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Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The underlying push and pull factors that affect illegal adoptions and the sale of children are multidimensional and linked to the political, legal, socioeconomic, cultural and environmental context, at both the national and transnational levels. Situations of poverty and economic hardship, the lack of birth registration and discrimination, including gender-based discrimination and violence, are prominent root causes of and risk factors for illegal adoption, abandonments and relinquishments. An overarching enabling factor for illegal adoptions is weak or inexistent child protection systems at the national and local levels.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption develops the principles set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the principle of subsidiarity. According to article 4 (b) of the 1993 Hague Convention, an adoption shall take place only if the competent authorities of the State of origin have determined, after possibilities for placement of the child within the State of origin have been given due consideration, that an intercountry adoption is in the child's best interests. Even though article 24 (b) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child explicitly requires intercountry adoption to be a measure of last resort, it has been interpreted as meaning that intercountry adoption is generally subsidiary to other alternative means of care. Therefore, all appropriate national alternative care solutions must be given due consideration before resorting to intercountry adoption.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- The above-mentioned motivations for carrying out illegal adoptions often overlapped, as was notably the case in Spain throughout the Franco regime and during the first decades of democracy. Indeed, the practice of illegally adopting children for ideological and religious reasons soon morphed into a profit-driven criminal activity. Thousands of newborn babies were reportedly abducted from their parents by criminal networks involved in large-scale illegal adoptions. Medical personnel and clergy members actively participated in the abduction of children. Newborn babies were abducted from hospitals and subsequently told that their parents had died. The children were then given to other parents following the falsification of documents and, in certain cases, payments.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Infants
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- Guatemala presents one of the few examples of investigation and prosecution efforts having been made with the aim of dismantling criminal structures. In 2011, with the support of the United Nations-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, the Public Prosecutor's Office proved the existence of a criminal structure involved in trafficking in children for the purpose of illegal intercountry adoptions operated by owners of residential facilities with the complicity of lawyers, registrars and judges. Despite the convictions, the case illustrated the difficulties in balancing the conflicting needs and desires of those involved in adoptions (adoptees, adoptive parents and biological parents) and the interests of justice.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Various countries emerging from conflict or an authoritarian regime have been confronted with allegations of systematic illegal adoptions as part of past large-scale abuses. Few countries have responded to victims' calls for truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, however, and none have done so in a comprehensive manner. Argentina has pioneered such responses, in particular in relation to enforced disappearances, through truth-seeking and accountability. Genetic tracing and the establishment of a national genetic database have played a key role in identifying disappeared children who were subjected to illegal adoption and in efforts to seek judicial accountability. Moreover, the "disappeared" children, now adults, are stepping forward to uncover their biological origins and some are playing a role in the prosecution of their adoptive parents.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- International commercial surrogacy is a growing phenomenon quickly overtaking the number of intercountry adoptions. The international regulatory vacuum that persists in relation to international commercial surrogacy arrangements leaves children born through this method vulnerable to breaches of their rights, and the practice often amounts to the sale of children and may lead to illegal adoption. Indeed, several countries do not recognize such arrangements and, in order to establish a parent-child relationship, national laws often require parents to legally adopt the child born through international commercial surrogacy. However, if the international commercial surrogacy arrangement is found to amount to the sale of a child, the adoption too will consequently be illegal under international standards. Such a situation underscores the need for States to ensure that they are not inadvertently legitimizing the sale of children born through international commercial surrogacy by granting adoption orders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 99
- Paragraph text
- [At the international level] The Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women should request States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography to provide information about concerns related to illegal adoptions and international commercial surrogacy arrangements, notably in preparation for the Committee's consideration of periodic reports.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The fact that intercountry adoptions are mediated by private agencies means that they too can enable illegal practices. This is particularly true in respect of private agencies that are not authorized to work as adoption accredited bodies. Such agencies usually finance their operations by charging fees to prospective adoptive parents. As those fees will not be forthcoming unless the agency secures children for adoption, some agencies employ methods or accept conditions that encourage the commission of illegal acts and illicit practices. In some instances, the demand for adoptable children creates an unhealthy competition among agencies. Adoption agencies often claim that they lack knowledge of illicit practices or that they lack control over intermediaries in countries of origin. However, the financial gain behind the illicit practices, which is often linked to money-laundering, often puts such claims into question.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Illegal adoptions are rarely investigated and perpetrators are rarely prosecuted, in part because there is a lack of comprehensive legislation criminalizing such illicit practices as illegal adoptions. Many of the illegal acts involved in illegal adoptions are criminalized individually as minor offences (e.g. falsification of documents) and sanctions rarely reflect the gravity of the crime. Moreover, illegal adoptions are usually not investigated ex officio but require ex parte complaints. Criminal investigation and prosecution strategies targeted at criminal structures involved in the sale of and trafficking in children and illegal adoptions are also absent. Consequently, few individuals and criminal networks are ever prosecuted for illicit activities in connection with adoptions, which results in impunity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- The various parties involved in illegal adoptions are reluctant to report or denounce suspected illegalities because of the possible implications. The birth parents are the notable exception, at least those whose children have been abducted or placed for adoption without their informed consent; unfortunately, they are the least likely to file a complaint, as many of them fear the consequences or lack the appropriate knowledge and access to remedies. Most adoptive parents do not know with certainty whether the adoption process involved illicit or criminal practices, although they may come to suspect as much during or after the adoption process. The responses of prospective or adoptive parents to such suspicions will depend on a number of factors, including the extent to which they feel they were directly implicated and their assessment of the likely consequences of notifying the competent authorities. Complaints filed and collaboration extended by adoptive parents increase the chances of success of criminal investigations and prosecutions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- It is the joint responsibility of countries of origin and receiving countries to regulate the number of adoption accredited bodies wanting to engage in intercountry adoptions, as a means of limiting the number of adoptions to the number of legally adoptable children. When the Government of a country of origin authorizes too many agencies to operate within its borders, such agencies must compete to identify and secure "adoptable" children, which in turn makes it difficult to monitor their activities effectively. When adoption bodies in one country partner with agencies in other countries, the resulting web of agency activities is all the more difficult to monitor effectively.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- The subsidiarity principle must be applied in accordance with the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, which involves supporting efforts to keep children in, or return them to, the care of their family or, failing that, to find another appropriate and permanent solution, including adoption. While looking for permanent solutions, or in cases where they are not possible or are not in the best interests of the child, the most suitable forms of alternative care have to be found. States also have the duty, as set out in article 18 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to assist parents and legal guardians in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities, and to ensure the development of institutions, facilities and services for the care of children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The linking of development aid to intercountry adoptions is another type of transaction that jeopardizes the transparency of the process and can lead to violations of the rights of the child. Faced with the possibility of obtaining a large sum of money for processing an adoption, many countries of origin make sure that children are available for adoption regardless of the actual need. In Viet Nam, for example, agencies are required to provide humanitarian aid before they can process an adoption. The provision of development aid has the perverse effect of encouraging countries of origin to "procure" children for adoption; in most cases, the aid will not contribute to the delivery of alternative care for children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- A key development is the increasing adoption of "children with special needs". The terminology used in such cases covers a broad series of realities based on criteria such as the child's age, number of siblings, illnesses, disability status or traumas. Illicit practices in this context mostly concern cases of intercountry adoptions in which States prioritize the adoption of children because they do not have appropriate childcare policies. Moreover, there have been cases of false documentation being used to classify children as having "special needs" to render them adoptable abroad when such adoptions are prioritized or facilitated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The abduction of babies (e.g. through kidnappings or by falsely informing parents that their baby was stillborn or died shortly after birth), the improper inducement of consent (e.g. through misrepresentation, bribery or coercion) and improper financial gain (e.g. through payment for the child or the payment of bribes to intermediaries involved in the adoption process) are among the most common methods used in the sale of children and illegal adoptions. Inherent to the methods is the falsification of documents (e.g. birth and medical certificates, the identification documents of the biological mother, DNA test results and relinquishment or abandonment declarations) and the bypassing of regulations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Infants
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- In Romania, for example, the fall of the Ceausescu regime was followed by a surge in the number of intercountry adoptions. Widespread illegal adoptions were reported, in particular through the use of private procedures that targeted children who had not been placed in institutions. Of note was the rapid development of private adoption agencies, which were allocated a number of adoptable children depending on the size of their financial contributions to local child protection authorities. That system amounted to sale and was further compounded by the direct purchasing of children by intermediaries and the improper inducement of consent. As a response, national authorities implemented legislation to limit the number of adoptions on three separate occasions, namely in 1991, 2001 and 2005. That legislation amounted to a moratorium on adoptions. Throughout that period, external pressures from receiving countries strongly influenced intercountry adoptions in Romania.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- An expert group on the financial aspects of intercountry adoption and a working group on preventing and addressing illicit practices in intercountry adoption set up by the Hague Conference on Private International Law have developed concrete solutions. The former has produced a note on the financial aspects of intercountry adoption and a table on costs associated with such adoptions and has invited States parties to the 1993 Hague Convention to publicly provide those financial details. In addition, the Hague Conference, often with the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), has provided technical assistance to countries of origin to set up or strengthen national child protection systems, including by establishing the conditions for the implementation and operation of the Convention.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 97b
- Paragraph text
- [At the international level] [The Special Rapporteur invites the international community and international bodies to:] In responding to illegal intercountry adoptions, enhance cooperation among receiving countries, among countries of origin and between receiving countries and countries of origin, within the framework of the 1993 Hague Convention, the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- The present study addresses an aspect of the mandate that was highlighted in the 1990 founding resolution, namely the problem of the adoption of children for commercial purposes. It should be noted that children can also be sold for the purpose of illegal adoption. In the present study, the Special Rapporteur aims to highlight the wide variety of illegal acts and illicit practices that have been and continue to be committed in the context of domestic and intercountry adoption processes with the ultimate goal of suggesting concrete solutions to prevent and combat the phenomenon.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The above-mentioned methods, illegal acts and illicit practices are generally linked to deficiencies in the child protection system (such as inadequate procedures for providing counselling to biological parents and flawed relinquishment procedures), which are exploited by criminal networks driven by the lucrative business of selling children and facilitating illegal adoptions, often with the involvement of State officials. When illegal acts and illicit practices are of a systemic nature, States bear responsibility for them by either omission or complicity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The prohibition of improper financial or other gain applies to any activity related to an intercountry adoption. According to article 32 of the 1993 Hague Convention, only costs and expenses, including reasonable professional fees of persons involved in the adoption, may be charged or paid. In addition, the directors, administrators and employees of bodies involved in an adoption shall not receive remuneration which is unreasonably high in relation to services rendered. In line with articles 8 and 11, central authorities must take all appropriate measures to prevent improper financial or other gain in connection with an adoption and accredited bodies must pursue only non-profit objectives, have qualified staff with ethical standards and be supervised. The prohibition of improper financial or other gain is also contained in the European Convention on the Adoption of Children (art. 17) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (art. 24). That prohibition must lead to the criminalization of corruption at any stage of the adoption process, as corruption can lead to the sale of children and illegal adoptions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Article 3 (1) (a) (ii) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography establishes that, in the context of the sale of children, improperly inducing consent, as an intermediary, for the adoption of a child in violation of applicable international legal instruments on adoption must be criminalized both domestically and transnationally. Article 3 of the Optional Protocol is understood as containing specific examples of illegal acts that lead to the sale of children in the form of illegal adoption. While the sale of children always includes some form of commercial transaction, illegal adoptions can be performed in violation of existing national laws without necessarily amounting to the sale of a child. The Hague Conference on Private International Law defines illegal adoption as an adoption resulting from abuses, such as abduction, the sale of, traffic in and other illegal or illicit activities against children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Gender discrimination and violence based on moral and religious constructs regarding the social or marital status of the mother have been a key driver of illegal adoptions in several countries. In Ireland, the so-called mother and baby homes, which were managed by Catholic organizations, and other maternity institutions, were established in the 1920s to deal with unmarried pregnant women and girls and operated until the 1990s. Conditions in those institutions were deplorable and cases of violence against the women were common (e.g. abuse of expectant mothers, forced labour, neglect and detention). Before the 1952 Adoption Act, most children born out of wedlock were placed in foster care, "boarded out" or informally adopted. After passage of the Act, children were put up for formal adoption. Consent was improperly induced or forcibly obtained and documents, including illegal birth registrations, were falsified on a large scale. Furthermore, there were cases of intercountry adoptions, in particular to the United States of America, which often resulted from the same illegal practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- The placement of children in alternative care settings, in particular in residential facilities, is often a first step leading to a determination of their adoptability. The false assumption that all children in such institutions are adoptable has widely contributed to illegal adoptions, as children can be taken without the appropriate consent even though they still have a parent, family member or other kin willing and able to care for them. In Nepal, for example, intercountry adoptions have been interrupted by receiving countries owing to the insufficiency of the procedures in place to determine the adoptability of a child.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Illegal domestic adoptions continue to occur in countries with weak child protection systems, in much the same way as they used to, in other words with the involvement of criminal networks and the participation of State officials and targeting vulnerable populations such as families in economic hardship. In China, there have been several cases of criminal networks abducting, trafficking and selling babies for the purpose of illegal adoption. Moreover, there have been reports of family planning officials being involved in improperly inducing consent from parents in order to sell the children or transfer them for domestic or international adoption or forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Issuing "fitness-to-adopt certificates" to an unlimited number of prospective adoptive parents is dangerous when the number of adoptable children is relatively small. That discrepancy is not only a cause of frustration among prospective adoptive parents but may also contribute to a level of unsatisfied demand that can lead some prospective adoptive parents to consider options involving illicit practices. It can also fuel calls for greater efforts on the part of the authorities of receiving countries to identify more sources of adoptable children, generally in countries of origin that are not compliant with the 1993 Hague Convention.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Some central authorities in countries of origin consider the setting of quotas as a positive measure to filter demand and repel pressure from receiving countries. Others, however, argue that quotas are instituted to address the actual demand and consequently do not resolve the issues raised by excessive demand. International Social Service, a federation of non-governmental organizations, has long argued for "a reversal in the flow of files" to ensure that intercountry adoptions are processed in the best interests of the child. Such a reversal would mean that adoption applications should only be sent to the authorities of a country of origin in response to a request made for prospective adoptive parents appropriate for a specific child in need of adoption.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- In several instances loopholes have been used to conduct private and independent intercountry adoptions, which are prohibited by the 1993 Hague Convention, as the absence of oversight seriously jeopardizes the integrity of the process. Prospective adoptive parents have, for example, resided temporarily in countries of origin long enough to be able to conclude a domestic adoption and then brought the adopted child back to their country, thus bypassing the intercountry adoption process. Similarly, in Uganda foreign parents have been granted legal guardianship of children and taken them abroad where they then concluded a domestic adoption in the receiving country. The conversion of a kafalah guardianship arrangement into a domestic adoption, once the child has been brought back to the receiving country, has also been used to circumvent intercountry adoption procedures under the 1993 Hague Convention.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- In order to effectively prevent and eradicate illegal adoption, States must take measures to address the push and pull factors, as well as the enabling environment, of the current adoption system, in which illegal adoption persists. In respect of intercountry adoptions, countries of origin and receiving countries bear joint responsibility for tackling systemic problems. The current system not only facilitates and encourages illegal adoptions but also accepts measures that foster them. A major factor enabling illegal adoptions is the level of financial advantage that can be obtained from the procurement of children for intercountry adoption. As long as adoption fees and costs are not reasonable and not made transparent and as long as contributions and donations are involved, there will continue to be a substantial incentive for illegal adoptions to take place.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Individual adoptions and adoption systems must be investigated as soon as there are indications of illicit practices. In 2014, the General Prosecutor's Office of Kazakhstan conducted an investigation into the possible sale of children for intercountry adoption after having detected inaccuracies in data on children adopted abroad, which led to court rulings on intercountry adoptions being reviewed and reversed. However, investigations and prosecutions in receiving countries against their own nationals for having arranged illegal intercountry adoptions are rare.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph