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 Inter-
national 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. BECER-
RA) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Com-
mittee 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 imme-
diate 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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•HRES 1326 IH 
Whereas Japan is an important partner with the United 
States and shares interests in the areas of economy, de-
fense, the promotion of global peace and prosperity, and 
the mutual protection of the human rights of the two na-
tions’ 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 limita-
tion 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 dissolu-
tion’’, and Article 16 (3), ‘‘The family is the natural and 
fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to pro-
tection 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 respon-
sibilities 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 Popu-
lation and Social Security Research, 44,701 marriages 
between a Japanese national and a foreigner were reg-
istered in Japan in 2006, and 17,102 divorces were reg-
istered 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 Govern-
ment has never issued and enforced a legal decision to re-
turn a single abducted child to the United States; 
Whereas Japan has not acceded to the 1980 Hague Conven-
tion on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 
(the Hague Convention), resulting in the continued ab-
sence 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 abduc-
tions occurring before the accession of Japan to the 
Hague Convention, requiring, therefore, that Japan cre-
ate 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, in-
cluding 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 left- 
behind 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 lo-
cated 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 viola-
tion of United States Federal criminal parental kidnap-
ping 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 juris-
prudence 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 recog-
nize 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 internation-
ally 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 ab-
ducting 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 par-
ent 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 emo-
tional and psychological problems and have been found to 
experience anxiety, eating problems, nightmares, mood 
swings, sleep disturbances, aggressive behavior, resent-
ment, guilt, and fearfulness, and as adults may struggle 
with identity issues, their own personal relationships, and 
parenting; 
Whereas left-behind parents may encounter substantial psy-
chological, 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 for-
eign 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 pre-
vious Los Angeles Superior Court orders giving both par-
ents 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 ju-
risdiction 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 cus-
tody 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 im-
plement 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 inter-
national parental abduction cases involving Japan and af-
fecting 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 com-
missions 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 inci-
dents 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 
Resolved, That— 
(1) the House of Representatives— 
(A) condemns the abduction and retention 
of all minor children being held in Japan away 
from their United States parents in violation of 
their human rights and United States and 
international law; 
(B) calls on the Government of Japan to 
immediately facilitate the resolution of all ab-
duction cases, to recognize United States court 
orders governing persons subject to jurisdiction 
in a United States court, and to make imme-
diately possible access and communication for 
all children with their left-behind parents; 
(C) calls on the Government of Japan to 
include Japan’s Ministry of Justice in work 
with the Government of the United States to 
facilitate the identification and location of all 
United States minor citizen children alleged to 
have been wrongfully removed to or retained in 
Japan and for the immediate establishment of 
a protocol for the resolution of existing cases of 
abduction, interference with parental access to 
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children, and violations of United States court 
orders; 
(D) calls on the Government of Japan to 
establish immediately a protocol and timetable 
to amend its Civil Code to allow for enforceable 
rights of parental access and communication 
between minor children and their divorced or 
separated parents including parents who are 
not Japanese citizens; 
(E) calls on the Government of Japan to 
review and amend its consular procedures to 
ensure that travel documents for minor children 
are not issued in violation of United States 
court orders; 
(F) calls on Japan to accede to the 1980 
Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of 
International Child Abduction without delay 
and to promptly establish judicial and enforce-
ment procedures to facilitate credibly the imme-
diate return of children to their habitual resi-
dence and to establish protocols for the organi-
zation of rights of international parental access; 
and 
(G) calls on the President of the United 
States and the Secretary of State to seek imme-
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diately to identify credibly all United States cit-
izen minor children who have been wrongfully 
removed to and who are retained currently in 
Japan and to raise the issue of abduction and 
wrongful retention of those United States cit-
izen minor children in Japan with Japanese of-
ficials and domestic and international press; 
and 
(2) it is the sense of the House of Representa-
tives that the United States should— 
(A) recognize the issue of child abduction 
to and retention of United States citizen minor 
children in Japan as a central foreign policy 
issue of paramount importance to the United 
States within the context of its bilateral rela-
tionship with Japan; 
(B) work with the Government of Japan to 
enact consular procedures and legal agreements 
to prevent parental abduction to and retention 
of United States citizen minor children in 
Japan; 
(C) encourage the Government of Japan to 
adopt the policy of not issuing duplicate pass-
ports when a United States judge has restricted 
a child’s travel or ordered the surrender of 
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(F) call upon the Secretary of Defense to 
include the issues of child abduction and the 
protection of members of the United States 
Armed Forces and their families stationed 
abroad in any current or future status of forces 
agreement; 
(G) call upon the Secretary of State to 
enact immediately a Memorandum of Under-
standing with the Government of Japan to es-
tablish a bilateral protocol with procedures to 
address immediately any parental child abduc-
tion or access issue reported to the United 
States Department of State; and 
(H) urge the Department of State to in-
clude international child abduction and Japan’s 
actions regarding abductions as a human rights 
violation under its Country Reports on Human 
Rights Practices. 
Æ 
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