Title 18, Section 1204 of the United States Code makes it a federal crime to remove a child from the United States or retain a child outside the United States with the intent to obstruct a parent’s custodial rights, or to attempt to do so. See 18 U.S.C. § 1204. This crime is punishable by up to three years in prison. The law provides a defense where the taking parent acted pursuant to a valid court order obtained under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, or where the taking parent was fleeing domestic violence, or where the failure to return the child resulted from circumstances beyond the taking parent’s control and the taking parent made reasonable efforts to notify the left behind parent within 24 hours and returned the child as soon as possible.
From the U.S. Department of Justice, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
Title 18, Section 1204 of the United States Code makes it a federal crime to remove a child from the United States or retain a child outside the United States with the intent to obstruct a parent’s custodial rights, or to attempt to do so. See 18 U.S.C. § 1204. This crime is punishable by up to three years in prison. The law provides a defense where the taking parent acted pursuant to a valid court order obtained under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, or where the taking parent was fleeing domestic violence, or where the failure to return the child resulted from circumstances beyond the taking parent’s control and the taking parent made reasonable efforts to notify the left behind parent within 24 hours and returned the child as soon as possible. In order for an individual to file a complaint with the United Nations’ five human rights treaty bodies, their home nation must have ratified the optional protocols to the treaties which they have signed and ratified. Left-behind parents of children abducted to Japan (and also left-behind Japanese parents whose own family law system has excluded them from their children’s lives) would have an opportunity, as individuals, to file complaints with the UN regarding their human rights (and those of their children), if Japan would ratify the first optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
We petition the Obama administration to: PUBLICLY press Japan for the return of Abducted U.S. Children and provide transparent dialogue with Japan on this issue. • AN ESTIMATED 10,0000 U.S. CHILDREN HAVE BEEN ABDUCTED TO OR RETAINED IN JAPAN. • JAPAN HAS NEVER RETURNED AN ABDUCTED CHILD. PUBLICLY press Japan for the return of Abducted US Children and provide transparent dialogue with Japan on this issue. Hundreds, if not thousands (Child Abduction in Japan… The REAL Numbers of US Citizen Children have been abducted to, or retained in, the country of Japan.
Japan has never returned a single child, has no legal concept of “joint-custody”, no enforcement of visitation, no requirement for rules of evidence on claims of DV. The US Congress, in HR1326, has publicly condemned Japan and demanded the immediate return of this children. However, the Executive Branch has only held back-room discussions. Additionally, there are persuasive claims the DoS is significantly downplaying the number of actual cases. There needs to be complete transparency into this process, and public condemnation of Japan. These are our country’s children. We the people deserve to know if they are being traded for bases or other government goals. Will you sign it? http://wh.gov/gKV And then Share it? ![]() As you can imagine, parents with children abducted to Japan have been going through a very difficult time right now sick with worry about our children and trying to get the State Department to locate and contact our children. Many of the American left-behind parents living in Tokyo have evacuated to other areas, unfortunately without their abducted children. September 15, 2011
The President The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President: For the past 50 years, Japan has denied loving American parents custodial rights or any access to their abducted children. Yet Japanese Prime Ministers have no reservation about publicly demanding the return of Japanese citizens abducted to North Korea. This week Prime Minister Noda stated they would spare no effort towards achieving the return of all abductees. We ask that you immediately follow his example and publicly address the abduction of U.S. children to and within Japan during next week’s meeting in New York with Prime Minister Noda and that public efforts continue until:
![]() Trevor Wittman, the owner and head trainer at the Grudge Training Center in Denver, Colorado, is on a mission to make a difference—and not just inside the Octagon. ![]() Osaka, Japan - According to William Lake, on August 24, 2011, 14 year-old Mary Victoria Lake, a U.S. citizen, who was kidnapped by her mother and taken to Japan in 2005, in one of the most high-profile international kidnapping cases in the United States, walked into the U.S. consulate in Osaka, Japan. Translator’s Note: The following is a translation of an article written by Professor Takao Tanase for the December 2009 edition of Jiyū to Seigi, a Japanese legal periodical. Divorce and familial breakdown has become a major problem in modern Japanese society, yet the law does not provide any meaningful protection for the noncustodial parent. Professor Tanase analyzes this issue from a comparative and theoretical perspective, looking at the current Japanese visitation laws in place today, while contrasting those with the system in the United States. He also looks at how those laws affect actual families, and how the courts have implemented and enforced visitation agreements and orders. This article concludes that not only are the rights of the noncustodial parent insufficient to maintain a meaningful relation with their children following divorce, but that they hardly exist at all.
![]() Bring Abducted Children Home parents and members sent Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., a letter concerning his upcoming meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan. BAC Home is urging the Vice President to publicly address the ongoing issue of children taken from the United States and abducted to Japan. ![]() On May 24, 2011, BAC Home members completed two days of meetings in Washington D.C. which culminated in attending a Congressional hearing on International Child Abduction. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) who has been a strong advocate of human rights issues and was key in last year’s H. Res. 1326 near unanimous passage last September chaired the hearing. ![]() The government officially decided Friday to prepare to ratify an international treaty that prevents cross-border parental child abductions. The decision came just in time for Prime Minister Naoto Kan to announce it at next week’s Group of Eight summit meeting in France. BAC Home holds a successful Cherry Blossom awareness campaign in Washington D.C. Over 5000 concerned citizens received information about U.S. citizen children kidnapped to and/or wrongfully retained in Japan. ![]() By Randy Collins Father of Keisuke Christian Collins Illegally Abducted Off US Soil June 16, 2008 We have all seen the movies in which the Japanese portray themselves as honorable and respectable. This façade has been as blatantly phony as the myth of Little Green Men attacking the earth from the movie and radio scare of, War of the Worlds. In the old radio show, Orson Wells was able to convince many people that aliens had invaded the World. This created such a scare that many people believed it to be true. Jose Cacho raising awareness about child abduction in front of the Japanese Embassy in Spain. ![]() By Deborah Duke Toledo- Ohio, Jessie Duke equipped with the few precious items of his children, a few photos and family records, sets out for Japan. After the earthquake, a few e-mail lines from their Japanese mother read “I am heading to another evacuee point now but remembered the conversation about you. I think they are fine. I just need to find them. Logically they should be fine and I have a feeling that they will survive.” Three days later…” Found them at the hospital. Shanon is badly injured. Riki is fine. She needs food. We see dead people on street and my room is not a place for living anymore.” The next day, “Shanon had a big piece of broken glass stick into his body and it reached to organ. Still in very serious condition. Riki is scared and hungry. We are out of everything plus one of the electric refineries is about to expose that can kill many people again and make situation worse.. Shanon needs to be where he is at which is the red cross hospital. – Then there was nothing more. Shanon is an 8 year old American boy. Riki is just four years old. From the letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton: "Since our letter to you dated March 14, 2011, the situation in Japan has become increasingly worse. It is our understanding that the potentially devastating nuclear radiation exposure crisis is worsening and experts are expressing grave concerns.
We, the legal custodial parents, urge you to provide U.S. assistance in locating and evacuating our helpless children..." ![]() In light of the horrific 9.0 Mega-earthquake which struck the nation of Japan this past week, BACHome (Bring Abducted Children Home) sends its sincere condolences and concern for those directly affected by this horrific event. Members of BAC Home wish for a speedy recovery and understand the enormous pain and loss the people within Japan are undergoing at this time. From the letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton: "As Japan faces the tragic aftermath of their earthquakes and its increasingly likely and potentially devastating nuclear radiation exposure, our children are at immediate and present danger..."
![]() 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. By Everett Thompson
In good faith, my ex-wife and I made a custody and visitation arrangement. Unbeknownst to me, their residency in Tokyo made it convenient for her to keep me from seeing our daughter. My ex-wife, Tomoko, and I met in 1991 in Tokyo, where I was working as an engineer. We married in 1995 in Portland, Oregon. Anna was born in January 1999 in San Diego. Anna was a happy, joyful baby. She was also very smart for her age, but most parents say that! ![]() 171 Abducted American Children Held in Japan. Smith Calls on Obama Administration to Dramatically Alter Strategy Regarding ‘Left Behind Parents’ Washington– A leading human rights lawmaker today said that left behind parents whose American children have been taken and retained in Japan “are at risk of being left behind again” if the Obama Administration does not dramatically change its strategy and directly work toward an agreement with Japan to resolve current cases of international abduction.At a Capitol Hill hearing, Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee with immediate jurisdiction on global human rights, questioned Secretary Hillary Clinton on the Obama strategy and later said the Administration is making a strategic mistake in focusing first on pushing Japan to sign an international treaty which is not retroactive and will not itself help children who have already been abducted and remain separated from their American parent. ![]() BAC Home members and supporters fought the cold and protested outside the Japanese Embassy in Washington D.C. to raise awareness about Japan being an abduction haven. Japan is a black hole for international child abduction because once children are taken they are never returned. ![]() BAC Home joined thousands at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear held by John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Several supporters came out to hold BAC Home signs, fly our flag and hand out fliers to raise awareness of Japanese Child Abductions. Once children are kidnapped to Japan they are never returned. Japan is a black hole for international child abduction. This was the first time the Japanese Black Hole Flag was flown. |
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