Perspectives

International child custody disputes have developed into a major diplomatic problem between Japan and Western countries.

In many cases, non-Japanese husbands are demanding that they be granted custody over and access to their children after their Japanese wives have brought back their children to Japan without their husbands' consent.

There are estimated to be nearly 200 cases of such disputes, including 50 with the United States, 36 with Canada and 35 each with France and Britain.

The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction stipulates that divorced husbands and wives have joint custody over their children and grants parents who do not live with their children access to the children. Under the convention, one parent who brings back their child from their country of residence to their home country without confirming the right of access after divorce should be charged with abduction.

Japan has not signed the convention, while about 80 countries including the United States and European countries are parties to the pact. Western countries are strongly urging Japan to sign and ratify the convention.

In the past, the United States also had similar custody disputes with European countries. Before signing the Hague Convention in 1985, its position on custody underwent various changes.

Until the 19th century, fathers had custody over their children, but the Americans leaned toward the idea that mothers should have custody over their children in the 20th century. At one point, fathers had custody over their sons while mothers had parental rights over their daughters. In the 1970s, the United States came to the conclusion that both fathers and mothers had joint custody over their children.

However, since each state had its own law regarding family relations without a federal law at the time, there were numerous cases where one parent took their children to a state that had family legislation favorable to them in a bid to win a court ruling in favor of them.

At one time, there were 300,000 to 600,000 such abduction cases a year. In the 1980, Congress enacted a federal law outlawing one parent from taking away their children without the other's consent. Different family laws in different states were subsequently coordinated, laying the groundwork for signing the Hague Convention.

Under Japanese legislation, only one parent has custody over their children after divorce. It is widely believed that mothers should have custody over their children as had been the case with the United States until the 1970s.

Japan should sign the Hague Convention. In Japan, attention tends to be focused on Japanese mothers who bring back their children from their countries of residence to Japan after divorcing their non-Japanese husbands. However, there are also cases where non-Japanese husbands have refused to give their divorced Japanese wives access to their children, fearing that if their children go to Japan, they will never come back to them. These mothers will benefit from Japan's joining the Hague Convention.

Family values have undergone drastic changes in Japan, too. People in younger generations tend to regard it as a matter of course for husbands and wives to jointly handle housework and bring up their children. Therefore, they are likely to accept the idea of joint custody between divorced husbands and mothers.

To sign the convention, domestic laws concerning family relations should fundamentally overhauled. The idea that mothers should get custody of their children is no longer a unique family value among Japanese. (By Megumi Nishikawa, Expert Senior Writer)