Relief for Japanese-American Child Custody

The Hauge Convention on International Child Abduction seeks to stop parents from fleeing to another country with their child when the other parent has legal custody rights. Almost 90 countries have signed treaties to approve the convention and up until recently Japan had held out on signing. In the past, a co-parent that has Japanese citizenship could take their child to Japan and the other parent could do little to get their child back. With the treaty in effect in Japan, child custody laws and rights in different countries will be more respected. If a child is taken to another country unlawfully, the convention respects the jurisdiction of the child’s original nation of residence.

The convention is only to apply to future cases and will not affect current situations.

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