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  Bring Abducted Children Home (BAC Home)

International Alliance Sends Letter to G7 Leaders On Japan Abductions

7/5/2019

 
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For the second year in a row, international partners of the G7 Kidnapped to Japan Reunification Project wrote to representatives of the G7 countries in advance of the 45th G7 summit that will be held on August 24-26, 2019 in Biarritz, France. The international alliance is comprised of parents and organizations from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The immediate objective is to put the Japanese parental child abduction issue on the G7 Summit agenda and bring about a rapid resolution to this crisis affecting the human rights of thousands of children abducted to or within Japan.

Since the letter was sent on April 24, 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte have made statements to the press on the abduction crisis to and within Japan. President Macron confirmed he has raised the issue with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. 


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Tragedy of children abducted from dads and taken to Japan

1/16/2019

 
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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.

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‘Bring Our Children Home’: US Urged to Use All Legal Powers to Return Abductees

12/12/2018

 
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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.”

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Parents call on Congress to pressure foreign nations to return their children

12/10/2018

 
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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.”

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Rep. Smith calls for Trump administration crackdown on international parental child abduction

12/10/2018

 
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WASHINGTON – House Foreign Affairs subcommittee Chairman Chris Smith called on the Trump administration to take concerted action to stop international parental child abduction.

“The Trump administration can and must use current law, especially the tools embedded in the Goldman Act, to more aggressively bring American children home to their families,” Smith (R-N.J.) said at a hearing on Monday that featured testimony from parents whose children were abducted abroad.
Smith said “child abduction is child abuse.”

Smith said more than 450 American children are abducted each year. He said 11,000 children were abducted internationally between 2008 and 2017.

Panelists relayed their experiences to the committee and implored action.
“The last time I saw my son was on Father’s Day of 2010,” said Jeffery Morehouse, executive director of Bring Abducted Children Home.

That day, Morehouse said, he dropped off his then-6-year-old-son, Mochi Atomu Imoto Morehouse, with his ex-wife for a week-long visit. Three weeks later, Morehouse said, the police informed him that his wife and son had been reported missing.
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“I knew immediately what happened,” Morehouse recalled. “She succeeded in what she had threatened to do. She kidnapped our son to Japan.”

Morehouse said he pursued the matter in Japanese courts and won.

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Congress Asks State Why They Aren't Using Sanctions

5/18/2018

 
The House and The Senate both held hearings on international parental child abduction in April. One of the focal points was the State Department's lack of use of the sanction tools under The Goldman Act.
Below is a condensed video where senators ask about the sanctions during the April 24, 2018 Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing, "Abducted Abroad: Exploring the Plight of International Parental Child Abduction and its Effect on American Families."
Representatives asked a similar line of questions in the condensed video of the April 11, 2018 House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing, "No Abducted Child Left Behind: An Update on the Goldman Act."

Japan named as top three worst offender

7/16/2015

 
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.

"Japan has been breathtakingly unresponsive" on ABductions

2/25/2015

 
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."

Child abduction treaty gives hope to parents separated from their kids

4/4/2014

 
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American Jeffrey Morehouse has no idea where his son lives, knowing only that the 10-year-old’s address is somewhere in Toyama Prefecture.

His last contact with the boy was when his divorced Japanese wife lived in the United States. He lost all contact after she and her son abruptly moved to Japan.
But Morehouse, who lives in Seattle, is finally taking a big step toward getting in touch with his son again, and perhaps bringing the child back to the United States.

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction took effect for Japan on April 1, giving parents overseas, like Morehouse, and in Japan a legal means to visit their children.

The so-called Hague Abduction Convention governs cross-border child custody disputes resulting from broken marriages. Under the treaty, if a marriage fails and the parents start living in separate countries, the decision on who receives parental rights to raise children under 16 falls under the jurisdiction of the country where the family lived with the child before the breakup.


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Group deliverS 28 Hague applications to State Department

4/1/2014

 
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U.S. fathers urge Japan to comply with child custody treaty
A group of U.S. fathers urged the Japanese government Monday to comply with a convention for settling cross-border child custody disputes and help them and other American parents reunite with their children living in Japan.

The fathers and their supporters, including a veteran congressman, handed a petition to a minister of the Japanese Embassy in Washington, a day before Japan’s implementation of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

They were among some 20 people who marched through the U.S. capital holding placards with their children’s pictures and met with a relevant U.S. government official earlier in the day to increase awareness of child abduction to Japan.

The group Bring Abducted Children Home organized the events.
Paul Toland, co-founder of the group, told reporters, referring to Japan’s accession to the Hague Convention, “Today can be a new beginning.”

“But remember this. It’s just the beginning. The ultimate resolution of these cases has not yet been attained,” Navy employee Toland, 46, said.

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Kennedy Confirmation Hearing

9/19/2013

 
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.

Sept. 21,  2011 • U.S. Dept. of State Briefing on U.S. Child Abductions to Japan

9/21/2011

 
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KURT CAMPBELL: “The President also very strongly affirmed the Japanese decision to enter into The Hague Convention — asked that this — on Child Abduction — asked that these steps be taken clearly and that the necessary implementing legislation would be addressed.

He also indicated that while that was an important milestone for Japan, that — he also asked the Japanese prime minister and the government to focus on the preexisting cases, the cases that have come before. The prime minister indicated that very clearly, he knew about the number of cases. He mentioned 123. He said that he would take special care to focus on these particular issues as we — as Japan also works to implement the joining of The Hague Convention, which the United States appreciates greatly.”

Secretary Clinton's Message For National Missing Children's Day

5/24/2011

 

HELP TO EVACUATE U.S. CITIZEN CHILDREN ABDUCTED TO AND WITHIN JAPAN

3/17/2011

 
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..." 

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EMERGENCY PASSPORTS FOR U.S. CITIZEN CHILDREN ABDUCTED TO AND WITHIN JAPAN

3/14/2011

 
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..."

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U.S. Secretary Of State Hilary Clinton Testifies On The Abduction Of Children To And Within Japan

3/2/2011

 
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifying at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on U.S. foreign policy priorities on the abduction of U.S. children to and within Japan on March 1, 2011.

Countries Condemning Japan – Again

2/9/2011

 
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”).

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Secretary Clinton Remarks To Include Japan Abductions

1/6/2011

 
Remarks

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 6, 2011

It is a great pleasure once again to be hosting my colleague and counterpart, Foreign Minister Maehara. Mr. Minister, I am looking forward to the 2+2 meeting with Secretary Gates and your Minister of Defense in the coming months, and I am delighted that we will host Prime Minister Kan on his official visit to the United States this spring.

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Joint Press Availability With Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara

10/28/2010

 
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Kahala Hotel and Resort
Honolulu, HI
October 27, 2010
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, thank you very much. We just had a very comprehensive, far-ranging discussion on many issues of concern to the United States and Japan, and I want to thank my colleague and counterpart, the foreign minister. It is a pleasure to be back in Hawaii and an even greater pleasure to be hosting the foreign minister here in Honolulu. I appreciate very much his willingness to take the long trip from Japan to be here.

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By The Ambassadors Of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, The United Kingdom And The United States, And The Head Of The Delegation Of The European Union To Japan

10/23/2010

 
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”).

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ASSISTANT SECRETARY Kurt Campbell In Japan

10/6/2010

 
QUESTION: With regard to the child abduction issues, would you expect any good sign from the Japanese government, like the GOJ will get ready to join the Hague Convention?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Yes, I’m hopeful. I have seen a substantial change in recent months in Japanese attitudes about the parental custody and abduction issues, and I’m struck – you know, Japan is a compassionate nation, and the more that my Japanese friends and colleagues are exposed to the truth of these parents who have been separated forcibly from their children, the more that they understand the horrible challenges that this issue produces. And I think we have seen a very consequential diplomatic effort, not just from the United States, but from a very large number of industrialized democracies who have come to Japan and said, “Look, you’re an outlier on this issue. Join the Hague Convention. It will bring you in alignment with the other countries who face these difficult issues.” And I believe a process has begun in Japan.

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U.S. Embassy Japan AMERICAN VIEW - WINTER 2010

5/1/2010

 
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From the Editor

Dear readers,

Konnichiwa. I hope you all enjoyed a nice holiday season with your families. My name is Ray Baca, and I am the Consul General at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. I am happy to be the guest editor for this issue of "American View," which focuses on child abduction and custody issues.


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Senator Inhofe Addresses US-Japan Child Abduction Concerns

4/15/2010

 
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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.


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Dept of State Address Japanese Parental Child Abduction

2/2/2010

 
Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell addresses the issue of U.S. children abducted to Japan.

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Eight Nations Make Joint Statement On International Parental Child Abduction

1/30/2010

 
Ambassadors of Australia, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States express concerns to Government of Japan calling it a critical issue.

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