Japan has agreed to join the Hague Convention, an international treaty intended to prevent international child abduction. The US and Japan have had ongoing disputes over the last decade involving several well published cases of Japanese citizens abducting their children to Japan in violation of US Court orders. In one such case, a US citizen was arrested in Japan when he attempted to take back his children.
Despite Japan being in signatory to the Hague Convention, it remains to be seen whether the country will comply with the convention. There are numerous signatories to the Hague Convention whom the US State Department has found are not in compliance, including Costa Rica, Guatemala, and St. Kitts & Nevis. Several other countries show patterns of non-compliance including Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama and the Bahamas. Learn More.