ID :
159768
Wed, 02/09/2011 - 16:54
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https://www.oananews.org//node/159768
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10 nations, EU press Japan again to join int'l child custody pact
TOKYO, Feb. 9 Kyodo - Ambassadors and representatives of 10 countries and the European Union pressed Japan again on Wednesday to join an international convention designed to help resolve cases in which foreign parents are prevented from seeing their children in Japan after their marriages with Japanese nationals fail.
The ambassadors to Japan or their proxies from Australia, Britain, Canada, Colombia, France, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, the United States and the 27-member European Union conveyed their request to Parliamentary Vice Foreign Minister Ikuo Yamahana at the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
In a joint statement, the 10 countries and the regional bloc said Japan is the only country among the Group of Seven major economies that has not signed the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and sought Tokyo's ratification of the pact.
''Currently the left-behind parents of children abducted to and from Japan have little hope of having their children returned and encounter great difficulties in obtaining access to their children and exercising their parental rights and responsibilities,'' they said.
In their meeting with Yamahana, the representatives ''emphasized the high priority our governments place on the welfare of children affected by the breakdown of international marriages and stressed that children should grow up with access to both parents,'' according to the statement.
Yamahana told them that Japan recognizes the seriousness of child custody disputes and has been seriously examining the possibility of joining the Hague Convention with a view to ensuring the welfare of children in difficult circumstances, the Foreign Ministry said.
The ambassadors welcomed the establishment in January of a vice-minister-level working group to study Tokyo's possible accession to the pact, which they called ''an increasingly universal standard for the handling of cross-border abduction cases.''
International pressure on Tokyo to act on the parental abduction issue has been growing, with legislative bodies in the United States and France recently adopting resolutions that call for Japan's accession to the treaty.
Last October, the ambassadors of 11 countries and the European Union in Japan urged then Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida to join the convention, which currently has 84 parties.
The treaty stipulates rules and procedures for the prompt return of children to their habitual country of residence when wrongfully removed or retained in the case of an international divorce.
Some critics in Japan have raised concerns over joining the Hague Convention, saying it could endanger Japanese parents and their children who have fled abusive relationships.
The 10 countries and the European Union countered the argument, saying the convention ''has provisions to prevent children from being returned to abusive or otherwise threatening situations in other countries.''
The ambassadors to Japan or their proxies from Australia, Britain, Canada, Colombia, France, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, the United States and the 27-member European Union conveyed their request to Parliamentary Vice Foreign Minister Ikuo Yamahana at the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
In a joint statement, the 10 countries and the regional bloc said Japan is the only country among the Group of Seven major economies that has not signed the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and sought Tokyo's ratification of the pact.
''Currently the left-behind parents of children abducted to and from Japan have little hope of having their children returned and encounter great difficulties in obtaining access to their children and exercising their parental rights and responsibilities,'' they said.
In their meeting with Yamahana, the representatives ''emphasized the high priority our governments place on the welfare of children affected by the breakdown of international marriages and stressed that children should grow up with access to both parents,'' according to the statement.
Yamahana told them that Japan recognizes the seriousness of child custody disputes and has been seriously examining the possibility of joining the Hague Convention with a view to ensuring the welfare of children in difficult circumstances, the Foreign Ministry said.
The ambassadors welcomed the establishment in January of a vice-minister-level working group to study Tokyo's possible accession to the pact, which they called ''an increasingly universal standard for the handling of cross-border abduction cases.''
International pressure on Tokyo to act on the parental abduction issue has been growing, with legislative bodies in the United States and France recently adopting resolutions that call for Japan's accession to the treaty.
Last October, the ambassadors of 11 countries and the European Union in Japan urged then Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida to join the convention, which currently has 84 parties.
The treaty stipulates rules and procedures for the prompt return of children to their habitual country of residence when wrongfully removed or retained in the case of an international divorce.
Some critics in Japan have raised concerns over joining the Hague Convention, saying it could endanger Japanese parents and their children who have fled abusive relationships.
The 10 countries and the European Union countered the argument, saying the convention ''has provisions to prevent children from being returned to abusive or otherwise threatening situations in other countries.''
