Australia escalates diplomatic campaign against Japanese child abductions

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The Australian government has bolstered a diplomatic campaign against Japanese child abductions, with Canberra now actively involved in helping Tokyo reform the country’s family law system and leading a group of nations escalating pressure on Japan after months of international outrage.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong this week met with Japanese MP Mizuho Umemura and Catherine Henderson, an Australian mother of abducted children.

Australian mother Catherine Henderson (left) and Japanese MP Mizuho Umemura in Canberra this week.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Umemura, who represents the opposition Japan Innovation Party, has been a leading critic of her country’s sole custody system, which allows parents to abduct their children and cut off all contact with the other parent.

In March, this masthead and 60 Minutes revealed that the Japanese parents of 82 Australian children had taken their children from their partners since 2004, which led Japanese government MPs to label the situation an embarrassment.

In a series of confidential meetings in Canberra, Umemura and Henderson met with Wong, the Attorney-General’s Department and opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham on Thursday.

“In Japan, they say Japan is like the Galápagos Islands, it’s old-fashioned or behind the times,” Umemura said.

“It’s putting a shadow over children and their happiness.”

It is rare for Wong to meet with an opposition MP from a foreign country. According to protocol, the foreign minister is expected to discuss diplomatic issues directly with her Japanese government counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi.

But there has been growing pressure on the Australian government to publicly condemn child abductions and take a stronger stance after decades of inaction from Tokyo.

“Australians have been very brave and speaking out about this issue,” Umemura said. “I’m hoping that other countries can also be brave and raise this issue because Japan just does not seem to be able to act.”

Melbourne-born Henderson has not seen her 14-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter since they were abducted by their Japanese father in Tokyo in 2019.

“Australians living in Japan are in daily fear of the other parent taking the children,” Henderson said. “I know a mother who carries her son’s Australian passport with her at all times.”

Australia and Britain are among seven embassies in Tokyo that recently wrote to the Japanese government urging the Liberal Democratic Party to reform its century-old sole custody system. Hundreds of children have also been taken by Japanese parents from families with European and American parents.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

But the changes being explored in the Japanese government’s ongoing review of the sole-custody system have been met with resistance in the country, including a misinformation campaign that has suggested that Australia is considering dropping joint custody in its own family law review to protect victims of domestic violence.

“Every single person that I said that to today was shocked,” Umemura said. “Now I can go back to Japan and say clearly, that is definitely not what’s happening.”

Domestic violence remains a chronic issue in Japan, where support services are underfunded and incidents are rarely prosecuted. Sole custody advocates say the system is necessary to protect families from violent partners. Critics argue it is being used to take children away without due process.

Umemura’s meeting with the Attorney-General’s Department was organised by the Japanese embassy in Canberra. The introduction followed the departure of former ambassador Shingo Yamagami, who objected to the Australian government’s use of the term abduction and maintained the issue was an internal affair for Japan. His successor, Suzuki Kazuhiro, declined to comment.

Birmingham, as opposition foreign affairs spokesman, has been pressuring the Albanese government in Senate estimates hearings to outline how it will handle the ongoing dispute with one of Australia’s most important diplomatic, military and economic partners.

Wong told senators in June that she empathised with the distress experienced by Australian parents who have been separated from their children.

“I have raised this issue directly with Japan’s foreign minister and the attorney-general has written to Japan’s justice minister,” she said.

“Australia is also co-ordinating closely with like-minded governments to find opportunities for joint messaging and advocacy.”

But parents still want the Australian government to go further and publicly criticise Japan for failing to enforce court orders and for ongoing legislative delays that have shut them out of their children’s lives for decades.

“If we have things on the record that are public, we can use them to try and prevent future victims,” Henderson said.

Last week, Japanese table tennis star Ai Fukuhara was accused of abducting the son she had with Taiwanese husband Chiang Hung-chieh, also a top table tennis player.

Chiang claimed that a Japanese court had ruled that Fukuhara was told to hand over their son, whom she took from Taiwan, but the two-time Olympic medallist had ignored the court orders.

The father said Fukuhara took their four-year-old son to Japan for the summer holidays last year and cut off all contact a week later.

Japanese Olympian Ai Fukuhara (second from right) speaks with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko in Tokyo in 2017.Credit: Reuters

In a statement last week, Fukuhara’s lawyers urged Chiang to stop disclosing details of their disagreements.

The case follows a pattern familiar to dozens of Australian parents who have been victims of child abduction. Japanese courts have been reluctant to enforce return orders because they are viewed as private family disputes. Japanese police have also ignored Interpol missing persons notices.

Chiang Hung-chieh, the former husband of Ai Fukuhara, at a press conference in Tokyo last week. Credit: AP

In June, Australian parent Scott Ellis revealed he had not seen his children, Mera and Telina, since they were taken to Japan from his Queensland home four years ago.

“They said it happens with Japan. It’s a child abduction case. And I’ll tell you, man, it will be the worst time of your life,” Ellis said.

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