re: "Two American Tourists Kidnapped In Egypt"

Ace at Aces of Spades HQ noted the misadventure that can befall tourists in dangerous places.

Money quote(s):

"I hate to cast any aspersions on any victims of barbarity, but please, Americans, do not travel to politically unstable parts of the world." (Emphasis in original text. - CAA.)

Any American who's not a regular, experienced international traveler (and those who are, as well) would do well always and often by visiting, and reading, about their destinations before booking their reservations.

You see, the State Department and its minions abroad take great pains to prepare these exhaustive compilations of Country Specific Information for every country in the world. (And then they make sure to update them at least once a year!)

So do yourself a favor. An informed traveler is less likely to be one of our emergency customers abroad.

"2010 was a record year for tourism in Egypt. This year it's down half. And this incident won't help."

2/3

S&S - Congressmen look to pressure DOD to act on Japan child abductions

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Congressmen look to pressure DOD to act on Japan child abductions


By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes

Pacific edition, Friday, May 7, 2010


YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — A congressional resolution introduced Tuesday is calling on the secretary of defense to alter the status of forces agreement with Japan to assist servicemembers whose children have been kidnapped and taken to Japan.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The proposed resolution also calls for the United States to enact agreements with Japan to resolve the mounting cases of parental child abduction involving U.S. citizens, who now have few legal options in Japanese courts."

"Kidnapping your own child is not a crime in Japan, and the country’s family law is based on the tradition of sole-custody divorce, leaving noncustodial parents without legal recourse to pursue visitation rights."

&

"The United States and seven other countries are pressuring Japan to sign a treaty that would help resolve the cases by obligating Japan to comply with provisions that protect the rights of both parents.

But even if the country adopts the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction it would not apply to the current cases, a caveat American lawmakers and diplomats aim to shore up with side agreements such as the one proposed Tuesday.

More than 100 American-Japanese children are considered abducted, 2009 State Department records show.

The U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement defines how the U.S. military operates within Japan, including legal consequences for troops who break Japanese laws while stationed here."

S&S - Kidnapped Army linguist returns home to San Diego

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Apr 4, 2:57 AM EDT

Kidnapped Army linguist returns home to San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A U.S. Army linguist returned to his family in Southern California Saturday after more than two months in captivity in Baghdad, according to a National Guard spokeswoman.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Issa Salomi arrived home in San Diego and was "resting and beginning his adjustment back to normal life," Maj. Kimberly Holman said in an emailed statement."

Y! - Abducted Calif. boy may have been found in Mexico

Yahoo!



Abducted Calif. boy may have been found in Mexico

By DAISY NGUYEN, Associated Press Writer

Daisy Nguyen, Associated Press Writer – Sat May 16, 7:48 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – Officials in Mexico have found a child they believe is a 3-year-old boy abducted from his California home, but that country's identification process is slowing the family's ability to confirm the child's identity, authorities said Saturday.

Read the whole article here.

____
Associated Press Writers Mariana Martinez and Alexandra Olson contributed to this report from Mexico City.

TG&M - Passport saved Canadian hostage

From my archive of press clippings:

The Globe and Mail


Passport saved Canadian hostage

MARK MacKINNON

JERUSALEM — From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Last updated on Sunday, Apr. 05, 2009 02:29AM EDT

Mark Budzanowski could almost feel his captors' mood sag when they rifled through his pockets and found his passport. The word Canada on the cover was a blow to the dozens of masked men who surrounded him in the nondescript basement somewhere in the Gaza Strip. They thought they had kidnapped an American.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"When they were finally convinced that Mr. Budzanowski was not an American in disguise, he said, they started treating him more politely, and handling him less roughly.
"When they were certain I was Canadian, they were very disappointed. Then, they told me, 'We love Canada.' That's wonderful to hear when you have guns pointed at you," an exhausted Mr. Budzanowski said yesterday in a telephone interview shortly after he was released after almost 30 hours as a hostage.
"It's wonderful to have a Canadian passport because it changes people's minds. One of the guards kept asking me to say hello to Canada, so it does stand for something." "

&

"(W)hile the Canadian embassy had arranged safe passage for him to Tel Aviv, and then home to Canada if he wanted, Mr. Budzanowski decided to stay in Gaza City. After what he hoped would be a long sleep and a warm shower, the aid worker planned to be back at his desk at Jumpstart this morning.

Despite his lack of sleep, Mr. Budzanowski spoke passionately about the need to help Palestinians rebuild their economy and society. He said Jumpstart's projects — including the building of a polytechnic school on the ruins of a deserted Israeli settlement in Gaza and a "peace park" near the Rafah border crossing with Egypt — are too important for him to go home now. "

SP-I - Seattle father fights for 5-year-old son abducted by mother to Japan

From my archive of press clippings:

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Seattle father fights for 5-year-old son abducted by mother to Japan

Last updated March 22, 2009 10:13 p.m. PT


By LEVI PULKKINEN
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

July 5 marked the end of a few great weeks for Carl Hillman.
After a grinding 18 months, Hillman was divorced and on vacation with son Sean. For two weeks, he relaxed with the 5-year-old, who was excited to start at the John Stanford International School's Japanese-English immersion program. The biracial boy had friends on both side of the language divide.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Hillman dropped Sean off that evening at the home of his ex-wife, Mayumi Ogawa, expecting to see him in a few weeks after a trip to his mother's native Japan.

Thirty-six weeks have passed since Hillman last saw his son"

"Ogawa fled the country weeks after a King County Superior Court judge approved an agreed parenting plan stating that Sean would split his time between his parents. Hillman has since been awarded sole control of the child, and King County prosecutors have charged Ogawa with first-degree custodial interference -- essentially accusing her of kidnapping her own child."

"Unlike the United States and 80 other countries, the Japanese government has not ratified the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. The 29-year-old United Nations accord requires that member countries honor custody agreements made outside their borders unless doing so threatens the child involved."

&

"Japanese consular officials did not return requests for comment on Friday because of their homeland's vernal equinox holiday."

_____

Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com.

CT - State Department wary about safety in Columbia

From my archive of press clippings:

Chicago Tribune

State Department wary about safety in Columbia

January 25, 2009


BY ALEXIA ELEJALDE-RUIZ

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

The U.S. government continues to issue travel warnings for Colombia, citing violence from narco-terrorist groups, including the threat of kidnapping. In its most recent warning in August, the State Department said that violence remains high in some small towns and rural areas and the port city of Buenaventura.
But since 2005, the U.S. advisories have noted a marked decrease in violence in many urban areas, including Cartagena, Bogotá, Medellín and Barranquilla.


Read the whole article here.


Snippet(s):

"Two leftist revolutionary groups were responsible for most of the kidnappings. Those groups claim to represent the rural poor against Colombia's wealthy classes and fund their activities with ransoms and the drug trade."

&

"Although the vast majority of kidnapping victims have been Colombian, 324 foreigners were kidnapped from 1996 through 2007, 32 of them North Americans, according to the Free Country Foundation. In July, the Colombian government rescued 15 hostages, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans, who had been held for more than five years."

WP - Tijuana Strip Turns Ghostly In Wake of Drug Violence. As Tourists Increasingly Shun Mexico's Border Cities, Many Businesses Can't Survive.

From my archive of press clippings:

Washington Post

Tijuana Strip Turns Ghostly In Wake of Drug Violence. As Tourists Increasingly Shun Mexico's Border Cities, Many Businesses Can't Survive.

By Manuel Roig-Franzia

Washington Post Foreign Service

Monday, June 16, 2008; Page A15

TIJUANA, Mexico -- A shop on Avenida Revolucion was once considered a surefire gold mine.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Daylight gun battles, beheadings and kidnappings have scared away tourists, forced layoffs and turned some areas of once-vibrant Mexican border cities into virtual ghost towns.

The drug wars, which have killed more than 6,000 people in the past 2 1/2 years, have accelerated a decline that merchants also blame on the U.S. economic slowdown and delays at the border because of increased enforcement.

In Tijuana, where at least 200 people have been killed in drug violence this year, merchants say tourism is down as much as 90 percent compared with 2005, when an estimated 4 million people visited."

"The downturn has had less obvious consequences, even endangering public health.

In Tijuana's now mostly empty strip clubs, prostitutes have grown so desperate that they are increasingly willing to engage in risky behavior such as having unprotected sex."

&

"Mexican tourism officials are alarmed and have accused Mexican and U.S. media of exaggerating the violence."

Fox - Maryland Father Still Hopeful He'll See His Kidnapped Sons Again

From my archive of press clippings:

FoxNews.Com

Maryland Father Still Hopeful He'll See His Kidnapped Sons Again

Monday, June 16, 2008

By Catherine Donaldson-Evans

This weekend marks the seventh Father's Day since the last time Michael Shannon saw his sons Adam and Jason, let alone celebrated with them.

The boys, now 11 and 7, were kidnapped in August 2001 by their mother and Egyptian grandmother, who fled to Cairo after what was supposed to be a brief unsupervised visit.

They've remained there ever since, despite substantial U.S. criminal and civil court victories for Shannon, who has full custody of both children.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Shannon's lawyer, Stephen Cullen, is trying to arrange a meeting for father and sons in Cyprus, which is both Muslim and Christian and has signed the Hague Convention treaty designed to prevent the wrongful abduction of children."

"Part of the problem is that no Muslim country, including Egypt, recognizes the Hague treaty.

And Egypt has not honored any of the court decisions handed down in the Shannon case in the United States.

In April, the Maryland Court of Appeals upheld a decision by a trial judge and jury to make interference with custody and visitation, including child abduction, a civil offense in addition to a criminal offense.

Previously, it only fell into the criminal category."

&

"Shannon was awarded $3 million in damages to be paid by his ex-wife, Nermeen Khalifa, 39, and the children's maternal grandmother, Afaf Khalifa, 65."

TOI - Satara to Spain: Grandma wants adoption probed

Times of India

Satara to Spain: Grandma wants adoption probed

4 Feb 2009, 0443 hrs IST, Swati Deshpande , TNN

MUMBAI: Kisabai Lokhande, an illiterate vegetable vendor from Karad, has been fighting a lonely battle to get back her two granddaughters who went "missing'' from a children's remand home in Satara in 2004.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"In 2005, the girls were learnt to have been adopted by a Spanish couple.

Lokhande (66), after having protested outside the Satara collector's office in 2007, has now filed a police complaint seeking a probe against the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), the Central Adoption Resource Centre (CARA), a Spanish NGO and a Pune-based private adoption agency for executing the allegedly illegal cross-border adoption without her consent."

She also sent the complaint to the Chief Justice of the Bombay high court with a plea to turn it into a suo motto habeas corpus petition to get her granddaughters back.

The crucial issue she is raising now with the help of advocate Pradeep Havnur is that various agencies connived to get the girls declared "destitute'' in December 2004 to facilitate their international adoption."

&

"Lokhande has now alleged that her granddaughters were "kidnapped'' and that despite being the children's guardian, she was not informed.

She is alleging a larger conspiracy involving various agencies to have children declared abandoned and then be given away illegally, perhaps even "sold'', in the international adoption market."