OUR VALUES
What we believe
Cross-border abuse exposes gaps between relationships, jurisdictions and institutions. These principles guide what Tied Across Borders believes should change — and how we intend to work.
Protection & dignity
Abuse does not become acceptable because it crosses a border
Nobody should have to tolerate abuse, stalking, harassment, intimidation, impersonation, coercion or deliberate interference with an important relationship simply because the behaviour originates in another country.
Physical distance should never mean reduced protection.
Necessary ties should never become tools of control
Children, family relationships, immigration status, employment, property, finances, pets and other important dependencies can create legitimate reasons for two people to remain connected. That does not give anybody the right to use that connection as leverage.
Protecting something important should never require tolerating abuse attached to it.
Nobody should be pressured into contact with an aggressor
Where there is credible abuse, coercive control, intimidation, fear or a serious power imbalance, a person should not be pressured into direct communication or mediation simply because an important dependency connects the parties. People should have access to safe legal, professional and structured alternatives that allow them to protect what matters without unnecessarily reopening a route for abuse.
Mediation is meaningful only when participation is genuinely voluntary.
Justice & access
Protection should not depend on wealth
Money should not determine whether somebody can understand their rights, obtain appropriate legal advice or access emotional support when facing a problem involving another jurisdiction. Cross-border situations can create additional costs precisely when somebody is already vulnerable. That is also why essential survivor-facing information and resources from Tied Across Borders should remain free at the point of access.
Access to justice and support should not become a privilege reserved for those who can afford international lawyers, translations, travel and unfamiliar legal systems.
People have the right to pursue justice across borders
If the court with legitimate jurisdiction over a child, property, immigration matter, employment relationship or another fundamental part of somebody's life is in another country, that person should be able to access that legal system meaningfully. Nationality, residence, language, distance and financial circumstances should not make legitimate litigation practically impossible.
Your right to seek justice should not stop at your own border.
Nobody should be lost between systems
Cross-border cases often fall between institutions. Police, family courts, domestic-abuse services, immigration authorities, safeguarding agencies, digital platforms and consular services may each understand only one part of the problem. There should be clear pathways between them. Embassies and consulates should be equipped to provide reliable signposting, and professionals should know where to refer somebody whose situation crosses jurisdictions. No single organisation can solve every part of an international case, so we intend to work alongside specialist organisations rather than in place of them.
A person in crisis should not have to become their own international case manager.
Children & relationships
Children should not become casualties of geography
A child's safe relationship with a parent should not become easier to damage simply because linguistic, cultural and physical borders separate them. International distance can increase dependence on one parent for communication, information and access, making harmful gatekeeping or alienating behaviours particularly difficult to recognise and remedy. Our focus is on observable behaviours and their impact on the child.
These risks deserve serious research, early intervention and child-centred responses.
Children should not be placed in the middle of adult conflict
Disputes between adults should never be conducted through a child. A child's safety and wellbeing come first.
Systems & the future
Cross-border abuse should be understood, recognised and taught
Professionals and the public should understand that domestic abuse, stalking, coercive control and harassment can continue across continents. Cross-border abuse should become part of mainstream education and professional training for relevant police, lawyers, safeguarding professionals, social workers, consular staff, journalists and support organisations.
People experiencing it should not have to invent the language needed to explain their situation before anybody knows where to send them.
International cooperation must match an interconnected world
Borders should not provide practical immunity for abuse. Countries already cooperate internationally in areas where national boundaries can frustrate justice. Cross-border stalking, harassment, coercion and technology-facilitated abuse deserve similarly serious mechanisms for cooperation, evidence preservation, referral and protection. International law and international institutions should continue developing responses capable of addressing abuse that operates across jurisdictions. Where important relationships or dependencies are deliberately weaponised across borders, the international community should treat the resulting harm with the same seriousness it applies to other recognised cross-border safeguarding problems.
This is an ambition for future international cooperation, not a description of existing treaty law.
Technology must not become a shield for abuse
Policy cannot stand still while technology changes the nature of abuse. Artificial intelligence, deepfakes, synthetic audio, impersonation, location tracking and automated harassment can allow somebody thousands of miles away to cause immediate and potentially serious harm. Law, policing, platforms and safeguarding systems must evolve rapidly enough to identify, preserve evidence of and respond to AI-assisted and technology-facilitated cross-border abuse.
Innovation should expand human freedom, not create new forms of unaccountable control.
How we work
Evidence and lived experience should drive change
Tied Across Borders should listen carefully to people experiencing these problems while testing assumptions against evidence, professional expertise and research. Our advocacy should evolve as the evidence evolves. The goal is not to defend one gender, nationality, parent or type of relationship. It is to defend a simple principle:
Borders should not magnify an abuser's power, diminish a victim's protection or destroy the relationships, rights and responsibilities that deserve protecting.
Protection should not depend on who you are
Support should not depend on gender, sexuality, nationality or immigration status.
Abuse is defined by behaviour and power, not by the victim's gender or nationality.
Privacy and safety come first
People seeking help deserve careful handling of sensitive information. We will never ask people to send evidence or identifying details through this website.
No public trials
This platform should not become somewhere people publicly identify and prosecute alleged perpetrators.