Research is a key activity of the Centre
ICFLPP is delighted to publish the report from the recent research undertaken by Marilyn Freeman and Nicola Taylor on the critical subject of domestic violence/abuse in the context of international child abduction. In light of the detailed discussions about this matter at the Eighth Special Commission held in The Hague in October 2023, and the Experts’ Meeting at the University of Westminster which followed it, the publication of this research is both timely and eagerly anticipated.
Professor Freeman’s 2014 research on the long-term effects of international child abduction can be downloaded here.
Professor Freeman was commissioned to write an In-Depth Analysis on The Child Perspective in the Context of the 1980 Hague Convention by the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament.
THE CHILD PERSPECTIVE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE 1980 HAGUE CONVENTION (europa.eu)
She made a presentation on the In-Depth Analysis when she participated in a panel at the Workshop to mark the 40th Anniversary of the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention on Monday 16 November 2020. The other panel participants were Gerardine Goh Escolar, First Secretary of the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, and Adriana de Ruiter, Chair of the Board of ASIME, the Spanish organisation for lawyers against International Child Abduction. The Vice-President and European Parliament Coordinator on Children’s Rights, Mrs. Ewa Kapacz, welcomed the remote participants which included Members of the European Parliament.
European Parliament Reports
Freeman, M. (2024) Parental Child Abductions to Third Countries, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/IPOL_STU(2024)759359 Study commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the JURI Committee
Freeman, M. (2026) The 1980 Hague Convention: Lessons Learned and Ways Forward, European Parliament: Directorate-General for Citizens’ Rights, Justice and Institutional Affairs, European Parliament, 2026, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2861/0229451
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/IUST_IDA(2026)778857
Following a round-table meeting convened by Professor Freeman in Israel in July 2019 concerning the voice of the child in international child abduction proceedings, Professor Freeman wrote a Project Report in collaboration with Associate Professor Nicola Taylor, and Professor Rhona Schuz:
The voice of the child in international child abduction proceedings under the 1980 Hague Convention. London: University of Westminster. https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/qx8q8/the-voice-of-the-child-in-international-child-abduction-proceedings-under-the-1980-hague-convention
Other Research
Professor Freeman, together with Professor Nicola Taylor, The University of Otago, New Zealand, worked on a project funded by The University of Westminster: Using Research to Improve Outcomes for Abducted Children which culminated in an Experts’ Meeting on Issues of Domestic/Family Violence and the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention which was held in association with The Permanent Bureau of The Hague Conference on Private International Law on 12 June 2017 at The University of Westminster. Participating experts included judges, government officials, Central Authority officials under the 1980 Convention, lawyers, mediators, psychologists, academics, researchers and members of 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. A report from the meeting appears on the website of the Hague Conference on Private International Law and formed Information Document No. 6 for the 7th Special Commission on the Practical Operation of the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention and the 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention – October 2017.
Professor Freeman has completed, together with Professor Nicola Taylor, their British Academy funded research project into the Outcomes for Objecting children under the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention. They held three global Workshops for invited international delegates on the Role of Children in 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention Proceedings as part of the project’s dissemination events: University of Auckland 8-9 February 2018; University of Genoa 8-9 March 2018, University of Westminster, London 22-23 March 2018. The London event began with a lecture by Baroness Hale on ‘Child Abduction from The Child’s Point of View”.
A summary of the project appears in The Judges’ Newsletter on International Child Protection, Special Focus The Child’s Voice – 15 Years Later Volume XX11/Summer-Fall 2018, 8 www.hcch.net
Professor Freeman led a team at Westminster Law School in a public engagement project funded by The Quintin Hogg Trust concerning The Voices of Children and Young People in Decisions Affecting Their Lives. A policy briefing was widely disseminated in November 2018, and is available here.
Professor Freeman has also undertaken two reports on Forced Marriage, with Professor Renate Klein (London Metropolitan University and the University of Maine, USA):
- University Responses to Forced Marriage and Violence Against Women in the UK: Report on a pilot study, April 2012
- College and University Responses to Forced Marriage, 2013
These are Professor Freeman’s most recent research publications:
Freeman, M. and Taylor, N. (eds) Research Handbook on International Child Abduction: The 1980 Hague Convention (Edward Elgar, 2023)
Freeman, M. and Taylor, N. (eds) Children’s Right to Identity, Selfhood and International Family Law (Edward Elgar, 2025).