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:

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 the Ambassadors and Representatives of Australia, Canada, Colombia, the European Union, France, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America

Tokyo, Japan
Feb. 9, 2011

We, the Ambassadors of Canada, the European Union, France, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, the Political Counsellor of the Embassy of Australia, and the Consul of Colombia, called on Japan’s Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs today to express the importance we continue to attach to the issue of international parental abduction, and to once again urge Japan to ratify the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“the Convention”).