Secrétariat Général

You will find here the agenda of the Conference.

List of participants, speakers, moderators and mediators.

The socio-legal framework of the 1996 Convention

• Prof. Gian Paolo Romano
• Mr Denis Martin

The role of the 1996 Convention in international custody, access and relocation cases

• Mr Alexandre Boiché
• Ms Ursula Rölke

International child abduction – ensuring the safe return of the child

• Ms I. Pretelli
• The Hon. Justice V. Bennett

Promoting the 1996 Convention in non-Contracting States – current state of play and new horizons

• Mr Michael Coffee
• Mr Juan Francisco Zarricueta

The relevance of the 1996 Convention in Islamic legal systems

• Prof. Hatem Kotrane

Round table: Ensuring the harmonious development of the child worldwide – Example: best interests of the child and the right to be heard

• Ms C. Chinnici
• Emer. Prof. G. Malinverni
• The Hon. Judge F.J. Forcada Miranda (on behalf of Margaret Tuite, European Commission coordinator for the rights of the child
• Prof. H. Kotrane

International co-operation between authorities including Central Authorities, local authorities, Consulates and Embassies

• Ms Joelle Schickel-Küng
• Ms Caroline Berlie-Bernard
• JUDr. Markéta Nováková

International co-operation among judges – the value of judges networks and direct judicial communication

• The Hon. Judge Francisco Forcada Miranda

The socio-legal dimension of international child protection – an ISS perspective (panel discussion)
Moderator: Mr S. Yau, CEO, ISS Hong Kong

• Mr Stephan Auerbach
• Ms Marianna Ianachevici
• Dr. Felicity Northcott
• Ms Abena Yamoah
• Ms Mia Dambach

The protection of particularly vulnerable children including refugee children, unaccompanied minors, victims of trafficking, sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse

• Ms Monika Sandvik-Nylund
• Mr Kerry Neal 
• Mr Christoph Braunschweig 

Complementarities and synergies between the 1996 Convention and the Brussels IIa Regulation – in the light of practical experiences

• Prof. Paul Beaumont
• Prof. Caterina Baruffi
• Ms Ursula Rölke

Cross-border placement of children in practice

• Dr. R. Fucik
• Ms A.M. Hutchinson
• Dr. F. Northcott

Building the bridge between "habitual residence" and "substantial connection"

• Professor Paul McEleavy 
• Ms Ulrike Kluth

The Way Forward
Promotion, development and monitoring of the 1996 Convention: Ideas and vision

• Ms Julie Rosicky & Ms Mia Dambach

The role of mediation in solving international custody, access and relocation cases under the 1996 Convention

• Ms Marianne Souquet
• Ms Eva Pávková
• Prof. Tsisana Shamlikashvili

Mediation in international child abduction cases: ways to reach an amicable solution within a strict timeframe

• The Hon. Annette Olland
• Mr Mathjis Storm
• Ms Feray Ergun

You will find here the Conclusions and Recommendations of the Conference in English, French and Spanish.

You can also see the Recommendations to States of the International Family Mediation Workshop.

• To ISS Publications Shop.
• Professor G.P. Romano : Conflicts between parents and between legal orders in respect of parental responsibility in English and French.
• The European Group for Private International Law - Declaration on the Legal Status of Applicants for International Protection from Third Countries to the European Union in English and French.
• "Santiago Meeting" - Latin American Meeting on the International Protection of Children and the Recovery of Maintenance Abroad.

Vice-President Mrs. Mairead McGuinness MEP (European Parliament)

Hervé Boéchat:
Hervé is a Swiss lawyer with more than a decade of experience in the field of child protection. After several missions for the ICRC and working for the Swiss Federal Department of Justice, he joined the ISS Team in 2005 and assumed the functions of Under Secretary General and Director of the International Reference Centre of the rights of the children deprived of their family.

Jeannette Wöllenstein:
Jeannette is a Franco-German legal advisor specialized in comparative law. She has worked for the Costa Rican Embassy in Paris and volunteered for UNICEF, La Croix Rouge Genevoise and a Children's Home in Ecuador. Passionate about adoption and child protection, she joined the ISS Team in July last year and is actively participating in the organisation of the conference since beginning of 2015.

Vito Bumbaca:
Vito is an Italian legal advisor regulatory affairs specialized in the field of International and European Law in Switzerland, Geneva. After his experience, among others, at the European Union in the field of legal and social security, where he worked on several transnational projects dealing with child protection measures undertaken under the EU regulatory framework, he joined the ISS Team in March 2015 and is actively participating in the organisation of the conference.

Nathalie Khavessian:
Armenian-Lebanese of origin and Swiss citizen, Nathalie has an extensive experience in Project Management in the Private sector. She has worked for 14 years in a Pharmaceutical Company.
Passionate about humanitarian causes, she was elected Ambassador for Care Nepal within her company, after which she decided to take a turn and get closer to the public sector. Having a Hotel Management and International Relations background, she joined the ISS Team in June this year and is actively participating in the organization of the conference.

The General Secretariat of the International Social Service resorted to different partnerships in order to achieve an optimal organization of this Conference.
Concerning the elaboration of the conference agenda, we were able to count on the technical support of a steering committee, composed of:

• the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law
• the Central Authorities of Australia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Malta
• the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the following sponsors for their generous financial support:

• the Swiss Federal Department of Justice in its function as designated Central Authority;
• the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva;
• la Ville de Genève;
• le Canton de Genève
• la Fondation Meyrinoise du Casino;
• la Fondation Albatros;
• Webster University;
• Addict Lab;
• and other private donors.

Should you be interested in contributing to this important international event, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are actively looking for additional support. 

Regarding questions, please contact:

Jeannette Wöllenstein: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  / Vito Bumbaca: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.