Obama brings up Hague Convention issue in talks with Noda
September 22, 2011
President Obama finally seems to be talking about this issue with the prime minister of Japan. The first U.S. president to do so.
Here is a youtube link with Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell’s comments about the meeting, in which he states that the need to address existing cases was also discussed when President Obama and Prime Minister Noda met:
Case of Alex Kahney, U.K. left-behind parent
February 6, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12358440
Japan custody heartache for foreign fathers
By Roland BuerkBBC News, Tokyo
Thousands of Japanese people marry foreigners every year. Many are happy – but if the marriage breaks down the foreign spouse may end up cut out of the children’s lives.
Alex Kahney often visits the places he used to take his childrenAlex Kahney, who works for a medical publisher, still lives in what was once the family home, now nearly bare of furniture but full of memories.
There are photographs of his daughters on the walls of the small four-storey town house in one of the nicer Tokyo neighbourhoods.
Their favourite stuffed toys, a dog and a mouse, are on the back of the sofa – reminders of the little girls, aged nine and seven, who he has not seen for months.
His Japanese wife took them with her, along with much of the contents of the house, when their marriage broke down, and is refusing to let him see them.
Mr Kahney first tried the police.
But when he told them that his wife had abducted their children, they laughed at him.
What makes it more painful is that their new home is just down the road.
Pressure for change
“They’re on a second-floor apartment,” he says. “I can hear them talking inside. I go and stand underneath the balcony listening to them. It’s tough.
“For the first few months I cried, I howled. For half an hour sometimes. I hardly sleep. I’m usually awake most of the night. And I have dreams, I dream about my children every night.”
Many Japanese parents are also campaigning for changeIn Japan, the courts normally give custody to one parent after a marriage breakdown and it is up to that parent if they let the other parent have any access.
Many separating couples come to amicable agreements, but it is not unusual for one parent to be cut out of their children’s lives forever.
When the former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi divorced, he got custody of his two eldest sons, who have not seen their mother since.
She was six months pregnant at the time, and Mr Koizumi has never met his youngest son.
But now there is pressure for a change in the law.
Every few weeks Alex Kahney joins a demonstration organised by a group called Left-Behind Parents, Japan.
They have lobbied members of the Diet, and on a recent Sunday they marched, more than 100 strong, through the centre of Tokyo.
Among the demonstrators were many Japanese parents.
Courts defied
There are a quarter of a million divorces in Japan every year, which is relatively low by international standards, but a dramatic increase from earlier generations.
Number of cases
Twelve countries have been urging Japan to sign up to the Hague Convention:
- US: 131
- Canada: 38
- UK: 38
- France: 30
- Germany 2
- Australia, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand and Spain – no figures available
- Belgium and Colombia – 0 cases
It is the cases involving foreigners, though, that are drawing the most attention.
Japan’s customs around divorce have become a diplomatic issue because the country has yet to sign up to the 1980 Hague Convention on child abduction. As a result, Japanese parents who bring their children home after a divorce abroad can defy joint custody orders made by foreign courts.
The British embassy is dealing with 38 cases involving children, other embassies many more.
“There are 12 embassies involved in this,” says David Warren, the British ambassador in Tokyo.
“We have been making frequent representations to the Japanese government. We’ve been saying to them that Japan cannot any longer go on without becoming part of the international legal framework for resolving these cases.”
Abusive relationships
Japan is considering ratifying the Hague Convention.
A newspaper report earlier this month said an announcement could come as soon as the spring.
‘Women look after the children’
Osamu, who doesn’t want to use his full name, got divorced five years ago and his daughters are now 17 and 14. He sees the younger girl once every two months, the older girl about twice a year.
“I thought about their best interests,” he says. “So I gave in and let their mother have custody.”
Osamu says that at the time of the divorce he thought of splitting up his daughters, with the parents having custody of one each. But he decided it would not be good for them.
“In Japan traditionally men go out to work and women look after children. We tend to think women will be better off taking care of them, especially when they are small.
“Of course, there are exceptions. Maybe the father’s family has a business and needs the next generation to take over.”
Osamu added that men tend to think they can go on, get married again and start a new family more easily than women. From his experience it’s usual for fathers not to see children at all.
But implementation is likely to be a long process.
It would mean a change from the expectation that families should largely work things out for themselves, to the state enforcing agreements on access and child-support payments.
Some people are also worried that the convention could hinder Japanese trying to flee abusive relationships abroad.
Akiko Oshima is a marriage counsellor who has worked as a mediator in the family court.
“These women who come back, do not do it because they want to,” she says.
“They feel this is the only way out. They want their child to be brought up in Japan, and not in the host country where the father is abusive and she has no control over her children’s education, and so forth. Not even, say, getting a job to support herself. This is the problem.”
Alex Kahney spends a lot of time visiting places he went with his children, like the playground near his home.
He says he was a good parent and his daughters were daddy’s girls.
If he is to see them again he must only hope their mother takes pity on him.
Japanese government setting up council to review Hague Convention
January 11, 2011
The council will be set up by the end of January and is to provide a report on whether or not to join the Hague convention by the end of March.
Rep. Chris Smith calls on Obama to address child abduction issue
November 14, 2010
Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey has called upon President Obama to address the international child abduction issue with Japanese Prime Minister Kan during his trip to Japan.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/107407973_Obama__urged_to__address__child_issue.html
Hatoyama publicly pushing the Hague Convention
February 26, 2010
More articles indicating that Prime Minister Hatoyama is publicly encouraging his government to consider joining the Hague Convention:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100226a6.html
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/169740/japan-says-willing-to-sign-treaty-on-child-abduction
http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=487403
http://www.asahi.com/politics/update/0225/TKY201002250527.html
While this is good news, and shows that Japan is finally publicly acknowledging that there is a problem, it is even more important that the Japanese government address the currently outstanding cases of international child abduction, which number in the hundreds, if not thousands.
Japan drops all charges against Christopher Savoie
November 13, 2009
The timing of this, right before President Obama’s arrival in Japan, is so obvious. Hopefully President Obama doesn’t feel the Japanese child abduction issue has been defused just because of this one gesture. The fact is, Christopher Savoie, like thousands of other parents worldwide, has children in Japan who are being completely blocked out of his life because of the culture and legal system in Japan. President Obama, please do something about it!
President Obama’s schedule in Japan
November 12, 2009
Thank you, Paul Toland, for providing the following–
For those of you who are following the President’s trip, here are the two most important times to be watching:
1. 13 November, 7 PM (Japan Time), 5 AM (Eastern Standard Time) – President Obama’s meeting with Prime Minister Hatoyama, to be followed by a Joint Press Conference.
The latest on the 13 November schedule (all times are Japan times):
6:50PM THE PRESIDENT and Prime Minister Hatoyama of Japan hold bilateral meeting
7:10PM THE PRESIDENT and Prime Minister Hatoyama hold expanded bilateral meeting
8:20PM THE PRESIDENT and Prime Minister Hatoyama hold joint press conference
8:45PM THE PRESIDENT and Prime Minister Hatoyama have dinner
That means the Press Conference will be held at 6:20 AM Eastern Standard
Time in the United States.
2. 14 November, 10 AM (Japan Time), 13 Nov 8 PM (Eastern Standard Time) – President Obama will be making a speech at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, in which he will discuss his view of U.S. engagement in Asia and reaffirm the strength of Washington’s alliance with Japan. While I doubt he will address the child abduction issue at the Speech at Suntory Hall, I am hoping he does mention the issue at the Joint Press Conference, or if he does not mention it, I am hoping the press will ask about it during the Q&A. Unfortunately, the Q&A is usually only about 3 questions from each country’s press (3 Questions from Japanese press, 3 questions from American Press). There’s almost no chance that the Japanese press will raise it, so let’s hope the US press will raise it within the context of their 3 allowed questions.
22 U.S. Senators Sign Letter to President Obama
November 6, 2009
22 U.S. Senators have signed a letter calling upon President Obama to take action on the international child abduction issue during his trip next week to Japan to meet with Prime Minister Hatoyama.
Here are links to the press releases from Senator Boxer’s and Senator Corker’s offices:
Below is a copy of the actual letter. We especially want to recognize the exceptional efforts of the office of Senator Barbara Boxer in taking the intiative on this and garnering bipartisan support for this letter.
11.5.09 Letter to President Obama P1
11.5.09 Letter to President Obama P2
11.5.09 Letter to President Obama P3
Letter to President Obama
November 5, 2009
President Obama will be making his first trip to Japan next week to meet with Prime Minister Hatoyama. Below is a letter that Children’s Rights Council of Japan has sent President Obama. We also have a link here so you can download a Word version of the letter that you can modify so you can send your own letter to President Obama and others. Due to the limited time prior to his trip, it would be best to fax your letter to the White House at 202-456-2461.
We are also trying to get senators to write President Obama about this, and they too can use this letter. Here is a link to find the phone and contact details for all the senators:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Children's Rights Council of Japan (Japan child abduction) 