Japanese leaders and diplomats regularly lambast North Korea for the abduction of their citizens by state spies – one of countless human rights abuses committed by Pyongyang.

What is less known is that hundreds of American children have been abducted to Japan in defiance of international conventions, while at home, hundreds of thousands of Japanese children suffer from facto parental kidnappings.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

​CONTACTS:
Daniel Keylin (Tillis)| (202) 224-6342
Ashley Schapitl (Feinstein) | (202) 224-9629
 ​

​WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to make more relentless and effective efforts to bring abducted American children back home to the United States by using all of the tools and resources at the State Department’s disposal.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan hosted a panel in Tokyo to discuss domestic and international parental child abduction. Topics included harm to the children, shortcomings in Japanese family law and how Japan's Continuity Principle ​is keeping children kidnapped. Panelists included:

• Mr. Akira Ueno, Attorney, Nihonbashi Sakura Law Firm
• Professor Noriko Odagiri, Professor of Clinical Psychology Tokyo International University
• Mr. Tommaso Perina, an Italian Father
• Mr.Vincent Fichot, a French Father

WASHINGTON—Parents Jeffery Morehouse, Juan Garaicoa, and Michelle Littleton sat before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Dec. 10 to testify about the same terrible fate of their children—international abduction by a spouse.

“While most children were returning to school, my children were boarding a plane and being kidnapped to war-torn Lebanon,” Littleton, a mother of three, said.

“She had kidnapped our son to Japan,” said Morehouse, the founder and executive director of the non-profit Bring Abducted Children Home. “I don’t even know where he is being held.”

“Time is of the essence and now is the time to bring our children home,” pleaded Garaicoa, whose two children remain in Ecuador.

While the countries, children, and spouses are different, they share the same frustration of fighting to be reunited with their children in foreign lands.
Morehouse won custody of his children in U.S. courts—and twice in Japan—but his teenage son, Mochi, who was taken by his wife at age 6, remains in Japan with his mother because there is no enforcement mechanism under Japanese law.
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“In the end, the court refused to reunite Mochi and me,” said Morehouse.”It does not matter how a child ends up with the abductor in Japan, they will not uphold laws and treaties to return children to their rightful home.”

Jeffery Morehouse dropped his 6-year-old son off with his mother for a weeklong visit in 2010 — and she managed to abscond with him to Japan.

On Monday, Mr. Morehouse, executive director of Bring Abducted Children Home, called on Congress to step up American efforts to bring his son and other children back from overseas, saying the government’s actions are inconsistent and insufficient.
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“President Trump ran on putting America first,” Mr. Morehouse said in his testimony to the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on global human rights. “Well, America first means putting American children first and bringing them home.”

Addressing at the United Nations Human Rights Council this week Mr. Shunichi Fujiki of the International Career Support Association declared, "Parental child abductions are becoming a serious human rights violation in Japan."

"The abducted child is at the mercy of the abducting parent. The child can no longer go home and [is] forced to sever their relationship with the abandoned parent."

Children have the right to be loved by both parents. He continues, "In Japan many children are deprived of the basic rights because of the current system and crooked lawyers."

U.S. Congresswoman Mimi Walters (CA-45) speaks on the House floor about Keisuke's 2008 kidnapping to Japan by his mother and Japan's terrible record on international parental child abduction.

“Japan continues to have one of the worst records in returning abducted children like Keisuke [Collins] to the United States,” declared Rep. Walters.

She closed, "this is a grave injustice and I will continue to support Randy and all
families whose children have been wrongfully abducted."

In 2011, partnering with Mr. Collins while she served in the California State Senate she introduced SB 1206 which was signed into law in 2012 as Keisuke's Law.

The network, Japanese Cultural Channel Sakura, uses racist overtones to mock the U.S. and parents of internationally kidnapped children for wanting to be part of their children's lives. Below is the disturbing broadcast in its entirety. ​

Channel Sakura has hosted the Prime Minister as well as other top government officials on their programs.
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The following is a condensed broadcast version of a news program in Japan supporting international parental child abduction.

​Senate Resolution 431 (S.Res.431) will create a month of awareness of for the harm caused by international parental child abduction. It will lead to greater action to #EndInternationalParentalChildAbduction
Learn about the resolution here. 

Fathers of internationally kidnapped children speak on Father's Day.

In Japan's Diet, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida declares there is not a single example of sanctions under the Goldman Act and the Government of Japan is of the opinion that they are sincerely compliant with the Hague Convention. See 3:28-4:39

Rep. Jeff Clawson at a Congressional hearing on International Parental Child Abduction declares, "We could solve kidnapped children tomorrow. One executive order. Give our kids back or you don't get to sell your cars over here. Give our kids back or you don't get to sell your software over here."

In light of signs that Japan may finally sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) recently issued a formal opinion (dated February 18, 2011) on the Convention and potential issues relating to its implementation in Japanese domestic law.  The opinion is available in Japanese on the JFBA website at http://www.nichibenren.or.jp/ja/opinion/report/110218.html. The concerns and recommendations identified in the Opinion are summarized below:

Tokyo, Japan
October 22, 2010

We, the Ambassadors to Japan of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and the United States, and the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Delegation of the European Union to Japan, the Deputy Heads of Mission of Spain, and the United Kingdom, and the Political Counselor of France, called on Japan’s Minister of Justice today to express our concerns over the increase of international parental abduction cases involving Japan that affect our nationals as well as Japanese citizens, and to urge Japan to ratify the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“the Convention”).

Our children are kidnapped in Japan and we need your help to get them back home.

Washington, District of Columbia

U.S. Senator Jim M. Inhofe (R-OK), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, submitted a written statement for the hearing on US-Japan relations about two subjects of concern: Japan’s hesitation on relocating the U.S. Marine’s Futenma Air Station and the ever increasing abduction of children to Japan.

Japan is a haven for international child abduction. Not once has Japan ever returned a single abducted child. Once children enter Japan they never return, making it a black hole. Currently over 375 children have been stolen off American soil and abducted to Japan. Members of BAC Home have had their children abducted and/or have been denied access to our children. Shame on Japan for abducting children from around the world. Shame on Japan.