See http://www.debito.org/otarulawsuit.html
THE COMMUNITY'S
LINKS PAGE
GROUPS THAT SUPPORT
AND ARE SUPPORTED BY
THE COMMUNITY
(Although supported by The Community, these are independent information
sites.
The Community is not responsible for their contents.)
See http://www.debito.org/otarulawsuit.html
An excellent site on Children's Rights Issues In Japan
(excerpted from the site) Japan has not ratified the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Japan does not have laws which allow enforcement of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Japan does not enforce child custody orders from foreign countries. Parental kidnapping is not considered a crime in Japan. Japan does not honor extradition requests for crimes involving a non-custodial Japanese parent abducting their child back to Japan.
More information and documentation on: (http://www.crnjapan.com/en/issues.html)
- Child Abductions to Japan. (General Discrimination Against Foreign Parents)
- Legal Abduction To Japan (Forced Retention of Children and Transport To Japan).
- Legal Domestic Abduction (Forced Retention of Children In Japan).
- Antiquated Child Custody Laws.
- Antiquated Child Visitation Laws.
- Unenforceable Child Visitation Laws.
- Physical and Emotional Child and Spouse Abuse Is Ignored as a Factor in Custody Decisions.
- Domestic Violence By A Japanese Spouse Is Supported In A Family With Children.
- Discrimination Against Helping Non-Japanese Locate Hidden Children.
- Discrimination Against Non-Japanese In Granting Child Custody.
- Discrimination Against Non-Japanese By Not Having A Visa Allowing Them To Remain In Japan Long Term To Be With Their Children.
- Discrimination Against Visas Allowing A Non-Japanese To Remain In Japan To Continue Legal Actions Against A Japanese Parent.
- Rights of Natural Parents Taken Away in Adoption and Changes of Custody Actions.
(excerpted from the site) In 2002 Nick Baker, 32, traveled to Japan in advance of the World Cup. He was arrested at Tokyo's Narita Airport when ecstasy pills and cocaine were found in the false bottom of a suitcase. Nick protested he had been duped by a traveling companion, James Prunier, but Japanese police allowed Prunier to leave the country without questioning him. While Nick was spending some 10 months in solitary confinement for apparently "refusing to confess", it happened that Prunier was arrested in Belgium for allegedly tricking three other British travelers into smuggling drugs. Nick's defence attorney requested that the facts of the Belgian case be admitted as evidence, but presiding Judge Kenji Kadoya, who in more than a decade on the bench has never found a single defendant "not guilty", refused this motion at the request of the prosecution. Instead, in June 2003, Kadoya sentenced Nick to 14 years in prison with hard labour, largely on the basis of testimony Nick was made to sign (written in Japanese, a language he does not understand). Nick protested that the testimony was inaccurately translated, and is currently appealing the verdict, a process that could take up to one year. Nick's family and supporters have put this site up in the desperate hope that the Japanese authorities, aware that the world is watching, will admit relevant evidence and provide Nick with a proper hearing.
Kamal Sinha, an Indian citizen who lived and worked in Japan from 1989 to 1995, endured discriminatory treatment while working at Mitsubishi Electric. He sued them in Tokyo District Court for racial discrimination, one of the first such lawsuits in Japan. This website gives the details of the case. He has another site: MITSUBISHI: ECLIPSE OF ETHICS, which deals with discrimination and slave labor issues of Mitsubishi.