U.K. orders child back to Japan under Hague Convention
First Japanese returned under newly inked abduction treaty
by Mizuho Aoki
Staff Writer JapanTimes
A court in the United Kingdom has ordered that a Japanese child living with its mother in Britain be returned to Japan under The Hague Convention on cross-border parental child abduction, which took effect in Japan in April, sources said Tuesday.
It’s the first time a Japanese child has been ordered returned since Japan formally joined The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, according to the Foreign Ministry’s The Hague Convention Division.
According to Hirotaka Honda, a lawyer representing the father, the Japanese couple are estranged and going through a divorce.
The mother took their 7-year-old child to Britain at the end of March, because of her work. The father understood that the child would be away only for four weeks, but when the child didn’t return as expected, the father applied to the British government in May for support based on the provision of the international treaty.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/07/29/national/crime-legal/u-k-orders-child-back-japan-hague-convention/#.U9f4uUDNvMo