[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CALLING ON JAPAN TO ADDRESS CHILD ABDUCTION CASES

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                               speech of

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 28, 2010

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, the resolution before us this week addresses a 
painful issue: the problem of international parental child abduction. 
Over the last several years, I've gained a greater understanding of 
this problem through the travails of one of my constituents, Mr. David 
Goldman of Tinton Falls, New Jersey. As the case involving his son, 
Sean, has received international media attention, I will not revisit 
all of the details of that case now. Suffice it to say that even with a 
treaty on his side--the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of 
International Child Abduction--Mr. Goldman needed my help and that of 
our State Department, along with countless other generous Americans, to 
finally secure the return of his son in December 2009. Their 5\1/2\ 
year separation and the legal maneuvering surrounding the case helped 
focus the world's attention on the problem of international parental 
child abduction, but unfortunately, the overall problem remains.
  Over the last decade alone, thousands of American children have been 
kidnapped by a foreign-born parent and taken to other countries, where 
the American-born parents inevitably face a years-long process of 
trying to recover their children. In the case of Japan--which is not a 
signatory to the Hague Convention--it has proven literally impossible 
for American parents to recover their parentally-kidnapped children. 
The resolution before us calls upon the government of Japan to 
facilitate the resolution of all such abduction cases, and to ratify 
the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child 
Abduction. Nearly a year ago, the members of the Tom Lantos Human 
Rights Commission received testimony from parents whose children had 
been parentally kidnapped to Japan. Each story was heartbreaking, and 
the frustration and sense of despair of the affected parents was 
palpable. H. Res. 1326 will send a clear message to the government of 
Japan that the Congress remains seized of this issue, and it will also 
remind the affected parents that we stand with them and that we know we 
have much more work to do on behalf of their abducted children. I'm 
proud to be a co-sponsor of this measure, and I urge my colleagues to 
support it.

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