Hague Mother Mondays

When I joined Crux Jinx Productions, the only thing I knew about the Hague Convention was that it dealt with war criminals and human trafficking cases. I first really read about it when I was studying to perform a scene from Not Without My Daughter in my acting class. I had no idea I was about to step into a world that not only I knew little about, but apparently, the general public (as I discovered when I began to talk about the project I was working on) knew little about, as well. 

In the era of the #MeToo movement, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the endless stories of rape, abuse, and assault that women have had to endure for literally millennia. It’s not just one woman, it’s all women. I have a story. My mother has a story; my sister, my best friend, the random girl I cried with at the bar, the girl who was the mean girl in high school… Literally everyone. Those who say they have not noticed or they have not experienced anything themselves is either lying, has turned a blind eye to their environment, or has accepted it as a trivial norm. 

The reason I bring up #MeToo is that we, as people of a very-much-needed movement, and as human beings, have turned blind eye to what is happening with the Hague Convention. We have yet to learn and acknowledge the indescribable pain that Hague has placed on mothers, who like ourselves, have faced some of the harshest aspects of human existence.

In the book Battered Women, Their Children, and International Law by Taryn Lindhorst and Jeffrey L. Edleson, they write, “the purpose of the Hague Convention is to return children to their habitual residence as quickly as possible, because the the assumption is that the taking parent has abducted the child, and that the abduction is harmful to the child.” In the next paragraph, it then states that “the Hague Convention does not define habitual residence”. 

Not seeing the connection between #MeToo and Hague yet? I don’t blame you. It took me a minute, as well. 

The majority of the cases (upward of 80%) that enter the Hague courts, are about mothers fleeing abusive partners. If these mothers, driven by fear and the need to be safe, cross international borders with their children, they are labeled as kidnappers by the Hague Convention. The courts then seize their children and return the child to the abusive household. Due to the lack of definition of habitual residence, as well as lack of understanding on how to apply the law in the case of domestic abuse, judges and other lawmakers do not have the tools necessary to help these mothers. They are silenced and often are prohibited from ever seeing their child. 

Crux Jinx Productions, along with local Bay Area nonprofit, The Hague Collective, want to change the conversation and bring awareness to a group of people that desperately need our help. We will be speaking with Hague Mothers to bring you their stories. Follow us on our website and socials to keep up with these stories. We will also be diving deeper into the Hague Convention and why this is happening, what it all means, and what we need to do to #CHANGEHAGUE. 

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-Kirsten