International meeting addressing Issues of Domestic / Family Violence and the 1980 Child Abduction Convention

On 12 June 2017, 57 experts attended a meeting in London, at the invitation of conference organisers, Professor Marilyn Freeman of the University of Westminster and the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), on the topic of Domestic / Family Violence and the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (1980 Convention). Participating experts included judges, government officials, Central Authority officials under the 1980 Convention, lawyers, mediators, psychologists, academics, researchers and members of non-governmental organisations from the following 19 jurisdictions: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom (England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland) and the United States of America, as well as European Union officials and members of the Permanent Bureau of the HCCH.

The meeting was opened with remarks by Mr. Justice A. K. Sikri, Supreme Court of India, and Ms. Salla Saastamoinen, Director for Civil and Commercial Justice, Directorate A Civil and Commercial Justice, Directorate General Justice and Consumers, European Commission.

The meeting resulted in high-level, productive discussions on addressing Issues of Domestic / Family Violence and the 1980 Child Abduction Convention, including with regard to Central Authority and judicial good practices, the development of a new Guide to Good Practice on Article 13(1)(b) of the 1980 Convention and a potential new international instrument on protection orders. A report of this meeting is available here.