  

Sonja lectures at University College London. Her current research interests focus on psychologically and legally ‘trapped’ populations; gender-based violence and policy protection (or lack of protection); the mental health impacts of humanitarian disasters or specific legal systems such as the family courts, or policy tools (e.g. Human Rights Act, the Istanbul Convention, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Family Law); and non-economic losses and damages in the context of the UNFCCC climate negotiations. She also leads the mental health work of the Lancet Countdown. 

Kim is a Teaching Fellow in Criminal Law at Durham University as well as a member of the Durham Gender and Law Research Centre. 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. 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. 

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We are grateful to the following for their endorsement:

UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy |University College London | Sanctuary For Families NY | SHERA Research Group | Women's Legal Services Australia

This video was created for the 2022 FiLiA Conference. It begins with the voices of mothers who have been caught up in the trauma of the Hague Convention. We are inspired by their courage and grateful for their participation in the HM project. Please help us amplify their stories.

Coordination: Ruth Dineen, Michelle Kerwin, Hague Mothers' team

Technical support: Ali Ceesay Hague Mothers team & Woman’s Place UK | Sarah Johnson Woman's Place UK

Contact:  Michelle - adminsupport@filia.org.uk

Hague Mothers | @FiLiAHagueMums l FiLiA | @FiLiA_charity