Disputed children

"Mediation has no magic wand, but it can be quick, effective and child-centred, whereas legal processes in child abduction cases may be lengthy and risk causing trauma and lasting harm to the child", said Lisa Pakinson, founder member of the World Mediation Forum in the address delivered during the seventh European Conference on Family Law promoted past March 16 in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe on "International Family Mediation". Purpose of the meeting, declared Jan Kleijssen (Directorate General of Human Rights of the CoE) in his opening speech, is "to raise awareness on the good practices in this area; stepping up and harmonizing cooperation with special attention to the training of international mediators; identifying possible synergies between international organizations". Franco-German couples. Although it is present in different Countries, international family mediation is not widely known to be an "alternative dispute resolution tool" Kleijssen declared. Thus, it is hampered by difficulties "linked to the different ethnic, cultural and religious environments" and by "the existence of at least two different legal systems". Sonia Alles, representing the Bas-Rhin Family Allowances Fund, remarked that in case of divorce of couples from different nationalities, "it is necessary to prevent removal of the child across the border". In presenting a pilot-project for Franco-German families that was run between 2003 and 2006, Ms Sonia Alles pointed out the importance of a "co-mediation approach, with two mediators, a male/female mix, French/German nationality and with legal and psycho-social skills". "Family mediation – she added – also involves offering support to these parents in dealing with their specific situation of being a separated bi-national family, capitalising on their sense of responsibility and independence, and promoting mutual trust, that is it is the basic factor in ensuring that the child can move freely between parents and across borders".Polish-German mediation. On the same line Sibille Kiesewetter, psychologist and family mediator, who referred to The Hague Convention of 1980 (aimed at preventing abducting parent from going into hiding with the child for custody purposes, ed.’s note). In 2007, Ms. Kiesewette remarked, "42 child abduction cases were registered among Polish-German divorced couples, over twice as many cases compared to 2004 (20 cases)". It’s important that "family mediators reflect the parents’ bi-national cultural features" she added. Former Yugoslavia. A special situation characterizes former Yugoslavia and its six Republics: Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina where about ten different ethnic groups coexist sometimes in conflicting manner. According to Jelena Arsic, lawyer and Co-Chair of the South East European Mediation Forum, also for this reason "divorce cases increased significantly over the past years: one every five marriages". Family mediators operating in the region encountered a number of difficulties. Firstly because "family mediators working in the region are not always aware of the need to have a different approach to multi-ethnic family mediation cases and they handle these cases similarly to cases involving partners with same ethnic background". In addition, "Judges are reluctant to refer child abduction cases to mediation". However, accession to the EU and the Council of Europe membership obliges countries like Serbia to harmonize their laws with legislative requirements for Member States and to follow global trends and international standards in the field". For this purpose, the Ministry of Justice of Serbia formed a working group to draft the Law on Implementation of the Hague Child Abduction Convention.Russia. Setbacks are experienced in family mediation in Russia, along with mediation tout court. "From the legal point of view, family mediation does not exist in Russia", although "there is a draft-law on mediation in Parliament now. If adopted, it will be applicable, among other, to family disputes too", declared Olga A. Khazova, Family Law scholar at the Russian Academy of Sciences. "Mediation – the expert declared – assumes certain level of development of civil society and certain level of personal autonomy and personal freedom. It also assumes, on the one part, personal self-esteem, and, on the other part, respect to other persons, as well as tolerance in the society in general". These are characteristics that "are still needed to be developed in Russia" due to cultural barriers connected with what may be called "soviet mentality" along with "traditional/patriarchal gender stereotypes" that are still very strong in Russian families. Hence, "an international instrument that would contain the most principle standards and criteria in this area will be very useful not only for Russia, but most probably also for other East and Central European countries".