Fate of child abductions bill in Diet uncertain Fate of child abductions bill in Diet uncertain : an article of The Japan Times

By MASAMI ITO Staff writer
Copyright : Japan Times Source : http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120413f2.html

The government finally submitted legislation to the Diet last month for joining the Hague Convention on international child abductions but its passage appears far from certain.

Western allies have long pressured Japan to join the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, and are watching closely to see whether Tokyo lives up to an earlier promise to ratify it.

But the prospects of this happening in the near future already appear bleak because lawmakers are preoccupied with just one issue — Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s plan to hike the consumption tax.

Although Noda’s administration has decided to push for signing the Hague Convention, lawmakers in both the ruling and opposition camps have serious reservations and the bill’s passage is in doubt. According to the Lower House secretariat, a bill was submitted to the Diet in early March but has not even been referred to a committee for deliberation yet.

Lawmakers opposed to the treaty argue that joining it may result in children being forcibly returned to an abusive environment, since many Japanese mothers have cited domestic violence as a reason for fleeing their overseas domiciles and taking their children to Japan.

But abandoned spouses, who end up with little or no access to their children, have been urging Japan to take action.

At a seminar about the Hague Convention on Monday, Kazuyuki Hamada, a parliamentary secretary at the Foreign Ministry, admitted it’s possible the bill may not be approved by the end of the Diet’s current session.

Hamada, however, confirmed that the ministry is treating the issue as its top priority and will do everything in its power to ensure the bill’s passage.

« The political maneuvering is not easy because we are surrounded by so many (competing) political agendas, » Hamada said. « (Given) these agendas, we are not 100 percent certain we can ratify the Hague Convention by the end of this Diet session.

« But we are determined to push it forward because the issue is hugely relevant to the values of not only of our country, but also those of the international community, » he said.

Kirsten, an American mother who attended the seminar and asked that her last name be withheld, recounted how her former Japanese spouse abducted her 14-year-old son, in Japan. Although the case technically does not fall under the Hague Convention, many former partners in the nations, whether they are Japanese or foreigners, experience difficulty getting access to their children after they divorce of break up.

Kirsten said she was granted legal guardianship of her son after she separated from her husband, but the boy never returned from a visit to his father in 2007. Her former husband held their son for more than a year before the courts acknowledged he should be returned to his mother.

« I used to respect my dad and looked forward to seeing him on the weekends with my sister. But one time I went to my dad’s without my sister and was told that I would no longer be able to see my mother. I was really shocked, » said Kirsten’s son, who wished to remain anonymous.

The boy said he spent that year with his father looking forward to the postcards that his mother regularly sent him.

« I was very confused about the decisions my dad made. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t be with my mother, » he said.

But after they were reunited, he said he was also able to gradually rebuild his relationship with his father.

Akiko Ohnogi, a psychologist who specializes in child and family counseling and has worked on many child abduction cases, stressed the importance of maintaining healthy relationships with both parents.

Such relations have « an impact on (the child’s) entire life — it’s not just something that happens during childhood and eventually goes away, » he said.

« The attachment to both parents determines how children view themselves, how they view interpersonal relationships and their general world view. »

Other panelists at the seminar included Colin P.A. Jones, a professor at Doshisha Law School in Kyoto and an expert on international child abductions.

The seminar was jointly organized by child rights advocates John Gomez and David Hearn, who directed the movie « From the Shadows » on the theme of international and domestic parental abductions, and which is currently in postproduction. The event was supported by the Harvard Club of Japan.

Table ronde du réseau Oyakonet du 13 juillet 2008: vidéos 5, 6, 7


Table ronde du réseau Oyakonet du 13 juillet 2008 (en japonais) 05 from France-Japon.net on Vimeo.


Table ronde du réseau Oyakonet du 13 juillet 2008 (en japonais) 06 from France-Japon.net on Vimeo.


Table ronde du réseau Oyakonet du 13 juillet 2008 (en japonais) 07 from France-Japon.net on Vimeo.

Table ronde du réseau Oyakonet du 13 juillet 2008: vidéos 2, 3, 4


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Table ronde du réseau Oyakonet du 13 juillet 2008 (en japonais) 03 from France-Japon.net on Vimeo.


Table ronde du réseau Oyakonet du 13 juillet 2008 (en japonais) 04 from France-Japon.net on Vimeo.

Ce père si important!

Un article de Dora Tauzin, paru dans le journal Asahi (édition du soir) du 21 février 2008

ずっと大切な「お父さん」

一時帰国していたフランスから日本の家に帰ると、愛する妻と娘の姿がない。置き手紙には「連絡は弁護士へ」。友人のジャック・コローさんの苦難はこんな場面から始まりました。
パリでは夫婦の2組に1組は離婚する、なんて言われていますが、子育てを望む男性の増加もあって、離婚した家庭では、平日と週末に分けてそれぞれの親と暮らす子どもが増えています。フランスは「共同親権制」。子どもには、父親、母親どちらとも交流する権利が保証されているのです。
日本でも離婚が増えていますが、子どもに会わせてもらえない親も増えています。それは、日本は「単独親権制」だから。親権のない親(たいてい父親)は、「会わせたくない」という親権者の意向で、親子の関係を絶たれてしまうのです。コローさんは子どもに会うための戦いをもう4年も続けています。離婚が成立した際に家裁で取り決めた、週に1度の面会の約束は1回も果たされていないのです。誕生日のプレゼントすら渡せないなんて!
コローさんのように日本人との国際結婚の場合、ハーフの娘はもうひとつの祖国フランスと触れ合うチャンスを奪われてしまいます。これは、彼女にとってアイデンティティーを確立していくうえで重要な問題です。
夫婦の関係が破綻(はたん)しても、親子の関係まで引き裂かれることはないはず。共同親権を法制化し、離れた親に会う権利を守るべきではないでしょうか。日本でも子育てに熱心な男性がずいぶん増えていますよね。私にとって父の存在はとても大きいし、今もふたりで旅行するほど仲良し。お父さんの役割は子どもにとって大切なんです!

Dora Tauzin(ドラ・トーザン) / フランス人国際ジャーナリスト

【2008年2月21日、朝日新聞マリオン】

Activités des associations de parents japonaises

Une séance de travail pour le lancement du réseau des associations luttant pour l’établissement d’un droit de visite aux enfants de la part du parent qui n’en a pas eu la garde suite à une séparation ou un divorce a eu lieu le dimanche 13 juillet. Des détails seront publiés prochainement sur ce blog. Les photos sont déjà disponibles ici :
http://france-japon.net/albumphotos/v/sosparents/

Les photos de la conférence de presse du 15 juillet 2008 sont en ligne ici :

http://france-japon.net/albumphotos/v/kishaclub01/

Press Conference at FCCJ – Children Lost in Japan

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan
Press Conference, Thierry Consigny, Colin Jones & Takao Tanase
15:00-16:00 Monday, July 14, 2008
(The speech and Q & A will be in English)

“Children Lost in Japan”

An intense debate is occurring now in the media in Japan, at the Japanese Federation of Bar Associations (Nichibenren), and within the Japanese political system about adapting Japanese civil law to changes within Japanese society and to fulfilling Japan’s international legal obligations.

The latest government survey shows that over 160,000 parents in Japan cannot meet their children after a separation or divorce, and only in the best of cases are able to meet their children after the children reach adulthood. Foreign parents of dual citizenship children are no exception, with an estimated 10,000 or more such children falling into this situation. Foreign parents face additional obstacles in maintaining access with their children because of inequitable Japanese immigration policies, making it difficult for foreign parents to continue to legally live and work in Japan after a separation or divorce.

Today, 18 Japanese NPO and volunteer associations have tied up with left-behind parent associations from the U.S., UK, Canada, and France to lobby Japanese parliamentarians about changing the law.

We are at a very crucial moment where key LDP and DJP members are acting on these issues, with Japan having declared it will sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction as early as 2010, and adapt Japanese law to comply with this treaty beforehand.

The following experts will contribute to a press conference at the FCCJ on July 14:

  • Colin Jones, Attorney at Law (New York Bar), Law Professor of Doshisha University Law School;
  • Takao Tanase, Attorney at Law, registered with JFBA (Japan Federation of Bar Associations,
    Nichibenren), Committee on Family Law Legislation, and Law Professor of Chuo University Law School;
  • Thierry Consigny, elected member of the Assembly for French Overseas Nationals (AFE) for Japan and North Asia.

Note from Thierry Consigny: Attendance is restricted to FCCJ members but hand-outs will be posted on this website.