00:00 Japan only recognises sole custody when there is a marriage break up, unlike Australia which
00:08 has joint custody.
00:10 So that in itself is something that has caused a lot of heartache here in this country when
00:15 children are separated from one parent and they may not see them ever again.
00:20 Advocates for the laws say it's all about keeping stability in a child's life, but the
00:24 way the laws have been set up is that the parent who last physically had care of the
00:30 child will be awarded custody.
00:32 That's usually how it goes here.
00:33 And as I said, advocates for the current laws say it's about ensuring stability, but critics
00:38 say it incentivises abduction.
00:41 And this is what happened with Katherine Henderson, that her partner, her Japanese partner, took
00:45 the two children away from the house without her knowledge and he was therefore awarded
00:51 custody because by the time you get the courts involved, the courts will look at the situation
00:56 and say, well the parents were with the dad, so that's how it's going to stay.
01:00 So Katherine Henderson was one of 17 plaintiffs, the other being Japanese parents, grandparents
01:04 and even three children suing the Japanese government trying to get these laws changed.
01:10 They're saying that the current system breaches three areas of the constitution, that includes
01:14 the pursuit of happiness in Article 13, equality under the law in Article 14 and notably as
01:21 well Article 24, which is the equality of husband and wife.
01:27 Now as you mentioned earlier, this was unsuccessful.
01:30 The High Court judge struck it down, essentially saying that when it comes to visitation or
01:36 trying to get rights to your child, there are means that these parents should be exploring
01:41 and not taking it through the High Court.
01:43 If they won, they would have been awarded damages, but the intention here wasn't really
01:47 to get damages from the government per se.
01:50 It was more to apply pressure on the Japanese government to change these laws so that there
01:55 is joint custody when it's safe to do so.
01:58 Let's have a listen to Katherine Henderson at a press conference after today's ruling.
02:02 The Japanese government has failed to implement an appropriate and fair system for visitation
02:08 or parenting time and we the plaintiffs, fathers, mothers, grandparents and children have suffered.
02:15 So James, what are people like Katherine Henderson going to do next?
02:19 Should we expect an appeal?
02:21 Yeah, well as soon as this case ended today in the High Court, they announced they would
02:27 appeal.
02:28 Now the High Court in Japan sits below the Supreme Court, so unlike Australia, which
02:32 is the other way around, there is one more court they can go to.
02:35 So they are appealing, they announced that straight away, so they'll get those papers
02:38 lodged as soon as they can.
02:40 It is also worth noting that there is a review underway in Japan, which is one of the reasons
02:45 why this issue has popped up a fair bit this year.
02:48 The Japanese government is reviewing its sole custody laws and seeing whether or not there
02:52 is scope to have joint custody.
02:55 We expect that review to complete by the end of this year.
02:58 There might be some legislative reform next year, but obviously we don't know what that's
03:02 going to be.
03:03 Those people who have lost access to their kids and not seen them for years, who are
03:08 obviously quite heartbroken, a lot of them are quite pessimistic about this process,
03:13 really concerned that nothing substantive will be done.
03:15 We do know the Australian government has made a submission to the Japanese government, because
03:21 this concerns some 15 Australian parents and 22 children who are stuck here in Japan who
03:26 haven't seen their Australian parent.
03:29 Australia is essentially asking for Japan to follow Australia's lead in the United Nations
03:33 Convention of the Rights of the Child, which essentially argues that children should have
03:38 access to both parents.
03:39 It's in their interests when it's safe to do so.
03:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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