U.S. Government Welcomes Japan's Ratification of the Hague Convention

June 12, 2013

• Looking forward to comprehensive implementation of the Convention in Japan
• Japan makes significant progress towards preventing international parental child abduction

The U.S. Government welcomes the news of the ratification of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction by the Diet. The U.S. Government is very encouraged by this important step and applauds the legislative action required to ratify and implement the Convention in Japan.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos stated, "I want to commend the members of the Diet for their passage of legislation allowing full domestic implementation of Japan's ratification of the Hague Convention. With this important international agreement ratified, we welcome the Government of Japan as a treaty member who agrees that the Convention is the most appropriate mechanism to resolve the issue of international parental child abduction. The United States also looks forward to continued progress with our Japanese counterparts in the spirit of the Hague Convention to resolve existing cases of children brought to Japan without the permission of both parents."

Referred to informally as the "Hague Abduction Convention," the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction is an international treaty that provides a legal framework for securing the prompt return of wrongfully removed or retained children to the country of their habitual residence where a competent court can make decisions on issues of custody and the child's "best interests." The treaty will not enter into force between the United States and Japan until after Japan formally declares its ratification to the Convention's depository in the Netherlands. Japan states that it expects to do so before the end of its fiscal year March 2014.

The United States Department of State has no higher priority than to safeguard the welfare of U.S. citizens abroad, the most vulnerable of whom are children. International parental child abduction occurs when one parent wrongfully removes a child from the country of his or her habitual residence to a foreign country, or wrongfully retains a child in a foreign country that is not the child's habitual residence, without permission of the other parent. The position of the Department of State is that courts in a child's habitual residence are best situated to make custody determinations. Therefore, it is our priority to ensure the prompt return of wrongfully removed or retained children to their countries of habitual residence where a competent court can make decisions on issues of custody and the child's best interests.