UN warning: parental alienation used in courts to conceal violence
Special Rapporteur Alsalem: in the courts unscientific theories with which abusers discredit the accusations and have their children removed from their mothers. Courses and counselling, a business in the skin of children
by Flavia Landolfi and Manuela Perrone
Key points
"The discredited and unscientific pseudo-concept of parental alienation" is used "in family law proceedings by abusers as a tool to continue abuse and to undermine and discredit allegations of domestic violence by mothers trying to keep their children safe. All in violation of the principle of the best interests of the child.
The report on parental alienation signed by the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Reem Alsalem, who illustrated it on 20 November in the Italian Senate during an initiative promoted by the Italian Democrat Valeria Valente, does not mince her words. "Forced reunification of minors with one parent and forced removal from the other in order to achieve reunification with the rejected parent is a form of institutional torture and ill-treatment," the Jordanian expert in humanitarian and gender issues concluded. She also took aim at the so-called 'reunification camps', centres or family homes where the child's relationship with the other parent is forced.
An entire plant under indictment
But it is the whole system revolving around parental alienation that is under indictment. The 40-page UN report denounces the unscientific and instrumental nature of the theory that was invented by the psychologist Richard Gardner to be applied during divorces to children who report abuse by their fathers: with alienation and its derivatives, such as 'parental rejection', the acts carried out by one parent, most often the mother, accused of causing the child to reject the other parent, usually the father, are censured. The UN report also denounces the "parental rejection" theory, which was invented by the psychologist Richard Gardner to be applied during divorces to children who report abuse by their fathers
The intent to 'deprogramme' minors
"Protective mothers find themselves at a disadvantage. Insisting on presenting evidence of domestic violence or child abuse can be seen as an attempt to distance the children from the other parent. Thus, it happens that children, even young ones, are taken away from the parent defined as 'alienating' and placed, often by forceful removal, in foster homes or with the other parent, ignoring their will, allegations of violence and even criminal convictions. Objective: 'deprogramming' the minors to eliminate rejection and achieve bigenitoriality.
Alienation used on a global scale
Despite being rejected by the scientific community and deleted from the WHO's International Classification of Diseases, alienation is 'widely used to deny allegations of abuse in family courts on a global scale'. Hundreds of mothers find themselves branded by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers as alienating, obstructive, malignant and lose custody of their children, with 'catastrophic' effects. Only one country has banned its use: Spain.
