Dateline: Oct 11
Tonight Dateline looks into why the abduction of a child by a parent may not be considered a criminal offence in Japan.
- Published by David Knox
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Tonight on Dateline, Karla Grant meets an Australian mother hasn’t spoken with her two teenage children since they were abducted by their father over three years ago; something that’s legal under Japan’s custody system.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has provided consular assistance to 82 children involved in parental abduction and child custody cases in Japan since 2004.
The Australian Embassy in Tokyo’s website warns: “the abduction of a child by a parent may not be considered a criminal offence in Japan.”
The East Asian nation is one of the few countries in the world with a sole custody system.
In Japan, married parents share the parental rights of a child. But after divorce, only one parent, either the father or mother, can have parental rights.
When divorces in Japan are by mutual agreement, the separating couple agree on who takes the sole custody.
9:30pm tonight on SBS.
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