International Child Abduction

What 

Japan was removed from a list of countries known to be non-compliant with The Hague Convention, which is relevant to the abduction of children typically by one guardian in a separated couple. Japan joined the convention in 2014, but was added to the blacklist last year due to disagreements on international custody issues. Japan recently made its own laws more explicit, making it easier for guardians residing outside of Japan to regain custody of a child taken without their consent. The primary purpose of these laws is to minimize mental and physical trauma for the child in question.

Background

While the article initially sounds very dire (child abduction), far and away the most common occurrence of this kind of child abduction is when a guardian with partial/split custody will take their child (under 16) without consulting the other guardian to another country for an extended period of time. Prior to the change in Japanese law, a guardian would have to hire a lawyer in Japan, and face an uncertain battle due to Japan’s history of inconsistent rulings and statements regarding split custody. Guardians in Japan have also been known to ignore court orders; however, a July supreme court ruling made this a significantly more punishable offense. Nevertheless, Japanese law also bans the use of force while extracting children from abducting parents - while this makes situations theoretically safer, it makes it practically impossible to enforce return orders.The difficulty comes in technical differences in the legal powers of Japanese and American governments over divorced couples. Nevertheless, Japan will now make it easier to enforce international court return orders.

Importance

This is important as there has been a spike in international marriages (and subsequently divorces) since 1970 - almost an 800% increase. Thus, while Japan was initially not a signatory, and later on the blacklist, the increase in its own involvement in cross-border custody disputes became an embarrassing problem. Reportedly one of the most common issues was Japanese women marrying abroad, and bringing their child home following a divorce out of fear of losing custody. This is especially complicated as under Japanese law, only one guardian retains custody following a divorce. While it was not in the article, when Japan was initially put on the blacklist, it made plans to introduce changes in the following year, and also considered introducing join custody, a primarily Western idea.