Originally published on 24 December 2024: Family Court Crisis Announces a Collaboration with PACTPAN – the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network

Today, on 24 December 2024, members of PACTPAN, the Pan-African Theology Network, and activists across the globe are launching a new campaign against human trafficking.

The launch is timed to coincide with the Catholic Church’s Pilgrims of Hope 2025 Jubilee. Director of the programme is Sister Leonida Katunge, a Catholic nun and lawyer from Kenya.

Sister Leonida in the campaign’s powerful launch video reminds us of the message of Jesus Christ in Luke IV who said:

“The spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent him to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free”.

Luke 4:14-19

Please watch the video, in which faith leaders and human trafficking survivors across Africa share their messages of hope, in English and French, that we will combat human trafficking and modern slavery in all their forms, worldwide.

Institutional trafficking in Europe

The programme is designed to allow campaigners in different parts of the world to share how they are impacted by human trafficking.

Many of us in countries like the UK, USA and European Union Member States know that vulnerable immigrants are exploited in modern slavery. We may be less aware that domestic populations are also at risk due to ineffective enforcement of laws. Domestically trafficked individuals report that they are not protected by the same mechanisms afforded to people trafficked across borders, leaving them to fall through the gaps.

Nataly Anderson, founder of Family Court Crisis, a UK-based advocacy group, has been reporting for some years that the family courts in western countries are participating in what are effectively forms of human trafficking and modern slavery. Nataly spoke about this, and how it impacted her and her children, in a community Unconference she organised in January 2023.

When children are taken from good mothers and fathers, from safe and loving homes and put in situations where they are likely to suffer abuse and exploitation, this is a form of trafficking. Money may not change hands directly, but this is an industry that generates a great deal of money. This creates a profit incentive to ensnare children in unethical legal practices. This can affect domestic and immigrant families.

How European family courts are trafficking children from overseas

In 2017, a Croatian court unlawfully refused to return Nataly’s children following their unprovoked kidnap by their father a year earlier. The same court was found to have authorised the adoption of more than 60 children from the Democratic Republic of Congo in the previous decade.

Courts in England and Switzerland refused to investigate Nataly’s allegations, and to uphold her legal and human rights and those of her children. As a result, her children have been trapped in Croatia against their will, with no lawful basis, for more than 8 years. Nataly says that this is a form of false imprisonment as a result of laundered child kidnap, and is institutional child trafficking.

Campaigners for redress for those impacted by the Irish Mother and Baby Homes scandal support the family court victims’ claims that they are also impacted by institutional child trafficking.

The Croatian Congo scandal went almost unnoticed in English-speaking countries and was covered up by the Croatian authorities. It passed almost without comment by the European Commission. A similar scandal that took place in the Netherlands in 2021 led to the suspension of inter country adoptions.

In December 2024, the outgoing EU Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, was investigated on suspicion of money laundering. Nataly believes that since the Commission has turned a blind eye to complaints sent by her and others about malpractice in family law cases during Reynders’ mandate, EU officials, politicians and judges in EU Member States may have been complicit in human trafficking through the bloc’s institutions.

In Croatia, it is an open secret that politicians and judges frequent children’s homes where children are sexually abused. Nataly met Roma families in Croatia who had had as many as nine children taken. Some, such as three-year-old Nikoll Dedic, were killed as a result of perverse decisions of the authorities. Some had no idea where their children were and feared they had been sold overseas.

Nataly is determined that these crimes, which devastate the lives of innocent children and families, must not be allowed to continue. What she and her children, and thousands of others, have been through must result in systemic change to combat crimes against children and families and restore the rule of law.

Illegal adoptions

The same family courts that are unlawfully taking children from mothers in Britain, Europe, the USA and worldwide are facilitating illegal international adoptions of children. The courts “launder” the adoptions of children who are often “paper orphans”. They may have been kidnapped, taken from their families by deception or fast-tracked into adoption from orphanages or foster care without their parents’ consent.

Illegal adoptions take place regardless of whether the adoptions are “regulated” by the Hague private international family laws. Nataly points out that her three Hague Convention cases, and those of many others, demonstrate that the family courts implement the law arbitrarily, exploiting loopholes including unlimited judicial discretion, and there are effectively no accountability mechanisms. The Congo scandal in Croatia exposed the most brutal abuses of the law by judges.

Nataly’s experiences show, as do those of other mothers, that local courts may be pressurised to effectively traffic children by interest groups associated with human trafficking cartels that span official bodies and what Sister Leonida describes as mafia cartels operating internationally. We believe that the interest groups include senior officials in the judiciary of most western countries. Only this can explain why there is systematic tolerance of the unlawful separation of children from their mothers and families.

A major media investigation in Croatia found that less due diligence was exercised in processing the adoptions of the children from DR Congo than would be required for the import of household pets. Prospective adopters were applying to courts out of jurisdiction and their cases were fast-tracked by preferred judges, raising serious questions about impartiality and violations of the law and procedure. Yet the Croatian Supreme Court only referred to “certain legal gaps”.

The Croatian Ministry of Social Welfare refused to inform Members of Parliament about the whereabouts and wellbeing of more than 131 children identified to have been adopted from DR Congo, citing the right to privacy of the families. However, Sister Leonida confirms the fears of many in Croatia: that some of them were destined for organ trafficking.

A threat to the European Union

This is concerning given that Croatia entered the Schengen area for free movement across borders on 1 January 2023, despite widespread concerns about human rights abuses at the border and evidence of pervasive corruption. Individuals trafficked through the Croatian courts can be easily dispersed throughout the European Union.

Nataly Anderson’s ex husband, Zvonimir Marinovic, is a senior Croatian Customs official. Nataly alleges that he personally carried out the unprovoked kidnap of their two children, and following that profited from documented abuse of power in the Croatian institutions. Together with other senior officials of the Croatian Customs Directorate, Marinovic has been named as participating in consensual sexual activities involving multiple individuals and publicly advertising openness to sexual encounters. This raises questions about the integrity of Croatian border control officials, as well as of the criteria by which family judges entrust parental responsibility over children.

Further, Ivana Buljan Ajelić, daughter of Gordana Buljan Flander, the former Head of the Croatian Child Protection Clinic who was forced to resign in 2021 amid allegations of malpractice and corruption, stated on her CV while in post as the Deputy of the Croatian Children’s Ombudsman that she was a member of the FRONTEX group for monitoring forced deportation flights. She was cleared following a report for conflict of interest following a complaint about the failure of the Ombudsman to respond to complaints about the Clinic. This was exactly Nataly’s experience and concern.

Campaigners in Croatia complain of systemic inaction against white collar crime, a pattern which is also seen in Europe, the UK and USA. In October 2024 the European Public Prosecutor’s Office wrote to the European Commission citing systemic challenges in upholding the rule of law in Croatia. However, Nataly fears that her experiences to date demonstrate that the Commission is at the very least turning a blind eye to crimes involving human trafficking.

Human rights abuses

None of this comes as any surprise to anti-corruption campaigners in Croatia. Croatia consistently ranks at the bottom of the EU Justice Scoreboard for perceived independence of the judiciary. Yet Croatia is never singled out for criticism by the EU bodies, while the block initiated financial sanctions against Hungary and Poland.

In Croatia, the United Kingdom and other countries, families who have experienced the judicial trafficking of their children can testify to the child protection system’s utter callousness towards children and their families, and flagrant disregard for their legal rights. However, many may still be unaware of how deep corruption runs and the extent to which the courts appear to be mixed up in abuse and exploitation.

In the USA, psychiatrist and violence expert Dr Bandy X Lee, whose sister has not seen her children for four years following the transfer of custody to their abusive father, has for some time been raising the alarm that US courts are trafficking children for sexual exploitation, and that judges and court experts are committing criminal acts behind the closed doors of the family courts. Dr Lee is one of 30 families who have launched a petition to impeach a New Jersey judge.

Campaigners such as Roelie Post, a former European Commission official with extensive experience of the international adoption lobby, primarily related to Romania, considers that the adoption and children’s social care sectors are motivated by aggressive lobbies that sacrifice child rights to profit. These lobbyists have been embedded in EU institutions since the early 2000s when EU and Romanian officials held their ground against the industry.

Profit over human rights

Nataly and other campaigners for the abolition of the modern-day family courts consider that the multi-billion pound profits earned worldwide from the divorce and child custody industry are motivating unscrupulous professionals to make bad decisions that guarantee a return to court, prolong cases and provoke parental conflict, thus generating more income.

Children who are separated from their protective parents become vulnerable to abuse of all kinds. This was thrown into stark relief by the life sentences handed down in December 2024 for the shocking murder of Sara Sharif by her father and stepmother. Sara was ordered into the custody of her father despite his extensive record for violence and criminal behaviour, instead of her mother receiving the required support.

Family Court Crisis campaigners believe that all individuals unlawfully separated from their families through the courts are victims of a form of modern slavery and human trafficking, with the family law and social care industries profiting directly and indirectly from what amounts to a trade in human beings. They confirm that the same is happening to vulnerable adults.

Children and adults are taken against their will from their homes and loving families, which has a profound impact on their mental health and wellbeing. Campaigners testify to abuse suffered by their loved ones as a result.

2025 campaign

Throughout 2025, global groups will be campaigning on the issue of human trafficking and modern slavery worldwide, to raise awareness of all forms of these crimes, their alarming proliferation and the impacts in different countries.

On 8 February, the feast day of Saint Josephine Bakhita, the patron saint of victims of human trafficking, the groups plan public events to raise awareness.

The Family Court Crisis team are honoured to join Sister Leonida and campaigners throughout Africa and worldwide in their commitment to end human trafficking by 2030.

Although this campaign is spearheaded by Catholic groups, Sister Leonida stresses that the issue is human rights based and that all are welcome to take part.

Campaign group members cite the complicity of government officials in the human trafficking networks, as well as criminal cartels. This can endanger the lives and safety of campaigners.

We ask you to keep a watch over our campaigners to ensure that no harm comes to them as they raise their voices in the fight against these horrific crimes.

This is a fight against powerful enemies. It is no coincidence that the theme of the 2025 Jubilee is Pilgrims of Hope. It is only through hope and faith that victims of, and campaigners against human trafficking survive.

Please subscribe to our Substack, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Donate to keep us campaigning, and join us in the fight of our lives, to secure a peaceful and happy future for all our children.

We welcome solidarity with all groups with an interest in ending the exploitation and trafficking of human beings, and equality before the law for all.

Wishing a merry Christmas to all our readers, and to your loved ones.