collaborative journalism on the 1980 Hague Convention

Rapporteur of the 1980 Hague Convention proposes “reinterpreting” the treaty to take GBV into account

February 10, 2024. Nearly half a century later, the treaty’s rapporteur on international child abduction, Elisa Pérez-Vera, spoke about its need to recognise domestic violence.
Mexico reckons domestic violence as a grave risk exception for Hague Convention

April 18, 2023. The Supreme Court of Mexico established that the “grave risk” exception not only applies when the child is a direct victim of harm, but also as a witness to violence within the family.
Abducting mothers or how the Hague Convention undermines child protection

May 30, 2023. The 1980 Hague Convention provides for the immediate return of a child taken from his or her country of origin by a parent regardless of context.
Mothers forced to stay in same country as abuser or risk persecution under Hague Convention

Australia, 23 October 2020. Women are being left with nowhere to turn because of an international ‘good law gone bad’ – designed to protect mothers, but frequently used as a weapon against them.
Colombia: International child restitutions must be decided with gender lens, considering VAW, says Constitutional Court

Bogotá, 13 September 2023. Colombia’s highest court determined that “the 1980 Hague Convention cannot be reduced to a mere syllogistic in formal compliance to its provisions…”
Chile violated the rights of a boy ordered to return to Spain under Hague Convention, the UN Child Rights Committee found

16 June 2022. The UN Child Rights Committee issued its landmark decision after considering a complaint filed by a Chilean mother who had left Spain with her son for his autism.
What Australia’s new law means for Hague Convention cases

December 14, 2022. The convention became a way for men to maintain control and prevent women and children from fleeing domestic and child abuse. Is it an opportunity for Australia to establish itself as a global champion and a safe haven for mothers and the kids who have been victims?
Getting ‘hagued’: how one international law enables intimate partner violence

February 28, 2024. In the last decade, an estimated 15,000 mothers across the globe have been accused of abducting their own children. They are usually expats trying to relocate back home, but their kid’s father wouldn’t let them.
British mom hasn’t seen her kids in 10 years due to Hague Convention misuse

17 February 2024. Their father filed a Hague Convention claim against her. Now, she runs a charity to make parents aware of the risks of moving overseas.
Treaty created to stop child abductions could now be protecting abusers

July 20, 2020. The 1980 Hague Convention was created to protect children from abductions, but abusers can use it to regain custody of the children and power over their victims. Almost 50 years later, there’s a noticeable shift in cases’ patterns.
Irish Court rules girl should be returned to Ukraine despite the war

August 3, 2023. The High Court has ruled that a young Ukrainian girl brought to Ireland by her mother following the outbreak of the war against Russia should be returned to her native country under the 1980 Hague Convention.
The 1980 Hague Convention, a contravention of human rights?

October 14, 2023. Mary had to leave, and not only did Mary. Over half the world, year after year, around 2,000 expat women are accused of kidnapping their own children. They account for 75% of international child abductions. Why?
No exception – how the Hague Convention fails women fleeing domestic violence

October 11, 2023. Each year, over 2,000 parents invoke the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction to force their children’s return to their “habitual residence”. But mothers are who mostly flee with their kids, many due to domestic violence.
Children forcibly returned to abusive settings under Hague Convention

October 14, 2022. The 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction requires the rapid return of children who are considered to have been “wrongfully taken” from their country of habitual residence.
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