[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 18 (Wednesday, February 27, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H565-H566]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           GERMAN EMBASSY LETTER REGARDING ABDUCTED CHILDREN

  (Mr. LAMPSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, today I will stray from the story of Ludwig 
Koons to respond to a letter from the German embassy that was published 
in the Washington Post.
  I am delighted to hear the German government agrees that abducted 
children deserve swift and fair decisions

[[Page H566]]

 and it is committed to ensure that this happens. For most parents who 
have been separated from their children for years, this will certainly 
be an enormous relief.
  I completely agree that abducted children deserve more than rhetoric, 
which is what most left-behind parents have had to contend with. 
Hopefully, the German authorities will keep their word and take some 
positive action to ensure that left-behind parents gain access to their 
children.
  Nobody implies that courts in the United States are perfect, but this 
does not absolve the German authorities of their responsibilities to 
allow non-German parents to see their children. As the German embassy 
rightly pointed out, Germany is not the only country that has a poor 
record in returning abducted or illegally retained children to their 
country of origin.
  Most left-behind parents are left without any enforceable access 
rights. This cannot be allowed to continue. We must bring Ludwig Koons 
and all of our children home.

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