Juliana Santos Wahlgren
- Film
- Sep 6, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 7, 2023
Film / Migration
The migration setting has changed considerably over the last decades. In the context of South America and Europe, we have witnessed different trends of the migration flow: in the 70’s and the beginning of the 80’s forced mobility was much linked to the political environment in Latin American countries such as Chile and Peru. As from the 90’s, the population movement was motivated by the cracks in the economies in the South and the desire for more financial stability in the countries of destination.
In this perspective, it is undeniable that migration also shaped interpersonal relations and the family cells. Although the origin of gender-biased violence is disassociated from race, class and any form of social status, past and existing policies and legal frameworks on immediate aid, social assistance and victims support do not protect all womxn in the same way and do affect migrant womxn disproportionately. This can be a motivation to many migrant womxn to flee their abusive households and to return to their country of origin.
Due to an international agreement called the Protocol 28 of the Convention of Hague, migrant women with children are forbidden to seek help and support in other countries than the one of the residence of their infants. All custody and other rights disputes should be settled where the child lives. However, there is an exemption to the rule: the grave risk of harm. This exception could be applied in the situation of physical and psychological abuses – so present in the cases of domestic violence. Nevertheless, most of the national policies and court decisions disregard the need to secure immediate protection to the victims and favor returning the children to their habitual residence.
Our campaign is designed to raise awareness to mothers’ victims of domestic abuse about the risk and threats of this international convention and to prevent that many of them could be distanced from their children and further criminalized by their desperate actions.
Revibra used a video and a cartoon as tools for this campaign. The cartoon is currently available in PT. The EN version of the cartoon will be available in the upcoming weeks.
About Revibra Europe
Revibra Europe is a European Support Network of legal experts and psychologists to Brazilian and Latino womxn victims of gender-biased violence and domestic abuse. The organisation was set up in Belgium in 2012 by a group of feminists with a mission to provide legal aid and social assistance to the community and to achieve gender equality to migrant womxn based in the European Union.
We are working to combat structural, individual and systemic discrimination in the field of gender-biased violence and anti-migrant racism. We advocate for a review of the international mechanisms on child custody (Protocol 28 of the Hague Convention) and for the end of the criminalisation of migrant mothers in this process.
Revibra Europe’s drive is to use Advocacy, Research and Campaign to raise awareness about the disproportionate impact of gender-biased violence towards migrant womxn and to address the need of an intersectional approach in migration and gender policies and legal frameworks.
