21 senators urge Obama to press Japan on child abductions

Tuesday 10th November, 10:01 AM JST

WASHINGTON —

U.S. Sen Jim Webb urged President Barack Obama on Monday to address the issue of international parental child abductions when he meets with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in Japan later this week.

‘‘We strongly feel that the recent election of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), under the leadership of Prime Minister Hatoyama, is a unique opportunity for the United States to reinvigorate its dialogue with Japan on the issue of international parental child abduction,’’ a letter from Webb and 21 other senators to the U.S. president said.

‘‘We write to respectfully request that you address the issue of international parental child abduction in your discussions’’ with the Japanese leader, the letter, dated Nov 5, said.

Obama is scheduled to hold talks with Hatoyama in Tokyo on Friday night.

Sen Webb (D-Va), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, urged the White House to pressure the Japanese government to resolve the outstanding cases of U.S. citizens who have had their children unlawfully taken to Japan by their spouses.

‘‘Many parents have not seen or heard from their children in years,’’ the letter, whose signatories include former U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry, said. ‘‘We cannot sit back and wait while these children grow up without one parent.’‘

The letter from the bipartisan group of senators criticized Japan for failing to accede to the treaty on international child abductions.

‘‘It is particularly troubling that Japan remains the only G-7 industrialized nation that has yet to accede to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction,’’ the letter said.

Japan remaining a non-signatory has drawn international criticism recently after an American father who tried to take back his two children from his Japanese wife was arrested on suspicion of child abduction in Fukuoka Prefecture in September.

The children might have been handed over to the father’s side if Japan were a member of the convention, which stipulates that children should be returned to the original residing place when they are taken forcibly. The mother was reported by American media to have unlawfully taken the children first from the United States.

Beyond urging Japan to sign The Hague Convention, the letter called on Obama to establish a bilateral mechanism to resolve current cases of child abduction. The Hague Convention does not apply to abductions that occur before a country joins the child abduction convention.

There are currently 79 cases involving over 100 American children who have been abducted by a parent to Japan, the senators in the letter said.

The U.S. State Department said it was not aware of any case where a child has been ordered returned to the United States by a Japanese court, according to its website on international parental child abductions.

‘‘In cases of international parental abduction, foreign parents are greatly disadvantaged in Japanese courts, both in terms of obtaining the return of children to the United States, and in achieving any kind of enforceable visitation rights in Japan,’’ the department’s website said.

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Latest 15 of 41 Total Comments Show All

Miyaratmosphere at 03:48 PM JST - 10th November

dolphingirl at 02:52 PM JST - 10th November

Go Obama! Get Japan to join! Yes, you can!

kirakira25 at 03:16 PM JST - 10th November

newjapanese? Any response? I am also really interested to hear why you think Japan shouldn`t sign.

newjapanese,

I guess you must feel hella shameless to write such an ignorant comment on JT knowing how draconian the laws in your country are. Note that if you were intelligent enough you would know that if your children were abducted by a "japanese" citizen and brought back to Japan or abducted domestically, the KeyStones would do anything to help you. They are legendary for their incompetence and overpaid salary. When my ex took my 1 year baby boy, the KeyStones just laughed at me saying that he was still the father and that there was nothing they could do. Same old, same old. It's really painful and frustrating but I know that the "day" is close...its getting really closer now. We all hope for the same, that this archaic country sign the Hague Convention once for all.

Dolphingirl, kirakira: I'm with you girls!! Go Obama!!!
Miyaratmosphere at 03:49 PM JST - 10th November

actually I meant: "the KeyStones would do NOTHING to help you"
smithinjapan at 04:09 PM JST - 10th November

Ummm... that's, "I'm curious to HEAR," not, "here".
tkoind2 at 05:53 PM JST - 10th November

Bottom line, this is a very fair agreement that protects the rights of both parents and looks after the interests of the children involved. The current Japanese approach is to discount any consideration of the foreign parent in favor of the Japanese parent regardless of his/her capability to care for the children or the legal or other interests of the family.

Japan needs to join the 21st century on this and many other issues.
gogogo at 06:38 PM JST - 10th November

Gaijinocchio: Actually you make the best point, it doesn't matter what nationality the child is nor the parent if a kid is abducted at all something should be done about it! Japan needs to sign the agreement so that it can stop no matter what race, color, country or background.
NeoJamal at 04:13 AM JST - 11th November

If the US gets no joy on this topic, the next step should be the enacting of laws that specifically target Japanese nationals married to US citizens within the United States. Specifically, the US government might consider some form of electronic tagging that would be activated every time such people try to leave the United States. When such alarms went off, using the passport details of the person in question, law enforcement could check whether these people are being accompanied by children or whether any other form of warrant was outstanding against them. Taking this idea one step further, in order to prevent kidnappings back to Japan, perhaps the US should introduce a special class of visa for Japanese nationals intending to marry and live in the United States. Such people might also be required to obtain a travel release from their spouse when traveling outside the US with their children.

Now, I know that some people might consider such policies somewhat "aggressive" or "racially specific," however, just the hint of having such legislation submitted to the Congress would make Japan's head spin faster than that girl in "The Exorcist." It would also probably make Japan somewhat more eager to sign the Hague Convention.

That's brilliant! It's mostly Japanese women with gaijin feverthat marry Americans (with 99.9% if the time with Western European whites), they drop a few kids and before you know it, they are divorced. Quasi-anti-miscegenetion laws like this is a welcoming sight.
onewordonelie at 06:53 AM JST - 11th November

Beyond urging Japan to sign The Hague Convention, the letter called on Obama to establish a bilateral mechanism to resolve current cases of child abduction. The Hague Convention does not apply to abductions that occur before a country joins the child abduction convention.

Just thought I'd point that out... Since, unless I'm completely off base, that means there are two things that people want Obama to 'urge' Japan into. One being to sign the convention, to keep this from happening again to other foreign parents in Japan. Two being to deal with the parents who have already abducted their children and are using Japanese laws [or lack of] to keep them there.

And wow, NeoJamal! I love how you hit the bigotry points for both racism and sexism in one comment. Congratz!
igotchu at 10:05 AM JST - 11th November

onewordonelie, add a third, to ensure that all parents have the right to maintain contact with their child in case of divorce or seperation.
perspective at 10:31 AM JST - 11th November

With all of the discussions on this site about child abductions and the Japanese propensity to invariably rule in the favor of the Japanese born spouse, nothing is said to refute the assertion that custody always goes to the woman. I would be curious to see the statistics on how many foreign women lose custody and contact with their children.

Also, not much is said about what happens when the Japanese spouse dies - wonder how many Japanese grandparents assume custody then over the foreign biological parent?
igotchu at 11:20 AM JST - 11th November

Statics like that are not kept by the Ministry of Justice, but you may find the facts by looking thru judicial decisions in divorce cases.

You could also gather your own facts by speaking with various foreign consulates in Japan. Some non-profit organizations for foreign women in Japan might have the information as well.

I personally know of two foreign women who lost custody and contact with their children.
Miyaratmosphere at 03:44 PM JST - 11th November

nothing is said to refute the assertion that custody always goes to the woman.

************That's CERTAINLY incorrect. After being abducted of course, I lost custody of my 1 year old to my japanese ex-husband back in 2007. What makes you think that all women get custody? In my case, it wasn't gender but the fact that I wasn't Japanese. Go Figure.

I would be curious to see the statistics on how many foreign women lose custody and contact with their children.

*****************It's still safe to say that not too many but we are definitely outnumbered by men. There are more Left-behind Fathers than Mothers unfortunately. But still, there are Left-Behind MOTHERS just like myself.

What doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

Moderator: No personal details please.
igotchu at 04:55 PM JST - 11th November

Cleo, any woman who knows they are on the verge of losing their child without ever seeing them again would get emotional. Its unfair for you to judge her like that. When Japanese women are in the same predicament your courts support them and rarely take their kids away, and never ever gives them to the foreign father.
Miyaratmosphere at 06:32 PM JST - 11th November

igotchu,

thank you very much for your sensibility and understanding. I know that even though I took a very desperate measure and that at the end it was fruitless, I wish I had the wisdom that would have driven me to act wisely and differently. But then, how would I know, right? I wasn't born a psychic..Things happen for a reason. We all make mistakes. Yet for some reason, I'm still alive and not giving up. I still have 2 more to live for. But that one that was taken, my heart will always be within him.

Unfortunately, Child Abduction is not only a Japan problem, it's all over the world. It's time for it to end.
JACKY1289 at 09:15 PM JST - 11th November

PRESIDENT OBAMA, As you always say YES WE CAN!!! As I see these news everyday, my heart is grieving thinking about these unfortunate children who cannot reach to their fathers, as well as few mothers.President Obama, when you come to japan this time,please ask the japan to change their stupid law and allow the rights of children to both parents. This will help even japanese husbands to see their children.JPN govt. supports the single mothers in japan. That is one of the reasons single mothers don't want to show their children to fathers.As I know I think single mothers should't have any contacts with their childrens fathers to be qualified to gain this monthly support.JPN single mothers keep on getting these monthly supports and going for grambling with their own children and keep on abusing these children everyday.At last when nothing is going well, they involve to kill their own children.
perspective at 09:15 AM JST - 13th November

Miyaratmosphere, the point I was trying to make is that this blatant discrimination is always explained away as a "Japanese women escaping an abusive foreign man" usually in tandem with something about the child needing to be with his mother; but that isn't true, the Japanese courts rule in favor of the Japanese spouse irrespective of gender and even favor a grandparent over the biological parent.