Protests Against Japanese Parental Abductions Continue
Download and Distribute Flyer and Letters to Politicians
7) Child Access Protest, Tokyo Japan
10 ) Japan Steals Children - Stina & Gus Pena
Oscar-winning director Jane Campion executive-produced this heart-rending film about the 13-year-old Japanese girl who was abducted by North Korean spies in 1977. But what the film does not mention is the long list of Japanese citizens who are themselves wanted for arrest on charges of international child abduction. Many, if not most of these children were even younger than 13. Is this a different issue? Lets compare:
All of Japan wants North Korea to account for Megumi's life and return her if she is still alive. But despite this nationally shared experience of grief, the Japanese government will not return children from other countries abducted to Japan by Japanese citizens. Further, Japan refuses international calls to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. This widely signed treaty requires a country to expeditiously return abducted children to their country of habitual residence. The same thing Japan is asking of North Korea!! Japan is the only member of the G7 that has not signed this treaty.
Finally, in cases brought to court, Japan claims that parental abduction is not a crime. Courts up to the Supreme Court of Japan routinely refuse to return children to foreign parents with legal custody already ordered by foreign courts. Foreign courts in the country the children were living at the time the Japanese parent abducted them. Thus the Japanese government believes that its own citizens should be allowed to abduct children from other countries with impunity.
If Japan expects to be taken seriously in its demands for international justice, Japan too must follow accepted rules of international conduct. Although we sympathize with victims discussed in Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story, the Canadian, American, Chilean, German, Dutch, Australian and other children kidnapped to Japan are equally as important as the Japanese citizens who have been kidnapped by North Korea.
Left-behind parents all over the world are protesting against Japan's hypocrisy and call on Japan to:
•Sign the “Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.”
•Return abducted children to their country of origin.
•Extradite Japanese citizens currently wanted for arrest under US and other countries’ warrants.
•Pass laws making parental kidnapping within, or to, Japan a crime!!
•Proactively facilitate frequent, meaningful and direct contact between foreign family members and their children in Japan.
You too an make a difference by organizing a full protest or even just handing out flyers at one or two showings in your area. This is how Megumi Yokota's parents started, and look what it got them - worldwide notice and condemnation of international kidnappings. Please contact us by email at webmaster [AT) crnjapan.net if you are interested in helping in any way.
August 2006 - Arc Light in Los Angeles, California
February 2007 - Hollywood Theater in Portland Oregon
Abduction is Abduction - a you tube movie
The information on this website concerns a matter of public interest, and is provided for educational and informational purposes only in order to raise public awareness of issues concerning left-behind parents. Unless otherwise indicated, the writers and translators of this website are not lawyers nor professional translators, so be sure to confirm anything important with your own lawyer.
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