|
Newsroom
|
April 8th 2005 • Printer version Domestic Violence and International Child Abduction
Merle Weiner Keynotes
Hague Convention Conference
 UO
law professor Merle Weiner, who coauthored the first textbook on
international
family law, will keynote an April 22 conference in Seattle on The Hague
Convention, a 1980 act dealing with international child abduction. Two battered mothers who fled to Washington with their children and were
then involved in Hague cases will present their stories. Following
this, Weiner a leading
authority on the Hague Convention and domestic violence, will review
the problems and possibilities of the Convention.
This Hague Convention Symposium is
sponsored by the Seattle University School of Law Access to Justice
Institute. Attendees will discuss the Hague Convention on the
Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and its impact on
battered mothers and their children seeking safety in the U.S.
The Convention was drafted at The Hague, the Netherlands, in 1980 and
put into effect in the U.S. through passage of the International Child
Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA) passed by Congress in July 1988.
Countries party to the Convention are expected to help quickly return
abducted children to their country of habitual residence, where other
issues, such as custody, can be resolved by local jurisdictions.
A surprisingly large number of international child abduction cases
involve battered mothers who are fleeing from an abusive partner and
seeking safety in the U.S. for themselves and their children.
These
women have often sought help in another country to no avail and then
fled to the U.S.
Yet the Hague Convention defines these mothers as the
subject of prosecution and considerable governmental and
non-governmental resources are devoted to removing the children from
her custody and returning her children to the abuserÃs country of
residence, sometimes dooming these children and their mothers to years
of continuing abuse.
Merle H. Weiner is an Associate Professor of
Law at the University of Oregon School of Law in Eugene. She attained
her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1990, an LL.M. from Cambridge
University in 1988, and her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College
in1985. Weiner teaches courses on Family Law, Domestic
Violence, and Torts, and is a founder of the Lane County Domestic
Violence Clinic.
victims of domestic violence, including five
articles on the application of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspect
of International Child Abduction to battered women who
are fleeing across national borders with their children.
Weiner coauthored Family Law in the World Community, the
first casebook on
the topic of comparative and international family law. She is a
member of the International Society of Family Law and is on
the Executive Committee of the Lane County Domestic Violence Council.
Conference website:
|
Newsroom
