High-level training within the GREVIO network of lawyers on child abduction cases involving domestic violence

Litigating child return cases involving domestic violence before the ECtHR and under the 1980 Hague Convention.

This is the important and sensitive topic that Mr THUAN DIT DIEUDONNE had the honour of presenting and discussing on 17 September 2026 at the Council of Europe, in his capacity as Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Union of European Lawyers, during the second webinar of the Network of Specialised Lawyers Assisting Victims of Violence against Women (“Providing legal support and representation to women victims of domestic violence in cross-border settings related to child custody and visitation”), organised by the Secretariat of the Istanbul Convention Monitoring Mechanism (GREVIO), alongside Judge Simackova (President of Section 5 of the European Court of Human Rights) and Judge Martina Erb-Klünemann from Germany, who specialises in Hague Convention cases.

Is domestic violence sufficiently taken into account by the judge responsible for return orders under Article 13(1)(b) of the Hague Convention? What type of violence, to what degree of severity, according to what standard of proof, and subject to what safeguards in the country of origin?