Custody battle for children is the ugliest part of a divorce. Both parents will like to have sole custody of children. They will go to any extreme to achieve this goal. Many people are on the verge of getting divorced in Canada. Some of them will be international marriages. There are a number of problems connected with international divorce.

I have read an article online regarding the arrest of an American man by the Japanese police. Christopher Savoie was remanded by the Japanese police for snatching away his children from his ex-wife, Noriko Savoie.

Christopher Savoie got divorced from his Japanese wife under American law. Ms. Savoie was given primary custody of her children. Mr. Savoie was granted limited custody. After eight months, Ms. Savoie took her children to Japan. Mr. Savoie filed another petition and was given full custody. An arrest warrant was also issued for Ms. Savoie.

However, the Japanese law does not recognize the foreign custody orders. Japan has not signed The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. Hague Convention aims at preventing parents from taking children illegally to their countries before or after the divorce. The Convention makes it clear that the wrongfully abducted child should be returned back to home. Japan believes that signing the Convention will reduce its ability to protect Japanese women and children from their abusive husbands.

Mr. Savoie was arrested by the police when he tried to take his children away from Japan. He was remanded on a charge of abduction. Christopher Savoie’s attorney and family are now trying to exert maximum diplomatic pressure on Japan for the release of Savoie.

Japan is now under pressure from other countries for allowing child abduction. Many countries have pending cases against Japanese parents for child abduction. The United States, Canada, Britain, and France issued a joint statement urging Japan to sign The Hague Convention.

Japan has a unique system of family law. Japanese law does not allow shared custody of children. Usually, mothers will get sole custody of children after divorce. Japanese family law has no provision for visitation rights. Mother can decide the visitation rights of father. A divorced father has no role to play in his children’s life. He will only rarely see his children. Sometimes, he can be denied visitation rights by mother. Custody battles are now on the rise in Japan. Divorced Japan fathers along with their foreign counterparts try to find out a solution to this problem.

Many international marriages are on the brink of getting divorced in Canada. I hope they would find out an amicable solution to the problems related with divorce.

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