Foreign Adoptions Are Back – Along with the Doubts http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51378
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY, May 10, 2010 (IPS) - The reopening of international adoptions in Guatemala in June might not only mean the chance of a better life for many children, but may also spell a return to corruption, fraud and the theft of babies, human rights groups warn.
A number of organisations expressed concern after the National Adoption Council, the central adoption authority established in 2008, announced in March that a pilot programme for the resumption of adoptions abroad would go into effect in June, under stricter oversight. According to the Council, the situation was studied by experts from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Hague Conference on Private International Law, which approved the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption in 1993.
Nevertheless, human rights groups are worried. "We are against the reopening of international adoptions now because the same structure of organised crime that generated a major international market to which the country exported between 5,000 and 6,000 children a year is still in place," the head of the Survivors Foundation, Norma Cruz, told IPS.
In 2008, the National Adoption Council suspended foreign adoptions, which were mainly to couples in the United States, to shut down a thriving business that profited lawyers, judges and doctors. ]…] It also put a priority on placing children with Guatemalan families and established that "the poverty or extreme poverty of parents is not sufficient reason to put a child up for adoption." According to United Nations figures, half of the population of this Central American country of 13 million people is living in poverty, and 17 percent in extreme poverty. Activists say that behind the booming adoption market in Guatemala was a "mafia" of lawyers, notaries public, "jaladoras" or baby brokers who entice poor young women into placing their children in adoption, so-called "casas de engorde" or "fattening houses" where the expectant mothers’ pregnancy and birth-related expenses were covered, officials in civil registers, pediatricians, adoption homes and foster families.
In order to generate confidence in the new adoption process, "the state should give signs that it is prepared to dismantle the child trafficking networks…which remain intact," Cruz said.
Since November, couples from Austria, Denmark, France, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States have expressed an interest in adopting Guatemalan children.
The executive director of the Social Movement for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, Felipe García, told IPS the country should not "race" to reopen foreign adoptions, but should first offer a decent life to the children here in Guatemala. ]…]
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY, May 10, 2010 (IPS) - The reopening of international adoptions in Guatemala in June might not only mean the chance of a better life for many children, but may also spell a return to corruption, fraud and the theft of babies, human rights groups warn.
A number of organisations expressed concern after the National Adoption Council, the central adoption authority established in 2008, announced in March that a pilot programme for the resumption of adoptions abroad would go into effect in June, under stricter oversight. According to the Council, the situation was studied by experts from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Hague Conference on Private International Law, which approved the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption in 1993.
Nevertheless, human rights groups are worried. "We are against the reopening of international adoptions now because the same structure of organised crime that generated a major international market to which the country exported between 5,000 and 6,000 children a year is still in place," the head of the Survivors Foundation, Norma Cruz, told IPS.
In 2008, the National Adoption Council suspended foreign adoptions, which were mainly to couples in the United States, to shut down a thriving business that profited lawyers, judges and doctors. ]…] It also put a priority on placing children with Guatemalan families and established that "the poverty or extreme poverty of parents is not sufficient reason to put a child up for adoption." According to United Nations figures, half of the population of this Central American country of 13 million people is living in poverty, and 17 percent in extreme poverty. Activists say that behind the booming adoption market in Guatemala was a "mafia" of lawyers, notaries public, "jaladoras" or baby brokers who entice poor young women into placing their children in adoption, so-called "casas de engorde" or "fattening houses" where the expectant mothers’ pregnancy and birth-related expenses were covered, officials in civil registers, pediatricians, adoption homes and foster families.
In order to generate confidence in the new adoption process, "the state should give signs that it is prepared to dismantle the child trafficking networks…which remain intact," Cruz said.
Since November, couples from Austria, Denmark, France, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States have expressed an interest in adopting Guatemalan children.
The executive director of the Social Movement for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, Felipe García, told IPS the country should not "race" to reopen foreign adoptions, but should first offer a decent life to the children here in Guatemala. ]…]
Les adoptions à nouveau permises – et les doutes qui les accompagnent http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51378
Guatemala city – 10 mai 2010 (IPS) Des groupes de protection des Droits des Hommes mettent en garde après la réouverture des dossiers d’adoptions en juin au Guatemala, ceci ne signifie pas uniquement la possibilité d’une vie meilleure pour des milliers d’enfants, mais peut aussi correspondre à un retour à la corruption, à la fraude et au vol des bébés.
Un certain nombre d’organisations ont exprimées leur inquiétude auprès du National Adoption Council (Conseil National d’Adoption), organisation centralisée des adoptions instituée en 2008 qui annonçait en mars la mise en place d’un programme pilote pour la reprise des adoptions à l’étranger, sous surveillance plus stricte, qui prendrait effet à partir du mois de juin. Selon le conseil, la situation a été, étudiée par les experts de l’UNICEF et du Congrès de la Haye sur la Loi Internationale des Droits Privés, approuvée par la Convention de La Haye sur la Protection des Enfants et par la Coopération du Respect de l’Adoption entre Pays de 1993.
Cependant les organisations de protection des Droits des Hommes s’inquiètent. « A ce jour, nous sommes contre la réouverture des Adoptions Internationales car la même structure de crime organisé qui a généré un formidable marché international au sein duquel le pays a exporté entre 5000 et 6000 enfants par an est restée intacte. », la présidente de la Survivors Foundation, Norma Cruz dit à IPS.
En 2008, le Conseil National d’Adoptions a suspendu les adoptions étrangères en direction des Etats-Unis afin d’éviter un commerce florissant qui profitait aux avocats, juges et aux docteurs.]…] On donnait ainsi la priorité de placement des enfants dans des familles guatémaltèques et on instituait que ‘ la pauvreté ou l’extrême pauvreté des parents n’était pas une raison suffisante pour donner son enfant à l’adoption.’ Selon les Nations Unies, la moitié des habitants de ce pays d’Amérique Centrale vit dans la pauvreté et 17% dans l’extrême pauvreté. La activistes disent que derrière ce marché prospère de l’adoption au Guatemala se trouvait une maffia d’avocats et de notaires, ‘jaladoras’ ou ‘agents de bébés’ qui appâtaient des jeunes femmes pauvres pour donner leurs enfants à l’adoption vers des ‘casas de engorde’ ou ‘ maisons pour femmes enceintes’ où les dépenses étaient couvertes, où on trouvait les fonctionnaires des registres civiles, les pédiatres et les nouveaux foyers et familles d’adoptions.
Pour redonner confiance dans ces adoptions, ‘’l’état devrait signifier qu’il est prêt à démanteler les réseaux de traffic d’enfants …qui pour l’instant sont toujours en place.’ Dit Cruz.
Depuis le mois de novembre, des couples autrichiens, danois, français, italiens, norvégiens, espagnols, suédois, suisses et américains ont montré un intérêt pour adopter les enfants guatémaltèques.
Le directeur du Mouvement Social pour les Droits des Enfants et des Adolescents, Felipe Garcia, a dit à IPS que le pays ne devrait pas se précipiter pour rouvrir ces dossiers d’adoption à l’étranger mais plutôt d’abord penser à offrir une vie décente à ces familles, ici au Guatemala.]…]
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire