The Hague Convention on Child Protection and Cooperation in Respecting the Inter-State Adoption (or The Hague Adoption Convention ) is an international convention dealing with international adoption, child laundering and child trafficking in an effort to protect those involved from corruption, abuse and exploitation that sometimes accompany international adoption. The Convention has been considered important because it provides international and intergovernmental international recognition of inter-country adoption to ensure that adoption under the Convention will generally be recognized and enforced in other party countries.
Video Hague Adoption Convention
Destination
The opening of the Convention states:
- Inter-state adoption should be done in the best interests of the child and by respecting his or her basic rights and to prevent abduction [sic. must be "kidnapping"], sales, or traffic to children and each State must take, as a matter of priority, appropriate action to enable the child to remain in the care of his or her home family.
The main purpose of the Convention, set forth in Article 1:
- to establish a safeguard framework to ensure that inter-country adoption is in the best interests of the child and by respecting his fundamental rights as recognized in international law,
- to establish a system of cooperation among States Parties to ensure that such protection is respected and thereby prevent abduction, sale, or traffic in children,
- to secure recognition in the States of adoption Participants made pursuant to the Convention.
Maps Hague Adoption Convention
History
The Convention was developed by the Hague Conference on Private International Law, a leading organization in the field of private international law. It was concluded on May 29, 1993 and entered into force on 1 May 1995. In July 2016, the Convention was ratified by 96 countries. South Korea, Nepal, and Russia have signed but not ratified it. Many countries that have not ratified the Convention do not allow the adoption of foreigners against their children or the adoption of foreign children.
Policies and procedures
With respect to previous multilateral instruments that include provisions on inter-country adoption, the Hague Adoption Convention is the principal multilateral instrument governing international adoption and calls for the need for direct coordination and co-operation between states to ensure that safeguards are worthy of respect..
The Hague Adoption Convention has several requirements. The adoption process includes establishing a "Central Authority" to serve as the country's primary contact in the adoption process; satisfy several checks for eligible children to be adopted, including verifying the adoption appropriateness under the laws of both countries; and make reasonable previous attempts to facilitate adoption of domestic consents to use only certified adoption agencies.
Article III outlines the responsibility that the entire process shall be authorized by the central adoption authority appointed by the contracting states. If it is fully implemented at the national level, the Convention offers a safeguard framework against the potential risks of private adoption (when adoptive parents establish adoption provisions directly with biological parents or with children's institutions located in the home country, without recurring to an accredited adoption service provider).
Implementation and Operation of the 1993 Inter-Adoption Convention: A Guide to Good Practice , prepared by the HCCH, provides assistance for the operation, use and interpretation of the Convention.
Compliance
To comply with international standards, many changes have been introduced in national laws that enact legislation to criminalize acts of improper advantage from international adoption. However, examples of trading and selling of children for adoption purposes continue to take place in many parts of the world. In fiscal year 2006, the State Office of Children's Affairs Department assisted in returning to the United States 260 children who have been kidnapped or detained falsely from other countries and 171 children raised from countries that are partners of the Convention with the United States. Particularly during emergency situations, natural disasters or conflicts, children are observed for adoption without strict legal procedures followed, with the risk that there may be cases of child trafficking. Excessive bureaucratization of the adoption process after the implementation of the Hague Adoption Convention has been noted to establish the possibility of additional obstacles to the placement of children.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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