IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1326 

Calling on the Government of Japan to immediately address the growing 

problem of abduction to and retention of United States citizen minor 

children in Japan, to work closely with the Government of the United 

States to return these children to their custodial parent or to the original 

jurisdiction for a custody determination in the United States, to provide 

left-behind parents immediate access to their children, and to adopt 

without delay the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 5, 2010 

Mr. MORAN of Virginia (for himself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. HINCHEY, 

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California, Mrs. BLACKBURN, and Mr. BECERRA) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Calling on the Government of Japan to immediately address 

the growing problem of abduction to and retention of 

United States citizen minor children in Japan, to work 

closely with the Government of the United States to 

return these children to their custodial parent or to 

the original jurisdiction for a custody determination in 

the United States, to provide left-behind parents immediate access to their children, and to adopt without delay 

the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of 

International Child Abduction. 


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Whereas Japan is an important partner with the United 

States and shares interests in the areas of economy, defense, the promotion of global peace and prosperity, and 

the mutual protection of the human rights of the two nations’ respective citizens in the increasingly integrated 

global society; 

Whereas the Government of Japan acceded to the Universal 

Declaration of Human Rights that states under Article 

16 (1), ‘‘Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to 

marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal 

rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution’’, and Article 16 (3), ‘‘The family is the natural and 

fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State’’; 

Whereas the Government of Japan acceded in 1979 to the 

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that 

states ‘‘States Parties to the present Covenant shall take 

appropriate steps to ensure equality of rights and responsibilities of spouses as to marriage, during marriage and 

at its dissolution. In the case of dissolution, provision 

shall be made for the necessary protection of any children 

[Article 23]’’; 

Whereas according to Japan’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, 44,701 marriages 

between a Japanese national and a foreigner were registered in Japan in 2006, and 17,102 divorces were registered in Japan in 2006 between a Japanese national 

and foreigner; 

Whereas since 1994 the Office of Children’s Issues (OCI) at 

the United States Department of State had opened 194 

cases involving 269 United States citizen minor children 


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abducted to or wrongfully retained in Japan, and as of 

March 25, 2010, OCI had 85 open cases involving 121 

United States citizen minor children abducted to or 

wrongfully retained in Japan; 

Whereas since the signing of the Treaty of Peace with Japan 

(San Francisco Treaty) between the Allied Powers and 

the Government of Japan in 1951, the Japanese Government has never issued and enforced a legal decision to return a single abducted child to the United States; 

Whereas Japan has not acceded to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 

(the Hague Convention), resulting in the continued absence of an immediate civil remedy that as a matter of 

urgency would enable the expedited return of abducted 

children to their custodial parent in the United States 

where appropriate, or otherwise immediately allow access 

to their United States parent; 

Whereas the Government of Japan is the only G–7 country 

that has not acceded to the Hague Convention; 

Whereas the Hague Convention would not apply to abductions occurring before the accession of Japan to the 

Hague Convention, requiring, therefore, that Japan create a separate parallel process to resolve the abductions 

of all United States citizen minor children who currently 

remain wrongfully removed to or retained in Japan, including the 121 United States citizen minor children who 

have been reported to the United States Department of 

State and who are being held in Japan against the wishes 

of their parent in the United States and, in many cases, 

in direct violation of a valid United States court order; 


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Whereas the Hague Convention provides enumerated defenses 

designed to provide protection to children alleged to be 

subjected to physical or psychological abuse in the leftbehind country; 

Whereas United States laws against domestic violence extend 

protection and redress to Japanese spouses; 

Whereas there are numerous acknowledged cases, such as the 

Jade and Michael Elias case, of Japanese consulates located within the United States issuing or reissuing travel 

documents of dual-national minor children in violation of 

United States court orders restricting travel and in violation of United States Federal criminal parental kidnapping statutes; 

Whereas there are numerous cases in which the actions of the 

Government of Japan evidence a disregard of United 

States law and jurisdiction, other cases show indifference 

to the United States and customary international jurisprudence in the area of family law, which overwhelmingly 

reflects the worldwide preference for the resolution of 

parenting disputes by negotiated joint custody; 

Whereas Japan’s existing family law system does not recognize joint custody nor actively enforce parental access 

agreements for either its own nationals or foreigners, 

there is little hope for minor children to have contact 

with the noncustodial parent in violation of internationally recognized and protected rights; 

Whereas there exists no due process within the Japanese 

family court system for the redress of such disputes, and 

the existing system has no recognized process to enforce 

a custody or parental access order from outside of Japan 


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or within it, without the voluntary cooperation of the abducting parent or guardian; 

Whereas the Government of Japan has repeatedly claimed to 

foreign governments that parental child abduction is not 

considered a crime in Japan despite the fact that Article 

3 of the Japanese Penal Code does indeed make it a 

crime for a Japanese citizen to abduct a child and move 

the child across national borders, even if the child is 

moved to Japan; 

Whereas the Government of Japan has refused to prosecute 

an abducting parent or relative criminally when that parent or relative abducts the child into Japan; 

Whereas according to the United States Department of 

State’s April 2008 Report on Compliance with the Hague 

Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child 

Abduction, abducted children are at risk of serious emotional and psychological problems and have been found to 

experience anxiety, eating problems, nightmares, mood 

swings, sleep disturbances, aggressive behavior, resentment, guilt, and fearfulness, and as adults may struggle 

with identity issues, their own personal relationships, and 

parenting; 

Whereas left-behind parents may encounter substantial psychological, emotional, and financial problems, and many 

may not have the financial resources to pursue civil or 

criminal remedies for the return of their children in foreign courts or political systems; 

Whereas Erika Toland was abducted in 2003 from Negishi 

United States Navy Family housing in Yokohama to 

Tokyo, Japan, by her now deceased mother and is being 


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held by her Japanese maternal grandmother, while being 

denied access to her father since 2004; 

Whereas Melissa Braden was covertly abducted from her 

home in 2006 by her mother to Japan in violation of previous Los Angeles Superior Court orders giving both parents access to the child and prohibiting international 

travel (travel to Japan) with the child by either parent 

and has since been denied any contact with her father; 

Whereas Kai Hachiya was abducted in 2006 to Japan by his 

father, who had been found by a court of competent jurisdiction to have physically and mentally abused Kai’s 

mother who had been awarded sole custody in the State 

of Hawaii, and as a result, Kai has had limited contact 

with his mother; 

Whereas Isaac and Rebecca Savoie were abducted in 2009 to 

Japan by their mother in violation of a Tennessee State 

court order of joint custody and Tennessee statutes, and 

have been denied any access or communication with their 

father, despite their father having been awarded sole custody of them by a United States court; 

Whereas Karina Garcia was abducted to Japan in 2008 by 

her mother, who was ordered by the United States courts 

to return Karina to the care of her sole custodian father 

in the United States, but the order to return of the child 

has not been granted even though the sole custody order 

had been recognized by the Osaka High Court; 

Whereas United States citizen minor children who have been 

abducted to Japan are being deprived of their United 

States heritage; 

Whereas, on October 16, 2009, the Ambassadors to Japan of 

Australia, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, 


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the United Kingdom, and the United States, all parties 

to the Hague Convention, called upon Japan to accede to 

the Hague Convention and meanwhile to identify and implement measures to enable parents who are separated 

from their children to establish contact with them and to 

visit them; 

Whereas, on January 30, 2010, the Ambassadors to Japan 

of Australia, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom 

and the United States, the Charges d’Affaires ad interim 

of Canada and Spain, and the Deputy Head of Mission 

of Italy, called on Japan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

submitted their concerns over the increase in international parental abduction cases involving Japan and affecting their nationals, and again urged Japan to sign 

the Hague Convention; 

Whereas the Governments of the United States and the 

French Republic have recently established bilateral commissions with Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to 

share information on and seek resolution of outstanding 

Japanese parental child abduction cases; 

Whereas the bilateral commission is limited by the fact that 

it does not currently include Japan’s Ministry of Justice, 

which has jurisdiction over family law; 

Whereas Japan’s Justice Minister Keiko Chiba said upon her 

appointment that she is determined to show that Japan 

‘‘is very proactive’’ in adopting international protocols 

and conventions that are the ‘‘international standard’’; 

and 

Whereas it is critical for the Governments of the United 

States and Japan to work together to prevent future incidents of international parental child abduction to Japan, 


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which damages children, families, and Japan’s national 

image with the United States: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) the House of Representatives— 

3 (A) condemns the abduction and retention 

4 of all minor children being held in Japan away 

5 from their United States parents in violation of 

6 their human rights and United States and 

7 international law; 

8 (B) calls on the Government of Japan to 

9 immediately facilitate the resolution of all ab10 duction cases, to recognize United States court 

11 orders governing persons subject to jurisdiction 

12 in a United States court, and to make imme13 diately possible access and communication for 

14 all children with their left-behind parents; 

15 (C) calls on the Government of Japan to 

16 include Japan’s Ministry of Justice in work 

17 with the Government of the United States to 

18 facilitate the identification and location of all 

19 United States minor citizen children alleged to 

20 have been wrongfully removed to or retained in 

21 Japan and for the immediate establishment of 

22 a protocol for the resolution of existing cases of 

23 abduction, interference with parental access to 


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1 children, and violations of United States court 

2 orders; 

3 (D) calls on the Government of Japan to 

4 establish immediately a protocol and timetable 

5 to amend its Civil Code to allow for enforceable 

6 rights of parental access and communication 

7 between minor children and their divorced or 

8 separated parents including parents who are 

9 not Japanese citizens; 

10 (E) calls on the Government of Japan to 

11 review and amend its consular procedures to 

12 ensure that travel documents for minor children 

13 are not issued in violation of United States 

14 court orders; 

15 (F) calls on Japan to accede to the 1980 

16 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of 

17 International Child Abduction without delay 

18 and to promptly establish judicial and enforce19 ment procedures to facilitate credibly the imme20 diate return of children to their habitual resi21 dence and to establish protocols for the organi22 zation of rights of international parental access; 

23 and 

24 (G) calls on the President of the United 

25 States and the Secretary of State to seek immeVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:30 May 05, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1326.IH HR1326

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1 diately to identify credibly all United States cit2 izen minor children who have been wrongfully 

3 removed to and who are retained currently in 

4 Japan and to raise the issue of abduction and 

5 wrongful retention of those United States cit6 izen minor children in Japan with Japanese of7 ficials and domestic and international press; 

8 and 

9 (2) it is the sense of the House of Representa10 tives that the United States should— 

11 (A) recognize the issue of child abduction 

12 to and retention of United States citizen minor 

13 children in Japan as a central foreign policy 

14 issue of paramount importance to the United 

15 States within the context of its bilateral rela16 tionship with Japan; 

17 (B) work with the Government of Japan to 

18 enact consular procedures and legal agreements 

19 to prevent parental abduction to and retention 

20 of United States citizen minor children in 

21 Japan; 

22 (C) encourage the Government of Japan to 

23 adopt the policy of not issuing duplicate pass24 ports when a United States judge has restricted 

25 a child’s travel or ordered the surrender of 


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1 passports and to otherwise require notarized 

2 signatures from both parents before issuing a 

3 passport to a child; 

4 (D) review its advisory services made avail5 able to United States citizens from the Depart6 ment of State, the Department of Justice, and 

7 other government agencies to ensure that effec8 tive and timely assistance is given to United 

9 States citizens in preventing the incidence of 

10 wrongful retention or removal of minor children 

11 and acting to obtain the expeditious return of 

12 their children from Japan; 

13 (E) review its advisory services made avail14 able to members of the United States Armed 

15 Forces, particularly those stationed in Japan by 

16 the Department of Defense and the United 

17 States Armed Forces, to ensure that effective 

18 and timely assistance is given to them, includ19 ing providing legal assistance in preventing the 

20 incidence of wrongful retention or removal of 

21 minor children and acting to obtain the expedi22 tious return of their dependent children from 

23 Japan at the conclusion of their tour of duty in 

24 Japan; 


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1 (F) call upon the Secretary of Defense to 

2 include the issues of child abduction and the 

3 protection of members of the United States 

4 Armed Forces and their families stationed 

5 abroad in any current or future status of forces 

6 agreement; 

7 (G) call upon the Secretary of State to 

8 enact immediately a Memorandum of Under9 standing with the Government of Japan to es10 tablish a bilateral protocol with procedures to 

11 address immediately any parental child abduc12 tion or access issue reported to the United 

13 States Department of State; and 

14 (H) urge the Department of State to in15 clude international child abduction and Japan’s 

16 actions regarding abductions as a human rights 

17 violation under its Country Reports on Human 

18 Rights Practices. 

Æ 


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