Int'l Parental Custody Issue Highest Priority for U.S.

Washington, March 1 (Jiji Press)--The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama puts the highest priority on solving the dispute with Asian countries, especially Japan, over cross-border parental custody of children, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday.
At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Clinton said getting such countries to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction is "at the highest priority level in the administration."
The treaty sets rules for cross-border parental custody of children after divorce.
"It is not only Japan, but Japan unfortunately has many more of these cases" than other countries do, Clinton said, referring to a large number of Japanese parents who bring back their children to their home country without the consent of their spouses with U.S. citizenship after divorce.
This is a "very painful problem that I am deeply concerned about," she said.
Clinton also said the State Department has created a position of special adviser on children's issues.
Japan has yet to decide whether to join the Hague convention because of concerns that some children staying in Japan in order to escape domestic violence may be forced to return to abusive parents overseas. The government believes there is a need for legal restrictions on the handover of such children.