Using Article 20

Abstract

Using Article 20 is a companion piece to Strengthening Article 20, 38 U.S.F. L. REV. 701 (2004). Assuming article 20 can be invigorated (see Strengthening Article 20), this article sets forth the specific argument attorneys would make under article 20 for domestic violence survivors. It argues that United States’ law (U.S. statutory law, case law, state constitutional law, federal constitutional law, and U.S. treaty obligations) recognizes the impermissibility of making a woman choose between her life and her child; this is the choice inflicted on a domestic violence victim by the Hague Convention. Referring to this law, it suggests that the fundamental principles relating to the protection of human rights in the United States should prohibit a U.S. court from returning a domestic violence victim’s child. The article uses a hypothetical problem to set up the analysis and addresses a few of the relevant doctrinal issues.

Keywords: abduction, child, human rights, fundamental freedoms, domestic violence, Hague, family, kidnapping

JEL Classification: K36