The audio recording obtained from the seminar has been reviewed by multiple bilingual persons. They agree that it and the transcript of key sections provided in French and English are accurate and the purpose is clear. A more complete transcript of this portion of the seminar is available in English and Japanese. |
On May 15, 2018 as Japan was about to be cited for International Parental Child Abduction by the United States, they held a public seminar at the House of Culture of Japan in Paris co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. In an audio recording from inside the event, we hear participants being educated about The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Parental Child Abduction. They are also taught how to prevent having their children returned to France should they take them without consent to live in Japan. More simply put, organizers lay out how to abduct to Japan and get away with it. 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. By Brett Weed According to the 2011 figures from the U.S. Department of State, Office of Children’s Issues, since 1994, 374 U.S. citizens have been “…wrongfully retained in Japan”, i.e. Kidnapped. Victims of this crime against children and families ask, “What are you doing about it Mr. President?” They want to know, “If it was your child, what would you do about it Mr. President?” We are talking about at least 374 U.S. citizens illegally held in Japan in contempt of the custodial parent. By Brian Prager American parents are shocked by the latest public ceremonial actions of John Roos, the U.S. Ambassador to the Child Abductor’s Utopia of Japan. By Randy Collins Father of Keisuke Christian Collins Illegally Abducted June 16, 2008 As another year passes and begins, so does the continued heartbreak of not seeing or hearing from my son, Keisuke, again. Every day of every passing month is a different reminder of knowing my son is a statistic in the Black Hole of the Japanese Parental Abduction Abyss. Imagine coming home from an errand one day to find your children and spouse have vanished —and this horrifying discovery is only the beginning of the nightmare that will conclude with 1) your eventual divorce and 2) the complete and immediate alienation from your children. No phone calls, no birthday parties, no taking a trip to the store for an ice cream cone, no parent-child visitation whatsoever. Never. And all without a good-bye hug. By Ken Connelly As many of you know, my heart and soul lay in the intertwined fabric of Parental Child Abduction. Due to the lack of hours in a day, I am not one to throw myself like the wind to every group in parental child abduction. This past week, I was honored to participate with a number of left-behind parents in Washington D.C. This particular group struck a very deep and real emotion in me, one I have often ignored or have not allowed myself to feel. The Japanese festival of cherry blossom viewing is celebrated in Washington, DC every year. Cherry blossoms were donated by Japan 98 years ago to promote goodwill. Today, Japan considers itself a close ally of the US. However, there is a dark side to Japan that most Americans are unaware of. For the past 58 years, Japan has continued to perpetrate human rights abuses against American children, our most vulnerable citizens. |
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