FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Coalition Report to United Nations Criticizes Japan’s Record on Children’s Rights After Divorce and Under Other Forms of Parental Separation

TOKYO, JAPAN – January 26, 2004.  A Coalition of Japanese and non-Japanese parents’ groups led by the Children’s Right Council of Japan has submitted a report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, criticizing in detail, Japan’s record in protecting the rights of children of divorce and other forms of parental separation.  Amid Japan’s rapidly rising divorce rate and stagnating birthrate, the report highlights issues of pseudo-legal parental abduction, institutionalized denial of contact with non-custodial parents, and codified discriminations based on gender and citizenship.

The occasion is the 35^th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, convening in Geneva Switzerland on January 12 - 30, 2004. On January 28, the Committee will consider Japan’s Second (five yearly) Periodic Report regarding its implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international treaty signed and ratified by Japan in 1994, which requires the Japanese government to change existing laws and implement new laws to carry out its provisions.

The full report plus other background information is available online at the Children’s Right Council of Japan website. (Japanese)

While recognizing that Japan has made important efforts in a number of areas to improve the rights of children, the Coalition is highly critical of the Japanese national government in failing to adequately implement the rights and obligations in the Convention with respect to children whose parents separate. The Coalition believes that Japanese national laws and the Japanese Family Court system are highly discriminatory and that they deprive children subject to divorce, domestic parental abduction, international parental abduction, and birth out of wedlock, of their rights to maintain a relationship with both parents.

The Coalition report cites government statistics indicating that in Japan, children are routinely kept away from one parent during court sessions lasting many months and sometimes years. Custody decisions award visitation rights in less than 20% of the cases. Yet, these awards are for only a trivial number of hours per month, and even then, enforcement is impossible when the custodial parent is defiant.

The report also cites government statistics supporting gender discrimination in the Family Court, and cites Japanese Civil Code articles that discriminate against a child based on the gender and marital status of his or her parents. Although in 1950, child custody in Japan was awarded on a nearly equal basis regardless of gender, it is now awarded to women nearly 80% of the time. The report is also highly critical of Japan’s legal prohibition against joint custody of children in any circumstances outside marriage, and notes that Japan subsequently allows the relationship between a natural parent and child to be broken by adoption, without the consent of the non-custodial natural parent.

The report further describes how Japanese Immigration regulations often deny a non-custodial parent the ability to maintain long-term contact with his or her Japanese child. These regulations also hinder reporting of child and spouse abuse, for fear by the non-Japanese parent of permanently losing contact with his or her Japanese child.

Finally, the Coalition’s report, urges the Government of Japan to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. This is necessary in order to curb the high incidence of international parental abduction to Japan that is accepted because of the legally ignored practice of domestic parental abduction common even among Japanese only couples.

In the Coalition’s view, these extensive and documented deficiencies constitute a failure by the Japanese national government to implement the obligations enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and subsequently, to ensure the right of a child in Japan to:

1. Know both parents, regardless of marital status.
2. Maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, even in the event of separation from them.
3. Absent extenuating circumstances, be raised primarily by his or her parents, regardless of marital status.
4. Be raised and educated so as to development respect for his or her cultural identity, language and values; and for the national values of both countries from which he or she may originate, regardless of marital status.
5. Enjoy all these rights without discrimination, regardless of gender, national origin, marital status or other factors.

Another notable submission to the same UN Committee came from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA). In a scathing 218 page report, the JFBA supported many of the same issues raised by this Coalition, and also detailed numerous additional abrogations of children’s rights in Japan.

A copy of the Coalition report along with related background information in both Japanese and English can be viewed at:

http://www.crnjapan.com/treaties/uncrcreport/en

Experiences of Coalition group members and links to relevant news articles can be viewed at:

http://www.fatherswebsite.com

http://www.crnjapan.com/articles/en

http://www.crnjapan.com/pexper/en

Other members of the Coalition include the Father’s Website, The Center for Japanese-Filipino Families, The Community, United for a Multi-Cultural Japan, Japan With Kids, as well as several other Filipino groups in Japan.

Contact

For questions regarding this Press Release or the Coalition report, please contact any of the following people.

Mark Smith (Japanese / English / Mandarin)

Public Relations Coordinator, Children's Rights Network of Japan

EMAIL: prgakari@crnjapan.com

 

David Brian Thomas (English - Japan)

President and Co-Founder, Children’s Rights Council of Japan

TEL: +81-3-5317-0357 (Tokyo)

 

Walter Benda (English - Outside Japan)

CEO and Co-Founder, Children’s Rights Council of Japan

TEL: +1-276-637-3799 (USA - EST)

　

Kazuya Oshima (Japanese / English)

Coordinator for International Relations, Father’s Website

TEL: +81-3-5475-8207 (Tokyo)

EMAIL: world_info@fatherswebsite.com

 

Cesar V. Santoyo (English / Tagalog)

Coordinator, Center for Japanese-Filipino Families (CJFF)

TEL: +81-3-3209-2439 / +81-90-5763-8320 (Tokyo)

Full List of Coalition Members

Children's Rights Network of Japan (CRNJ)

Website: www.crnjapan.com

Description: We disseminate information on the Internet to help change attitudes and laws in Japan that will assure children of meaningful and continuing contact with both parents, regardless of citizenship or marital status.  We want to restore the rights of children in Japan subject to parental separation, such as divorce, international parental abduction to Japan, parental kidnapping within Japan and birth out of wedlock.

Children’s Rights Council of Japan (CRCJ)

Website: www.crcjapan.com

Description: The Children's Rights Council of Japan’s mission is to restore the rights of children subject to parental separation in Japan, such as divorce, parental abduction, and birth out of wedlock. We want to assure these children of meaningful and continuing contact with both parents and both extended families, regardless of the parents' citizenship or marital status. Our members include both Japanese and non-Japanese citizens around the world. We are a 501(c)(3) IRS nonprofit organization under the group exemption of the United States national Children's Rights Council.

Fathers’ Website

Website: www.fatherswebsite.com

Description: Father's Website is a Japanese voluntary non-profit organization working to modify the Japanese Civil Code in accordance with the UN Convention on Children's Rights. In particular we support enactment of joint custody and visitation policies. We provide emotional support and information to anyone in Japan who is being denied contact with his or her children. We are not just a website and not just for fathers. Members are primarily Japanese, and include left-behind mothers and custodial parents in addition to fathers.

Center for Japanese-Filipino Families (CJFF)

Description:Education, Training, Research and Resource and Lobbying Center for the rights and welfare of Japanese-Filipino Families

The Community

Website: www.debito.org/TheCommunity

Description: Founded on September 28, 1999, in Jiyugaoka, Tokyo, "The Community", seeks to represent and organize the scattered and varied peoples who are concerned about the treatment of non-Japanese in Japan. Recent Community projects include the Otaru Onsen anti-discrimination lawsuit, the subsequent appeal against the city of Otaru for violating the UN Treaty against Racial Discrimination, the “kokutai” discrimination in athletics lawsuit that reached the Japanese Supreme Court, and the “Tama-chan” sea lion Residency Registration protest.

United For A Multicultural Japan (UMJ)

Website: www.tabunka.org

Description: UMJ is a voluntary non-profit organization in Japan committed to uniting to promote and defend the rights of foreign nationals in Japan. Our efforts involve educating the Japanese government about our needs and making recommendations as to how to improve the situation occupied by legal foreign residents.

Migrante Party List (MPL) -Japan

Description: MPL is the Japan chapter of an electoral party vying for a seat in the Philippine parliament and engaged in lobbying work with Japanese parliamentarians. MPL has chapters in Tokyo, Nagoya and Saitama and individual members (registered as Filipino voters under the Philippine law) all over Japan.

Filipino Migrants Center

Description:Counseling, Education and Training for all Filipino migrants in Japan.

Filipina Circle for Advancement and Progress - (FICAP-Aichi)

Description: Association of Filipino wives of Japanese for education and cooperative activities.

Kalipunan ng mga Filipinong Nagkakaisa (KAFIN or United Filipinos)

Description: Grassroots organization of Filipino migrants providing counseling service to members, livelihood projects, education and training currently with chapters in Saitama, Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka.

Japan With Kids (JWK)

Website: www.japanwithkids.org

Description: An information and support site for English speaking families living in Japan, long or short term, to network and to advise each other on raising and caring for children in Japan.