Fathers of internationally kidnapped children speak on Father's Day.
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U.S. Congressman Chris Smith provides an impassioned plea for the return of "Mochi" Atomu Imoto Morehouse and all children kidnapped to Japan by a parent. The video was released at a May 29, 2017 press conference in Tokyo by Jeffery Morehouse and attorney Akira Ueno at the Tokyo Courthouse. (full transcript in Japanese and English follows) ジェフリーモアハウスは、2010年以来、彼の誘拐された息子、モチ君と再会すべく、粘り強く、思慮深く、努力し続けています。
国際的な人権を監督する公式な議会小委員会の議長として、私は、ジェフリー氏を議会に招待しました。彼に自らの話を議会で証言してもらうためです。彼の証言を聞いた私は、深く感動しました。彼とモチ君が、この悲痛な、そして非合法な引き離しの結果として味わっている苦痛、苦しみ－－その苦痛を知るにつけ、彼の息子に対する愛情がどれだけ並外れたものか分かります。 2015年にジェフリー氏が米国議会に報告したとおり、彼は2007年以来アメリカ合衆国においてモチ君の単独監護権を有しています。この事実はまた、2014年に日本の法廷でもまた合法なものとして認められています。にもかかわらず、彼の息子が日本政府によって彼のもとに戻されなかったことについて、私は衝撃を受けました。 彼がどれほどの苦痛を味わっているか、それは私の想像を超えるものでしょう。彼と会い、話を聞く度、私はそう感じます。彼は、モチ君が無事に帰ってくるために、精力的に努力し続けている愛情深い父です。 1994年以来、アメリカ合衆国から日本への親による誘拐事件は数百件あります。その中でもジェフリー氏のケースは、母親による重大な違法行為がある点で目を引きます。日本にとどまることが「子供の最善の福祉」であると主張することは間違いです。もちろん、それは誘拐された後で日本に行った場合でも、日本で誘拐があった場合でもです。親による子の連れ去りは、児童虐待です。そしてそれは、その状態が続く限り、日々進行し続けています。 日本は、人口の多い大国です。そして我が国の友人であり、重要な同盟国です。しかし、いかなる民主国家も、いかに立派な政府であっても、こうした犯罪行為を許し続けてはなりません。 2011年に、私は、日本に連れ去られた子供との再会をただただ願うたくさんのアメリカ人の親御さん方のために来日しました。私がお会いした日本側の官僚の方や政府高官の方は、こうした国際的な子の連れ去り引き離しが、子供と引き離された親の両方にとってどれだけ深い傷を残すかということについて、大いに賛同してくださいました。 日本が国際的な子の誘拐に関するハーグ条約にすでに署名していることは周知のとおりです。これは、こうした子供の誘拐事例をハーグ条約の精神に沿って適切に解決するという政府の意思の顕れです。 にもかかわらず、すでに数年前に裁判所での判断が出ているはずのモアハウス氏のケースは、いまだ解決できていません。父子の再会はできないままであり、日本における人権問題として取り上げられ続けています。 私は日本政府の友人たちに求めます。どうか、いまだ未解決の国際的な子供の誘拐問題について、決定的な措置を取ってください。どうか、モチ君を、愛情に満ちた父親の下に帰してあげてください。 Jeffery Morehouse has been tenaciously and thoughtfully trying to reunite with his kidnapped son, Mochi, since 2010. As the chairman of the official congressional subcommittee that oversees international human rights, I invited Jeffery to testify before congress to tell his story. I was deeply moved. The love he has for his son is extraordinary—as is the suffering and pain he and Mochi endure as a result of this heartbreaking and illegal separation. As Jeffery reported to the US Congress in 2015, he has had sole custody in the United States since 2007. This fact was also recognized as legal by the courts in Japan in 2014. Thus, it is shocking that his son has not been returned to him by the Japanese government. I can't imagine the pain of this kind of separation, and I hear it in his words every time I see him, and that is often. He is a loving father tirelessly trying and working for return of his son. There have been hundreds of parental abductions from the U.S. to Japan since 1994. Jeffery's case underscores a serious injustice. It is false to claim that it is “in the best interest of the child” to remain in Japan—or anywhere after being kidnapped and taken there. Child abduction is a daily, ongoing form of child abuse. Japan is a great country with many great people. It is a friend and important ally of the United States. But, no democratic, honorable government should allow this type of criminal act to continue. In 2011, I traveled to Japan on behalf of many American parents who simply wanted to be reunited with their children. Japanese elected officials and government officials with whom I met, agree that the forced separation is deeply damaging—both for the child and the left behind parent. Japan as we all know has since signed the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction—signifying the government’s intention to properly resolving these child abduction cases. But the Morehouse case, already adjudicated in the courts years ago, continues to raise troubling questions about Japan’s human rights’ record and its commitment to reuniting families. And so I call on my friends in the Japanese government to please take decisive action in this and other pending international child abduction cases. Please return Mochi to his loving father.  The Coalition to End International Parental Child Abduction met in The Roosevelt Room with White House staff close to the President and Ivanka Trump. "Being invited to The White House to discuss policy changes necessary with countries like Japan is an important step in making American children first and bringing them home," according to Jeffery Morehouse, Executive Director of Bring Abducted Children Home and founding partner in The Coalition.
 "The Canadian father is far from alone in trying to navigate a seemingly impenetrable and hostile Japanese system sometimes described as a black hole for children."
Tim Terstege, Kris Morness, and Bruce Gherbetti are among the parents who continue to try to reunite with their kidnapped children.  EVER SINCE his ex-wife wrongly took his son, now 11, to Japan five years ago, Jeffery Morehouse has been fighting for the boy’s return. Mr. Morehouse had been recognized as the sole custodial parent in Washington state, and a Japanese court affirmed that the ruling applies in Japan. Nonetheless, there has been no reunion, no visits, no contact of any sort.
 On July 16, 2015 Bring Abducted Children Home Managing Director Randy Collins testified to Congress on his case and the ongoing kidnapping crisis with Japan. "Quite frankly, State’s actions, or this case inaction, speak so loudly we can’t hear what they’re saying. I’d like this committee to insist that OCI and the State Department be far more transparent with Congress and with victimized parents. We deserve answers. Simply telling this committee that they are raising our cases means nothing. What are they saying? Who are they saying it to? What are the answers they are receiving? Are they demanding the return of our children or simply begging? Do they drop the issue just because Japan tells them it’s too difficult to return our kidnapped children? We have suffered years of secrecy from State regarding our abducted children. It’s the perfect definition of insanity, doing the same things over and over again but expecting a different result. The results haven’t changed in my seven years. We are still no closer to seeing our children today than we were before Japan joined The Hague Abduction Convention," said Collins whose son, Keisuke Collins, was kidnapped by his ex-wife to Japan in June 2008. Ambassador Susan Jacobs, Special Advisor to the Secretary for Children's Issues testifies that Brazil, India and Japan are the worst offenders of International Parental Child Abduction.  The following article originally appeared in the July 2015 Nashville Bar Journal.
It’s author, Dr. Amy Savoie, is a licensed Tennessee attorney and a registered patent attorney with the USPTO. She holds a Ph.D. from Dartmouth and her pro bono and consulting practices are focused on parental child abduction and children’s human rights issues.  A new law was supposed to enlist the State Department in helping to bring the kids back, but Tokyo has talked its way out of cooperating.
 On June 11, 2015 attorney and Bring Abducted Children Home co-founder, Christopher Savoie, testified to Congress on his case and the ongoing kidnapping crisis with Japan. "The elephant in the room is the inherent conflict of interest problem for the State Department in these abduction cases. Their primary mandate, as they see it, is to maintain good relations with strategic allies such as Japan. And this is in direct conflict with the interests of our children and the children of Japan, whose advocacy would require that the State Department to publicly shame and reprimand Japan for its complicity in these kidnappings and for its truly barbaric sole parental rights regime. A regime that violates some of the most basic human rights of parents and children alike."  The following article originally appeared in the May 2015 Nashville Bar Journal.
It’s author, Dr. Amy Savoie, is a licensed Tennessee attorney and a registered patent attorney with the USPTO. She holds a Ph.D. from Dartmouth and her pro bono and consulting practices are focused on parental child abduction and children’s human rights issues. 
 Kaoru Magosaki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
ABC News Radio’s Eleni Psaltis presents Japan In Focus, a new program that takes a close look at significant political and cultural developments in Japan. On the April 13, 2015 broadcast she speaks with Director of the Hague Convention Division at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kaoru Magosaki. During the interview he admits that Japan “cannot enforce any sort of access.”
Bring Abducted Children Home’s Managing Director, Randy Collins interviewed on KPSU’s Fathers, Mothers, and Families.
 April 1, 2015 was a significant day in the Parental Abduction issue with Japan. One year ago Japan signed on to, and became a member of, The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. It was the last G-8 nation to do so. Last year, on March 31st, (April 1 in Japan) dozens of parents along with Congressman Smith and his staff walked arm in arm from an office building in Washington, DC, past The White House and finished at the State Department to deliver thirty Hague Article 21 applications which demanded access to our kidnapped children currently being held in Japan. We wasted no time to exercise our rights as outlined in The Hague Abduction Convention treaty.
 On March 25, 2015 Bring Abducted Children Home Executive Director Jeffery Morehouse testified to Congress on his case and the ongoing kidnapping crisis with Japan. “Now is the time for Japan to demonstrate they are serious about changing course on the ongoing crisis of International Parental Child Abduction,” said Morehouse whose son was kidnapped to Japan his ex-wife in June 2010. “I am hear to ask Congress to tell the Prime Minister it is not acceptable to continue to hold my son, “Mochi” Atomu Imoto Morehouse or any of the 400 U.S. children kidnapped to Japan.“ Rep. Christopher Smith (NJ-4) to Secretary of State John Kerry, "Japan has been breathtakingly unresponsive especially to abductions that occurred prior to ratification of the Hague (Abduction) Convention."  Football Party Fundraiser in Seattle for Bring Abducted Children Home (bachome.org)!
Free admission & drink specials. 21 and over only. Come have fun watching the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Philadelphia Eagles at Bleachers Pub (8118 Greenwood Ave N., Seattle, WA 98103) Raffle, Football Pool, and Silent Auction to benefit Bring Abducted Children Home. Can’t make it but want to help? Please make a tax-deductible donation or do The BAC Home Challenge: The Walk For Freedom!  Jeffery Morehouse speaks about his son’s kidnapping to Japan and International Parental Child Abduction at the 2014 Parents Equality Rally at the Washington State Legislature Building. Dear Gunnar and Kianna:
I love you very much and I miss you very much. This week I participate in more events in Washington DC in order to gain access to you. We have been apart for far too long. I wish I knew where you lived. I just don’t know. If I knew your number I would call you right now.  On March 31, 2014 at 9:00 AM, BAC Home leadership, parents, and supporters will come together in Washington, D.C. to hand deliver an estimated 35 Hague Article 21 Access Applications to the U.S. Department of State. This will be followed by a ceremonious march to the Embassy of Japan where we have requested to meet with Ambassador Sasae.
The day’s events coincide with Japan implementation of The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction on April 1, 2014. No provisions, however, have been made to directly address the 400 cases of U.S. children kidnapped to Japan since 1994.  On April 1, 2014 Japan is expected to implement The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. No provisions have been made to directly address the 400 cases of U.S. children kidnapped to Japan since 1994. At 9AM on March 31, 2014, BAC Home leadership, parents, and supporters will come together in Washington, D.C. to hand deliver an estimated 35 Hague Article 21 Access Applications to the U.S. Department of State. This will be followed by a ceremonious march to the Embassy of Japan where they have requested to meet with Ambassador Sasae.  CNN has agreed to cover the events.
Anyone interested in joining in support is asked to email bachome@bachome.org Bring Abducted Children Home is dedicated to the immediate return of internationally abducted children who are being wrongfully detained in Japan. We also strive to end Japan’s human rights violation of denying children unfettered access to both parents.
At her confirmation hearing to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, gives her commitment to promote and protect the welfare of U.S. citizens in Japan. During the hearing she is asked by Senator Ben Cardin if she will use her position to help resolve the almost 400 American cases that will not be covered under The Hague Abduction Convention. Ms. Kennedy states that as a parent she understands the emotional aspects of this issue and that she has already indicated her concerns to Bureau of Consular Affairs in a meeting in advance of the hearing. |
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