Child abductions, officially approved

Published in NZZ among others, 5.7.2019

In Japan, it doesn’t need a divorce nor a violation of a law to abduct your child. It is a de facto legal procedure to take your child away from its other parent and prevent contact. When I was contacted by desperate fathers who could no longer see their children, I wanted to understand this phenomenon and know how often it happens that children completely lose contact with one of their closest persons only because mum and dad had issues. It is a toxic combination of legal loopholes, gender roles and creative lawyers that provokes thousands of cases every year where in the end, except for the lawyers, everybody loses.

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© Chris McGrath/Getty

© Chris McGrath/Getty

In Japan, it doesn’t need a divorce nor a violation of a law to abduct your child. It is a de facto legal procedure to take your child away from its other parent and prevent contact. When I was contacted by desperate fathers who could no longer see their children, I wanted to understand this phenomenon and know how often it happens that children completely lose contact with one of their closest persons only because mum and dad had issues. It is a toxic combination of legal loopholes, gender roles and creative lawyers that provokes thousands of cases every year where in the end, except for the lawyers, everybody loses.

Read it as published in: