British Children Abducted To Or Within Japan – Written Evidence (JTN0006)

Our Organisation, British Children Abducted To And Within Japan, advocate through positive messaging for the UK government to hold Japan to account on woeful child rights.

When considering the current trade deal we must ask is Increased Child Abduction Of British children an acceptable cost of more trade with japan? It will be a consequence unless the issue described below is addressed.

It’s our obligation as a nation to protect our citizens, particularly the vulnerable. British children abducted to or within Japan are being treated by the Japanese legal system as property rather than humans, they are having their rights ignored and their British identity extinguished. 

Over 50 MPs were contacted by constituents affected by this issue, a number of MPs escalated the issue to the UK government. However, the UK government ignored our questions and has taken no action to address the human rights breaches affecting our children (rights enshrined in international treaties signed by both the UK and Japan).

We believe the trade deal being discussed with Japan offers an opportunity for the UK to show even when working on areas of mutual benefit we will not shy away from confronting our partners on issues where our values require it.

The purpose of this summary is to provide the facts that show you that British values demand that we confront Japan, not only for the British children (which this summary focusses on) but all the children affected by this issue, the majority being Japanese. Each statement made includes a hyper-link with the comprehensive and detailed analysis behind each statement. At the bottom of the summary is the actions we have asked all MPs to take when we contacted them by email. We appreciate you are very busy, the actions we ask from you require very little of your time but will have enormously positive consequences on the lives of many children.

1. Japan continues to allow the abduction of children. An estimated 1400 British children have been abducted to or within Japan. https://bit.ly/abductionstats

2. British parents (and grandparents) continue to have no legally enforceable rights to see their children in Japan. https://bit.ly/visitationrights

3. Japanese courts and its bar association do not support human rights or cooperation with the police and authorities of other countries. Both allow lawyers and judges to circumvent international treaties and norms, without consequence.https://bit.ly/LPrcompliance 

4. Britain and its partners have been pressing Japan to create child rights for over 25 years. Japan policy of procrastination on this issue continues to be successful. https://bit.ly/chronologynoaction

5. Those managing this issue within the UK government continue to repeat the excuses of Japanese lobbyists rather than engage in an honest and public conversation with the British victims on Japan’s continued failure to respect human rights.https://bit.ly/honestdiscussion

6. The UK’s position on this important issue of child rights is affected by a concerning conflict of interests. https://bit.ly/conflictofinterests

7. Japan is a G7 member, an economically advanced country with the resources and institutions to enforce its treaty obligations relating to human rights (UNCRC & Hague Convention), Japan chooses not to. https://bit.ly/JPchoice

8. Politicians must be brave and speak up publicly for children in Japan who have no voice. Forwarding information to government ministers has not worked. https://bit.ly/speakupforchildrights

9. It is precisely because we respect Japan as a leading member of the international community and G7 member that we should expect it to meet its treaty obligations, and be prepared to objectively assess whether it does and then confront Japan where it doesn’t as is the case with child rights. We would expect Japan to do the same to the UK.https://bit.ly/EJrelations

10.                     Child rights are not the only issue of concern, you need to stand up for rule of law. If you accept that a G7 nation and great benefactor of the global rule-based order can pick and choose which treaties it follows, what message does it send to other nations? https://bit.ly/widerimplications

11.                     Japan has breached its obligations to Britain under the joint declaration made by the UK and Japan when both enacted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child. Japan must be asked to treat Britain equally. Britain enforces its international treaty obligations meaning Japanese citizens do not fear either abduction of their children to or within the UK or that their children’s human rights will be abused in the UK. Why should British parents be expected to suffer these risks but not Japanese parents even though both countries entered into the same treaty? https://bit.ly/UKJequality

12.                     The British government should stop using Brexit, COVID-19 and other excuses for inaction. The EU dealt with all the same issues as the UK and addressed the issue of child abduction/child rights in Japan passing a resolution on 16 June 2020. It is time for British MPs to live up to the expectations they set during Brexit; that they would be more effective outside the EU https://bit.ly/EUactionJPchildrights.

Action Required

1. Join the EU and US in publicly speaking up about this issue. We ask that any action you take is public. Private actions have proven ineffective. We want to create pressure for change, please raise this issue in parliament and during trade talks with Japan

2. Start a public debate. Here are 28 unanswered issues that have been raised with the UK authorities (multiple times) over the last year. MPs have sent these questions to the UK government, but responses have not been provided. Hold the government to account and force detailed answers to each issue https://bit.ly/paricularisedresponse.

3. Take up our offer of a 15-minute presentation on this topic, followed by a 15 minute Q&A, become an informed decision maker on this topic and help bring about positive change for thousands of children.

8 August 2020