Hi Blog. An update (thanks to Metropolis for defying the general trend of the media, which usually takes up an issue and then drops it without conclusion because it is no longer “fresh news”) on Japan’s record regarding child abductions after the breakup of international marriages. One year later, pretty scant progress. <\/p>\n
I will say that there is a documentary movie in the works on this case. I can’t give you more details at this time, but I will when the directors are good and ready.<\/p>\n
More on Murray Wood’s Case at the Children’s Rights Network website at http:\/\/www.crnjapan.com\/people\/wom\/en\/<\/a>. Kudos to the Canadian Government for doing their job–actually helping out their citizens overseas. Debito in Sapporo<\/p>\n ============================= Last January, Metropolis publicized the plight of parents fighting for access to children abducted by Japanese spouses.<\/a> A year on, few can report any progress.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been more than two years since Canadian Murray Wood\u2019s children were abducted to Japan by his ex-wife, Ayako Maniwa-Wood. Any hope for the quick return of son Takara, now 12, and daughter Manami, 9, faded last January after a year-long battle in the Japanese courts ended in failure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first year was a mad frenzy of documentation and court proceedings,\u201d Wood says. \u201cThe second year was quieter. My family and I were exhausted and still emotionally drained.\u201d<\/p>\n Not a day goes by that Wood doesn\u2019t think of his kids, and worry about how they are coping with life separated from one half of their family. But it\u2019s only recently that he\u2019s started to realize that Takara and Manami are not the same children he kissed goodbye at Vancouver International Airport in November 2004.<\/p>\n \u201cNow that it has been two years I find myself confronting the fact that we have been excluded from each other\u2019s lives for a really long time,\u201d Wood says. \u201cIt breaks my heart to think about how much they must have changed since the last time we were together.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the passing of time has served to harden Wood\u2019s resolve, not weaken it. \u201cThe harm this situation is inflicting on the children is increasing with time,\u201d he says. \u201cWe cannot, and we will not, give up.\u201d<\/p>\n Wood\u2019s is just one of the 31 active cases of child custody and family distress that the Canadian Embassy is currently dealing with in Japan, a sharp increase from the 21 active cases a year earlier.<\/p>\n \u201cWith increasing globalization, the issue of parental child abduction is becoming more prevalent and problematic as the number of international marriages and divorces rises,\u201d said an embassy spokesperson. Canadian officials are discussing ways to address the issue with Japanese authorities, but progress has been limited.<\/p>\n As we reported 12 months ago, no Japanese court has ever caused a child abducted to Japan by a Japanese parent to be returned to the child\u2019s habitual residence outside Japan. Part of the problem is that Japan is not a signatory to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which works to ensure the prompt return of abducted children to their country of habitual residence. <\/p>\n There is no reason to hope for change any time soon: Japan\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it is still studying the document, more than 25 years after its inception. \u201cJapan continues to be a haven for international child abduction, and I see no sign of any improvement,\u201d says Jeremy D. Morley, a New York attorney who specializes in international child custody cases. The problem, he says, goes much deeper than simply the ratification of a document.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Hague Convention requires that each signatory country have effective courts that can issue prompt, fair and non-discriminatory orders that are then promptly enforced,\u201d Morley explains. \u201cFor this reason, Japan would likely be in default of the convention shortly after its effective date.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n In addition, Japanese custody laws differ substantially from those of other developed countries\u2014another reason that consideration of the document is taking so long, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n \u201cIn custody matters, the Japanese system merely rubberstamps the status quo,\u201d Morley says. That means the parent that has physical possession of the children is guaranteed legal custody, and since parental child abduction is not a crime in Japan, the result is a system that indirectly encourages abduction. \u201cIt is \u2018finders keepers, losers weepers\u2019 in its rawest and most cruel form,\u201d Morley says.<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cThe concept of dual custody is totally alien to them,\u201d adds Briton David Brian Thomas, co-founder of the Children\u2019s Rights Council of Japan, a volunteer child advocacy organization whose motto is \u201cthe best parent is both parents.\u201d<\/p>\n Thomas\u2019 Japanese wife abducted their two-year-old son, Graham Hajime, in November 1992 from their home in Saitama. Although Thomas is still legally married to the woman, something that should give him access to the child, the reality has been quite different: he hasn\u2019t seen him in almost 15 years.<\/p>\n The boy turns 16 this month, an age when psychologists say children ask more and more questions about missing parents. \u201cThat\u2019s why I stay in Japan,\u201d Thomas says. \u201cSome people ask me why I don\u2019t just go back to Great Britain and start over, but then how could he access me?\u201d<\/p>\n Although Thomas knows where his son lives and goes to school, he hasn\u2019t tried to approach him, as that could hurt things more than help them. \u201cIt would defeat the whole purpose of what I’m trying to do by staying here,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n Wood also knows his children\u2019s whereabouts, and while desperation has sometimes driven him to think of going to Japan to take them back, he knows that is not an option. \u201cRe-abducting the children would do even more damage to them,\u201d he says. \u201cWho would they be able to trust then?\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, Wood and his family send letters, cards and gifts, and post messages to the children on the internet. They also try via email to encourage Wood\u2019s ex-wife to allow Takara and Manami to get back in touch with them.<\/p>\n \u201cAyako has a responsibility to help the children re-establish contact with their Canadian family, and I will ensure that she and everyone around her is aware of that responsibility,\u201d Wood says. While he doubts his struggle to access his kids will be over any time soon, he remains optimistic that as they get older, they will come to understand what has happened to them and eventually find a way back to him.<\/p>\n \u201cThe children will find out the truth,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd when they do, I hope they will know that we are here for them.\u201d<\/p>\n ==================<\/p>\n Support the Cause<\/b><\/p>\n The International Rights of Children Society http:\/\/www.irocs.org<\/a> ‘[Murray] Wood\u2019s is just one of the 31 active cases of child custody and family distress that the Canadian Embassy is currently dealing with in Japan, a sharp increase from the 21 active cases a year earlier…. No Japanese court has ever caused a child abducted to Japan by a Japanese parent to be returned to the child\u2019s habitual residence outside Japan. Part of the problem is that Japan is not a signatory to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which works to ensure the prompt return of abducted children to their country of habitual residence. \u201cJapan continues to be a haven for international child abduction”..’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,15,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","category-japanese-government","category-lawsuits","category-problematic-foreign-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nRemember the Children
\nOne year on, has anything changed in the fight against international child abduction?
\nMetropolis Magazine, January 19, 2007<\/b>
\nhttp:\/\/metropolis.co.jp\/tokyo\/recent\/globalvillage.asp<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/metropolis.co.jp\/tokyo\/669\/globalvillage.asp<\/a><\/p>\n
\nChildren\u2019s Rights Council of Japan http:\/\/www.crcjapan.com<\/a>
\nChildren\u2019s Rights Network Japan http:\/\/www.crnjapan.com<\/a>
\nOriginal Metropolis article: http:\/\/metropolis.co.jp\/tokyo\/618\/feature.asp<\/a>
\nENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"