Japan should sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and act to resolve its current cases by enabling parents left out in the cold to contact their spirited-away offspring, eight ambassadors in Tokyo said in a joint statement Thursday.
The ambassadors of Australia, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States issued the statement after a two-day closed symposium on international parental child abduction, which often involves ex-spouses who commandeer custody of offspring, sometimes in defiance of overseas court rulings, and take their children abroad.
Participants in the forum included experts on the convention, judges, law enforcement officials from the eight nations as well as Japanese government officials and Diet members. Details of the forum were not revealed.