Parental Alienation

Parental Alienation is a severe form of domestic abuse that victimizes both the child and the targeted parent. Since 2008, Parental Alienation Awareness Day has been observed on April 25 as part of the global campaign to raise awareness about parental alienation.

The most comprehensive review of the parental alienation (PA) literature summarizes over 300 peer-reviewed studies conducted in 32 countries around the world, and concludes:

“It is no longer tenable to dismiss the field as lacking in scientific status. Only by recognizing the legitimacy of PA scholarship will developmental psychology sustain and enhance understanding of how and why parent–child relationships break down in the wake of interparental conflict, separation, and divorce.”

Ignoring this persuasive body of research, Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in 2023 her report, “Custody, Violence Against Women and Violence against Children.” The document denigrates  parental alienation as an “unscientific pseudo-concept,” and recommends that countries should “legislate to prohibit the use of parental alienation or related pseudo concepts in family law cases.”

A detailed analysis by the Parental Alienation Study Group reveals Alsalem’s report was filled with “misleading statements and blatant misinformation.” The analysis also warns, “democracy itself is in danger of being overtaken by totalitarian ideologies and regimes.” Refuting Alsalem’s central claim, a recent analysis of PA cases concluded, “alienating mothers’ claims of abuse against known ‘abusive’ alienated fathers were not being discredited more often than they were for alienating fathers.”

In July 2023, the UN Human Rights Council refused to approve the deeply flawed report. But ignoring the rebuke, Alsalem continued her dishonest campaign, carrying her anti-child message to Canada, England, and elsewhere.

So DAVIA has launched a campaign to Give Reem the Boot! We are asking you to contact her boss, Volker Turk, with the simple message, “Reem Alsalem Must Go!” Here’s Turk’s email address: infoDesk@ohchr.org

In response to the refusal of the Human Rights Council to approve Alsalem’s flawed report, the feminist-driven SHERA Research Group pursued a different approach. Denying the fact that mothers are the perpetrators in at least half of all PA cases, SHERA published a report urging courts to use the term, “Child and Mother Sabotage” (CAMS).

But the CAMS proposal has fallen flat. Two years later, Grok reported there is “no evidence from available data that family courts in major jurisdictions, such as the US, UK, or Canada, have formally integrated CAMS into their legal frameworks, case law, or official proceedings.”

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