[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 59 (Thursday, April 12, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E439-E440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND: AN UPDATE ON THE GOLDMAN ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 12, 2018

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, yesterday we held a hearing on 
parental child abduction. International parental child abduction rips 
children from their homes and whisks them away to a foreign land, 
alienating them from the love and care of the parent and family left 
behind.
   Child abduction is child abuse, and it continues to plague families 
across the United States.
  According to State Department statistics, almost 800 children are 
today held hostage in a foreign country, separated from their American 
parent. Several hundred additional children join their ranks every 
year.
   If past is prologue, only 16 percent of these children will be 
returned to the United States.
   In 2014, Congress adopted legislation I wrote, the Sean and David 
Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act (Public 
Law 113-150) to change the status quo. Since 2014, we have seen a 
reduction in new abductions, but not an increase in percentage of 
returns in ongoing cases.
   Despite the new legislation, the State Department has persistently 
refused to use the return tools in the Goldman Act as envisioned by 
Congress. Moving beyond letters and meetings, the Goldman Act is an 
enforcement tool for the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of 
International Child Abduction and leverage for return agreements with 
non-Hague countries.
   The Goldman Act takes the lessons learned from the successful return 
of Sean Goldman from Brazil and lays out actions: a delay or 
cancellation of one or more bilateral working, official, or state 
visits; the withdrawal, limitation, or suspension of U.S. development, 
security, or economic support assistance; and extradition.
   To my knowledge, extradition has been used once and the other 
options not at all. The Obama State Department said in the past that 
sanctions will not work. But in the one case where sanctions were tried 
by Congress, they worked.
   The inaction by the Obama Administration has been noted and 
challenged. On February 14 of 2017, one month into the new Trump 
Administration, Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fumio Kishida, 
noted in a Diet discussion of abduction that, ``until now there is not 
a single example in which the U.S. applied [Goldman Act sanctions] 
towards foreign countries.'' He went on to note that ``according to the 
U.S. [Japan is] not included in the category of the non-compliant 
countries.''
   Three days later, the Osaka High Court overturned a return order for 
the four American children of James Cook in flagrant violation of the 
Hague Convention, Japan's own Hague implementation guide, and U.S. law. 
The court had reopened the case because Mr. Cook had moved into an 
apartment after the enormous legal bills from years in court in Japan. 
When did sharing a bedroom with a sibling become a grave risk to a 
child's physical or psychological well-being?
   I urge and believe the new administration can and must do better.
   At least 300 to 400 children have suffered abduction from the U.S. 
to Japan since 1994, and more than 35 currently await reunification 
with their American parent-most of these are left over from previous 
Administrations. In almost all cases, the child is completely cut off 
from contact with the left behind parent. Most have aged out of the 
system without ever being reunited with their left behind parent.
   Some parents have won in court only to find that Japan's law 
enforcement could not return their children unless the taking parent 
agreed to abide by the decision, and the taking parent did not.
   The systematic non-enforcement of access and return orders is so bad 
in Japan that 26 EU countries recently issued a joint demarche to 
Japan, asking Japan to fix the problem. Although non-enforcement has 
plagued many U.S. cases, the U.S. did not join the demarche.
   However, in the upcoming Goldman Act report, the U.S. has the chance 
to hold Japan

[[Page E440]]

accountable for its failures in the Cook case as well as others, like 
that of the Elias children, taken from my home state of New Jersey 
after their mother obtained duplicate passports from the Japanese 
consulate in contravention of the judge's order. The report can and 
must better reflect the reality of the child abduction and the 
suffering of American children separated from their American parent 
every day in Japan.
   According to the Goldman Act, a country can find itself on the 
``non-compliance list'' and eligible for sanctions if a country 
regularly fails to enforce return orders. The State Department should 
also put the country on the list if the judiciary regularly fails to 
properly apply the Hague Convention--such as in the Cook case.
   Finally, a country should be put on the ``non-compliance list'' if 
30 percent or more cases in the country are unresolved cases--or cases 
that have been pending for more than a year.
   Notably, the definition of an ``unresolved'' case makes no mention 
of a country's Hague status. In other words, all of the cases that 
began before Japan's accession to the Hague Convention and that were 
communicated to the Japanese government should be counted against 
Japan.
   No child should be left behind.
   We received assurances from the State Department years ago, as they 
myopically pursued Japan's accession to the Hague Convention knowing 
that the Convention would not cover the then existing cases of more 
than 50 children, that they would not leave these children behind.
   That they would find ways to solve these cases.
   How many of these children have come home four years later? How many 
even have access to their left behind parent now?
   Almost zero.
   The Goldman Act directed the State Department to develop an 
agreement with Japan for the precious children that were already 
abducted. The Goldman Act made a way for the State Department to hold 
Japan accountable for these cases.
   Four years later, we have no agreement with Japan for these cases. 
We have no action against Japan for these cases or current cases. And 
we have yet to see the State Department even list Japan as ``non-
compliant'' in the annual report.
   Every day these children are separated from their US parent the 
damage compounds.
   As the State Department's own 2010 Report on Compliance with The 
Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 
observes, ``Abducted children are at risk of serious emotional and 
psychological problems. Research shows that recovered children often 
experience a range of problems, including anxiety, eating problems, 
nightmares, mood swings, sleep disturbances, aggressive behavior, 
resentment, guilt, and fearfulness. As adults, individuals who were 
abducted as children may struggle with identity issues, personal 
relationships, and possibly experience problems in parenting their own 
children.''
   We must do better by our children. We must not leave any abducted 
child behind.
  Congress is currently looking at new ways to put pressure on 
countries with low resolution rates, like Japan, Brazil, and India.
   Last year, I introduced H.R. 3512, the Bindu Philips and Devon 
Davenport International Child Abduction Return Act of 2017 to amend the 
Generalized System of Preferences system so that any country named as 
``non-compliant'' would lose their trade benefits. The loss of trade 
preference would be automatic and not dependent on the Administration 
choosing to apply sanctions. Currently, 11 of 13 non-compliant 
countries receive trade benefits from the United States. This has to 
change.
   In addition, I am working on a bill that would limit H1-B and other 
business visas for countries that have low abduction resolution rates-
this would affect Japan, Brazil, and India, among others.
   We have 13 egregious long term cases pending in Brazil, including 
the Dr. Brann and Davenport cases. More than 90 American children are 
separated from their American parent in India--India will not even 
appoint a person to receive the applications and has refused to join 
the Hague Convention.
   We asked in our hearing last year, when is enough, enough?
   We hope that the State Department will do its job and implement the 
Goldman Act. We hope that the Trump Administration will be different 
than the last.
   But we are prepared to go around the State Department in order to 
ensure no abducted child is left behind.

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