Calling on Japan to Address Child Abduction Cases

Floor Speech

* Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 1326, a resolution calling on the Government of Japan to immediately address the urgent problem involving United States citizen children who are abducted by one parent and unlawfully taken to Japan without intervention by the Japanese Government.

* This resolution urges the Government of Japan to work closely with the United States Government to return American children to their custodial parent in the United States and to adopt the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

* As a father of three beautiful daughters, I have cherished every moment I have spent watching them grow up and I look forward to seeing them continue to develop into confident, young women. Sadly, not all parents have been as fortunate as me.

* Since 1994, the State Department's Office of Children's Issues had opened 194 cases involving 214 American children taken to Japan. As of March 25, 2010, there were 95 open
cases involving 136 American children abducted or wrongfully retained in Japan. One of those cases is that of Melissa Braden, the daughter of one of my constituents, Patrick Braden.

* In the midst of a custody dispute in 2006, Melissa was taken to Japan by her mother in violation of a court order giving both parents access to the child and prohibiting either parent from taking Melissa outside of the United States. Melissa has been in Japan ever since. Despite an arrest warrant issued by the FBI for her mother, Japanese authorities have refused to act on this case. Japanese courts give no recognition to the parental rights of the non-Japanese parent, and the Japanese government refuses to enforce U.S. court orders related to child custody or visitation.

* I have tried for the past 3 years to help secure the return of Melissa or at the very least reunite Mr. Braden with his daughter in Japan. Unfortunately, Japan is not a signatory to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Parties to the Hague Abduction Convention agree to promptly return a child who is living in one Convention country and who has been removed to or retained in another Convention country in violation of a left-behind parent's custodial rights. I spoke about Melissa's case before this body last year, but it is important that I continue to speak about her case so that other parents do not have to live through what Mr. Braden is still experiencing today.

* As my mother once told me: there is nothing worse than losing your own child, especially when your child is still alive. I thank Chairman BERMAN for his support of this issue and Mr. MORAN of Virginia and Mr. SMITH of New Jersey for standing up for America's parents and children.

* I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution to secure action on behalf of our American families with children retained in Japan.

Source