Young Lawyers - Lucy Loizou: Japan to become a signatory of The Hague Convention

The Japanese government has recently announced that it will prepare to ratify the 1980 Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Legislation will now be prepared for consideration by the legislature.

Whilst this could be perceived as a ground breaking development I have doubts as to whether this will be enacted into domestic Japanese law.

There are thousands of parents in this jurisdiction who have had their children abducted to Japan. They have had to battle with the Japanese authorities and the legal system for many years desperately trying to secure their safe return or obtain some form of meaningful contact.  Further where parents have been able to agree direct contact it is not uncommon for contact to never actually take place. Japanese Court orders can be defied with what appears to be no consequence on the breaching party. Surely this cannot be in the best interests of the child/children?

There have been reports in the Japanese...

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