The United States and seven other countries on Saturday again urged Japan to join an international treaty on parental child abduction.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos and his counterparts from the United Kingdom, Canada, France, New Zealand, Italy, Spain and Australia asked that Japan sign the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and give visitation rights to foreign parents whose cases would not be retroactively protected by the treaty.
"In our meetings with Japan’s Foreign Minister [Katsuya] Okada, we reiterated that we place the highest priority on the welfare of children who have been the victims of international parental child abduction, and stressed that the children should grow up with access to both parents," the joint statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said. Japan has for years said it would consider signing the treaty, which essentially prevents parents from fleeing with their children to or within the 81 signatory countries.
The eight countries issued a similar plea in October after nearly 30 years of behind-the-scenes lobbying.
Following the initial call for action, Japan in December established the Division for Issues Related to Child Custody, though it was unclear Saturday how the office has been addressing the issue. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment Saturday.
The joint statement said the number of parents fleeing with their children to Japan is a growing problem. Japanese courts typically award custody to mothers, do not enforce visitation orders with criminal penalties and do not recognize foreign custody orders, which many Japanese women estranged from foreign-born spouses defy to bring their children back to their home country.
The issue gained international media attention following the September arrest of American Christopher Savoie by Japanese police for attempting to retrieve his children, who he claims were illegally taken from their U.S. home by his Japanese ex-wife.
On Friday in Washington, Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and other State Department officials met with a group of Americans whose children have been abducted to Japan, said Navy Cmdr. Paul Toland, who for years has been fighting to see his young daughter, now living in Tokyo with her grandmother.
Campbell told the group he would publicly address the issue during his upcoming visit to Tokyo this week, said Toland, who attended the meeting.
"Closed-door diplomacy has not worked," said Toland, a medical officer stationed in Maryland.
Reporter Hana Kusumoto contributed to this story.
