By 
06-02-2025
Fanni Lovas
South East Asia Researcher,
Global Human Rights Defence.
In the European Union, many women are forced to hide from the authorities with their children because of their abusive partner. These women often flee abusive relationships, seeking to protect themselves and their children from physical, emotional, and psychological harm. In some cases, they go into hiding to avoid being tracked by their abuser, particularly if the abuser has legal or social means to locate them. This situation is especially common when the father holds custody rights or has the power to use authorities to force the return of the child.
To protect themselves and their children, mothers frequently rely on services that allow them to remain anonymous. This includes staying in domestic violence shelters, using temporary names, or finding undisclosed locations to avoid detection. Many EU countries have systems designed to ensure the anonymity of victims of domestic violence, protecting them in both legal and social services contexts.
As a result, most of these cases remain unknown to the public because the mothers and children actively avoid exposure. Legal systems and shelters prioritise confidentiality to protect victims. While frameworks like the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction and EU regulations such as Brussels IIa and Brussels IIb are in place to prevent the return of children to dangerous situations, these cases often stay hidden due to privacy and security concerns.
Furthermore, the EU has laws and protections for victims of domestic violence, including access to emergency services, legal aid, and relocation assistance. These legal frameworks may ensure that women can seek safety, but they also contribute to the low visibility of such cases, as confidentiality and privacy remain a top priority.
The existence of the issue is not limited to specific countries. It extends beyond the European Union and affects families worldwide. Numerous cases have brought this problem to light, including the well-known case of Juana Rivas.
Juan Rivas, a Spanish mother, was involved in a legal battle after fleeing with her two children from her abusive partner, Francesco Arcuri, an Italian national. In 2017, Ms. Rivas took her children from Italy and refused to return them, claiming that her partner had physically abused her and posed a threat to the children’s safety. However, both the Italian authorities and the Spanish court ruled that the children should be returned to Italy, as it was their habitual residence. When Mr. Rivas failed to comply, she was charged with abduction in Spain and sentenced to five years in prison on July 27th, 2018. Despite her conviction, she continued to fight for custody. Recently, when her younger child was temporarily allowed to return to Spain for the Christmas season, her legal team tried to request a hearing in order to take the declaration of the child to court. According to the child statement he provided to the legal team, the father allegedly subjected the children to “authentic torture”, including hitting, choking, kicking, and threatening them. The child reportedly stated that their father wanted to kill their mother and had coerced them into lying about their well-being under the threat of never seeing their mother or each other again.
The case of Juana Rivas is just one example of a widespread issue that affects families in the European Union. A similar example is the case of Viktória Varga, a Hungarian national, and her Swedish partner, Mr. Szamin. Ms. Varga fled Sweden in the summer of 2020 with her child after enduring domestic abuse. Despite her claims of violence, the Swedish court awarded sole custody to the father. Her decision to remove the child from Sweden led to the issuance of a European arrest warrant against her, though it was later withdrawn. Consequently, the father pursued legal action at a Hungarian court. While the Hungarian court initially ruled in Ms. Varga’s favour, the appellate court overturned the decision, granting custody to the father. In response, Mr. Varga went into hiding with her child, and their whereabouts remain unknown.
These cases underscore the urgent need for greater awareness of situations where women are forced to flee or go into hiding due to domestic abuse, only to find themselves criminalised by the legal system. The Spanish case, in particular, illustrates how women attempting to seek justice through legal mechanisms often face imprisonment, as courts frequently prioritise a father’s parental rights over serious allegations of abuse.
Sources and further reading:
Guy Hedgecoe. (2017, August 20). “¡Juana está en mi casa!”: la historia de Juana Rivas, la madre española que huyó con sus dos hijos para no dárselos al padre. BBC News Mundo. https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-40992437. Accessed 3. February 2025.
(2018, July 27). Así fue el calvario mediático de Juana Rivas. ABC. https://www.abc.es/play/television/noticias/abci-juana-rivas-carcel-201807271148_noticia.html#. Accessed 3. February 2025.
(2023, March 3). Egy éve nyomtalanul eltűnt egy magyar anya és a kislánya. NLC. https://nlc.hu/eletmod/20230303/egy-eve-nyomtalanul-eltunt-egy-magyar-anya-es-a-kilanya/. Accessed 4. February 2025.
(2022, March 10). Döbbenetes fordulat: Viktória át kellene adja a Svédországban élő apjának Szaffit, ám a magyar anya és kislánya eltűntek. KÉKVILLOGÓ.https://kekvillogo.hu/dobbenetes-fordulat-viktoria-at-kellene-adja-a-svedorszagban-elo-apjanak-szaffit-am-a-magyar-anya-es-kislanya-eltuntek/#goog_rewarded. Accessed 4. February 2025.
(2022, November 8). The dilemma mothers face when they become victims of abuse abroad — child abduction or domestic violence. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-09/child-abduction-vs-domestic-violence-the-dilemma-mothers-face/101530472. Accessed 5. February 2025.
María Ruiz Díaz-Reixa. (2022, August 12). Women and girls need the European Union to take a step forward on gender-based violence: A study on how the European Union could enhance the protection of women and girls from gender-based violence. Tilburg University. https://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=159864.
(2025). Our Work. WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE EUROPE. https://wave-network.org/our-work/. Accessed 5. February 2025.
Jay G Silverman, Cythia M Mesh, Carrie V Cuthbert, Kim Slot, and Lundy Bancoft. (2004, June). Child Custody Determinations in Cases Involving Intimate Partner Violence: a Human Rights Analysis. PubMed Central.
Dr Adrienne Barnett. (2020). Domestic abuse and private law children cases. Ministry of Justice.
(2025). Domestic Violence According to the European Union. Victim Support Europe. https://victim-support.eu/help-for-victims/info-on-specific-types-of-victims/domestic-violence-victims/.
Directive 2024/1385.Combating violence against women and domestic violence. European Parliament and Council. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202401385#:~:text=The%20purpose%20of%20this%20Directive%20is%20to%20provide,against%20women%20and%20domestic%20violence%20throughout%20the%20Union. Accessed 5. February 2025.
C 132/27. European Parliament resolution of 6 October 2021 on the impact of intimate partner violence and custody rights on women and children (2019/2166(INI)). Official Journal of the European Union. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX%3A52021IP0406&utm_source=chatgpt.com.
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