About
What is the Hague Convention?
The 1980 Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (often referred to in brief as the Hague Convention) serves an important purpose by laying out an international legal framework for handling cases where one parent takes their child from their habitual residence across international borders without the consent of the other.
The Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (HCCH 1980 Child Abduction Convention) is a multilateral treaty, which seeks to protect children from the harmful effects of wrongful removal and retention across international boundaries by providing a procedure to bring about their prompt return and ensuring the protection of rights of access. The "Child Abduction Section" provides information about the operation of the Convention and the work of the Hague Conference in monitoring its implementation and promoting international co-operation in the area of child abduction. (Hague Conference on Private International Law)
In practice, what we are disproportionately seeing is mothers fleeing abusive domestic situations with their children in tow, only to have the children taken away and sent back to their country of habitual residence due to the Hague Convention. These mothers then struggle to find legal professionals with experience in Hague cases. In many of these cases, the mothers lose then custody of their children and become 'child abductors' in the eyes of international law. "The intended beneficiaries of the Convention have become its primary targets." (Taryn Lindhorst & Jeffrey Edleson, Battered Women, their Children, and International Law: The Unintended Consequences of the Hague Convention)
Our Mission
Hague Collective was launched in 2019 with the purpose of raising awareness about the Hague Convention, providing educational resources, and funding further research about its effects.
Board of Directors
Breffni Wahl
Founder & President
Breffni Wahl, a mother of 3 daughters, had never heard of the Hague Convention until she went through her own case from 2008-2009, and found it to be a harrowing experience with scarce resources available to support her. She has worked since to make sure that other mothers don’t go through the same.
Jacquelyn Graham
Vice President
Jacquelyn 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. She 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. 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.
Jessica Donsky
Secretary
Charley Wahl
Treasurer