The first German training workshop took place successfully online via Zoom on Friday, 18 September 2020. 32 participants registered and attended the training session. The majority of the participants were judges and lawyers dealing primarily with child abduction cases, as well as social workers. The aim of the workshop was to train key stakeholders in the application of the Protection Measures Regulation in the specific context of parental child abduction cases committed against the background of domestic violence.

After a welcome and a short introduction to the project, Professor Anatol Dutta began the training session with explaining the legal and factual background. In particular, it was pointed out that tensions between the Convention summary return policy and considerations over the safety of the abduction mother exists. In the second part of the Training Session, it was explained how this gap can be closed with the help of the Protection Measures Regulation. Tatjana Tertsch began with an overview of the protection measures which exist under German law and then presented the Protection Measures Regulation and the European Protection Order Directive and their differences. The main focus was on the Protection Measures Regulation, since only the latter is relevant for German protection measures. Professor Dutta then illustrated the five possible ways of establishing jurisdiction for the Hague Convention return court to order protective measures. He also discussed the applicable law governing protection measures and explained how German protective measures may then circulate under the Protection Measures Regulation. In the end, the participants were able to ask questions and discussions followed.