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AD meeting Wacker/Holz about clearing agency/conference

From: Arun Dohle [mailto:arun.dohle@gmx.de]

Sent: Dienstag, 19. Juli 2005 19:44

To: 'JAIA@yahoogroups.com'

Subject: TDH

Well finally I met today with Mr. Wacker and Mrs. Holz from TDH.

Romanian adoptees struggle to adapt

Romanian adoptees struggle to adapt

By Kate McGeown

BBC News

In the third of a series of articles on Romanian orphans, Kate McGeown finds out what happened to the lucky few who were adopted abroad.

Lex feels completely English, although he was born in Romania

Viewing cable 05BUCHAREST1529, PRESIDENT BASESCU ON ELECTIONS, SECURITY RELATIONSHIP, ADOPTIONS

Viewing cable 05BUCHAREST1529, PRESIDENT BASESCU ON ELECTIONS, SECURITY RELATIONSHIP, ADOPTIONS

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Trafficking in children in Guatemala

Louis Michel, Member of the Commission. (FR) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission is very aware of the situation in Guatemala, as reported on by a variety of United Nations special envoys, as well as by the European Parliament delegation despatched to Guatemala in April. Within the framework of implementing the 1996 peace agreements, defending human rights is a key priority in our relations with Guatemala.

Regarding the adoption of children, the Commission has, since 2004, supported the actions regularly taken by the European Union in respect of the Guatemalan authorities. These actions enable us to express our concern about the failure properly to implement The Hague Convention. The contacts between the European Union and UNICEF have also been satisfactory in this regard, particularly on the occasion of the recent visit to Guatemala by the Secretary General of the Hague Conference, Mr van Loon. This visit enabled a climate more favourable to the necessary implementation of the aforesaid convention to be created. At the same time, the Commission supports a series of cooperation projects concerning the problems surrounding the trafficking in children in Guatemala and the fight against child pornography, and it does this within the framework of the ‘country’ strategy for the period 2007 – 2013, which is in the process of being defined. We intend to supplement and increase these efforts by means of a cooperation policy entirely focused on the protection and overall affirmation of children and young people, particularly young people and families at risk.

The Commission has also associated itself with a variety of actions by the European Union in support of, in particular, the Interior Minister and the Public Prosecutor. These have enabled us to express our concern about the human rights situation, including the growing violence against women and the attacks on those organisations set up to protect human rights. In terms of cooperation, the overall indicative budget of the European Union allocated to Guatemala in the area of human rights and democratisation for the period 2002 – 2006 amounts to EUR 18 million. This aid includes support for the judicial authority and for the office of the human rights public prosecutor in the rural areas. The Commission has also launched a specific ‘gender’ programme, aimed more specifically at indigenous women and equipped with a budget of EUR 6 million.

Finally, the Commission has approved a budget of EUR 1.2 million in support of establishing the office – due to be ready by July 2005 – of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Guatemala.

Where our future cooperation is concerned, the absolute priorities in our relations with Guatemala are still social cohesion, rural and local development, including the definition of a comprehensive food aid strategy, and, finally, the advancement of the indigenous peoples.

EP Resolution on the trafficking in children in Guatemala

Resolution file
The information here reflects the current status of the procedure
Printable PDF version
Identification
Reference RSP/2005/2590
Title Resolution on the trafficking in children in Guatemala
Legal Basis EP 122
Subject(s) 4.10.03 Child protection, children's rights
6.10.09 Human rights situation in the world
Stage reached Procedure completed
Stages
Stages Documents: references Dates
Source reference Equivalent references Votes and amendments Joint resolution of document of publication in Official Journal
EP: motion for resolution EP B6-0415/2005 RC-B6-0415/2005 05/07/2005
EP: motion for resolution EP B6-0419/2005 05/07/2005
EP: motion for resolution EP B6-0431/2005 05/07/2005
EP: motion for resolution EP B6-0435/2005 05/07/2005
EP: motion for resolution EP B6-0436/2005 05/07/2005
EP: motion for resolution EP B6-0438/2005 05/07/2005
EP: vote on B series resolution EP T6-0304/2005 07/07/2005 C 157 06.07.2006, p. 0413-0494 E

07/07/2005 - EP: vote on B series resolution
The European Parliament adopted a resolution on trafficking in children in Guatemala.

The text adopted in plenary had been tabled as a joint resolution by the EPP-ED, PES, ALDE, Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL and UEN groups.

The Parliament notes that, according to the UN special rapporteur's report on the sale and trafficking of children, Guatemala's laws on adoption are among the least stringent in the region, while trafficking in children is not even classified as a crime. Moreover, the abuses occurring in Guatemala include forced or surrogate pregnancies, removal of children from their real mothers, substitution of documents, alteration of public records, and the existence of clandestine'nurseries'. Abuses are also committed by those authorising adoptions, while an increasing number of international adoption agencies are offering children for sale.

Given that Guatemala is a source, transit and destination country for women and children from Guatemala and other Central American countries who are trafficked for purposes of sexual and labour exploitation, the Parliament condemns trafficking in children and the existence of an organised crime network with international connections and as well as the manipulation by the adoption agencies. The Parliament stresses that adoptions should only be carried by governmental bodies and non-profit organisations and calls on Guatemala to enact specific legislation on adoptions and to adopt suitable measures to prevent profiteering from international adoptions. It urges the Public Prosecutor's Office to take out penal proceedings against the criminal networks trafficking in children and calls for the launching of a global plan of priority actions aimed at children and adolescents in Latin America, in line with UNICEF measures.

Moreover, the Parliament notes that, in 2004, 527 women were murdered, with most involving firearms. It therefore calls on Guatemala to take the necessary measures to ensure that murders of women no longer go unpunished, and to take a proactive stand on women's rights.

Whilst the Parliament welcomes President Berger's declarations regarding abolition of the death penalty, it expects more from this government, notably measures against lynchings and to promote human rights.

Lastly, the Parliament reiterates its recommendation to the Commission, as made in its resolution of 10 April 2003, that the EU's future strategy for Guatemala for 2007-2013 should include social cohesion, the right to food, rural development and reform of the system of landholding and land use, as priority areas for future EU cooperation policy. According to the Parliament, this policy should also lay stress on eliminating illegal adoptions, firm support for human rights, ending impunity, respect for the rights of indigenous peoples, and promotion and protection of women's rights and the rights of the child.

The new Romanian orphans

The new Romanian orphans

by Tony Jenkins, UNICA Portugal

(original version here)

To stay warm on chill spring nights Nico and Alin sleep on steam manhole covers in the Piatza Romana, a small park near Bucharest 's Garad de Nord train station, which is where we found them. Nico is 13, Alin just 10. Both are small for their age and always hungry. They negotiate like veteran diplomats, quickly agreeing to speak to us in return for food and ice cream, which they devoured as we spoke.

Neither is an orphan. Both live on the streets for the same reason: their parents beat them. "I'd like to stay home if Mum didn't hit me," Alin says with a resigned shrug, "But I have one sister and four brothers and there's never enough to eat, so Mum says I have to beg. I have to bring home money every day. If I don't, she hits me. About two years ago it got too bad and I left."

Cet??eni de onoare ai Timi?oarei

Cet??eni de onoare ai Timi?oarei

Nr. 32 - Iulie 2005

Titlul de "Cet??ean de onoare al municipiului Timi?oara" reprezint? cea mai înalt? distinc?ie acordat? de c?tre Consiliul Local al Municipiului Timi?oara.

Titlul de cet??ean de onoare al Timi?oarei a fost acordat atât unor personalit??i locale ?i na?ionale cât ?i unora europene ?i interna?ionale: personalit??i marcante ale diploma?iei, politicieni, oameni de ?tiin?? sau de cultur?, medici sau militari de carier?, arti?ti ?i sportivi au în „colec?ia” lor de diplome ?i pe aceea de Cet??ean de Onoare al Timi?oarei. De-a lungul anilor au fost onora?i cu acest titlu trei ambasadori ai Statelor Unite ale Americii pentru sprijinul constant pe care ace?tia l-au acordat Timi?oarei, dar au fost decernate ?i titluri colective pentru eroii martiri ai Revolu?iei din Decembrie 1989, deceda?i în Timi?oara ?i pentru lupt?torii din rezisten?a anticomunist? din Banat. De asemenea, o serie de personalit??i au fost onorate cu acest titlu post-mortem.

Ace?tia sunt "timi?orenii" de frunte, personalit??i care odat? cu primirea acestei distinc?ii au devenit timi?oreni prin na?tere sau adop?ie:

Adoption ban in Sri Lanka

01/07/2005, 00.00

SRI LANKA

Adoption ban in Sri Lanka

A spokesman for the Prime Minister and the head of National Child Protection Authority say that abductions are rising. Pressure is mounting on Indian government to ban tsunami orphan adoptions.

Colombo (AsiaNews/Agencies) ? Sri Lanka has decided to ban adoption of tsunami children out of fear that they might fall prey to criminal gangs involved in child trafficking and end up in the sex trade or other illegal activities.

Business with poverty

In Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, hundreds of thousands of Roma live in poverty without medical care, heating or running water. Open discrimination, high unemployment and a lack of school and vocational training determine everyday life. Organized crime also takes advantage of the desire for a better life. Christiane Feller reports.

Frida Uyttebrouck is on patrol again. The policewoman has been roaming downtown Brussels with her two colleagues for many years, making sure that everything is okay. A woman is sitting on the side of the road with a small child. You hold your hands on. The policemen politely ask for the ID.

The beggar woman's papers from Romania are in order. Only the three-year-old daughter belongs in kindergarten, the policewoman warns, and not to go begging on the street.

Begging mothers with their toddlers, twelve-year-old girls who wrest a few cents from motorists on the four-lane incursion to the EU quarter for cleaning the windshield - this is a common sight not only in Brussels, but also in other large cities. But what sometimes seems annoying to the morning driver is often born of necessity, says the Roma Valeriu Nicolae:

“Most children run away from home, flee from extremely poor circumstances because they simply can no longer bear it. Some of them have been abused and have alcoholic fathers. They then go to the big cities in Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Moldova. There they also live in poor conditions. The west appears as a land of milk and honey. The criminals know that. "

romania_eu_list Re: Baroneasa Munchausen si "modelul european".

http://www.mail-archive.com/romania_eu_list@yahoogroups.com/msg07859.html
 
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[romania_eu_list] Re: Baroneasa Munchausen si "modelul european"...
Florin Rapan
Sat, 25 Jun 2005 18:44:31 -0700

 

 

Conform Oficiului Roman pentru Adoptii, de la 1 ianuarie 2005, pina in 1 iunie 2005, au fost aprobate 345 dosare de adoptie interna. Prin extrapolare, se poate proiecta o rata anuala de aproximativ 700 adoptii interne pe an. Aceasta rata nu poate acoperi nici macar abandonurile anuale care sunt aprox 4000 pe an (nu 10,000 cum se spune in articolul de mai jos). Sigur ca in aceasta situatie, institutiile abilitate de protectie a copilului ar trebui sa se intrebe cum sa procedeze pentru a stimula adoptia interna, daca acest lucru este posibil. Daca nu este posibil, ar trebui gindita si o strategie de revizuire a legislatiei actuale privind adoptiile internationale, in interesul si beneficiul copiilor institutionalizati, asa cum se stipuleaza indreptul international. Problematica "traficului cu copii, organe de copii si vinzarii de copii" a fost agresiv promovata de Emma Nicholson. Cu toate acestea, dinsa nu a fost capabila sa isi sustina afirmatiile cu statistici, si cifre referitoare la cazuri de copii romani vinduti pentru organe (vezi transcript interviu BBC cu Emma Nicholson din 6 octombrie 2004:  http://www.adoptachild.org/Messageboard/forum_posts.asp?TID=93&TPN=2&dlimit=1#2092.) Nici eu nu am vazut asemenea statistici, desi citesc regulat presa de specialitate. Va rog, daca aveti materiale referitor la acest subiect sa postati sursa. Este clar insa ca traficul cu copii prin adoptii internationale, daca exista, nu ar fi doar problema Romaniei, ci una internationala, si care ar trebui abordata de toate statele interesate.  Un weekend bun,Florin Rapan    --- In romania_eu_list@yahoogroups.com, "Vali Nas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:> "Romania, care se afla printre ultimele tari in  acest domeniu, se afla acum> in fruntea clasamentului si este pe cale sa devina un exemplu international,> nu numai unul regional si european... Astazi, putem spune ca Romania> reprezinta un succes... Romania este acum pe loc de frunte in acest domeniu> si alte tari trebuie sa ia in considerare progresul ei." (extrase din> conferinta de presa sustinuta pe 18 martie 2005 de "campioana in materie de> protectie a copiilor", "prietena cea mai buna a copiilor romani"> bla...bla...aka baroneasa Nicholson: w <http://www.valinash.com/model>> ww.valinash.com/model )>  > Cititi mai jos un articol foarte bine scris despre "modelul european" al> baronesei Munchausen.>  > Vali>  >  >  >   <outbind://172/cid:703240405@22062005-28CF> >  > 'Good impulses' strand Romanian orphans> By Elisabeth Rosenthal International Herald Tribune > TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2005>  > > BUCHAREST Romania's new law on the "protection and promotion of the rights> of the child" has done little to protect Vasile, a 7-year-old who has lived> his whole life in an orphanage in the town of Botosani.>  > More than two years ago, Becky Hubbell, a pharmaceutical executive from> Overland Park, Kansas, submitted the required papers to adopt the wide-eyed,> dark-haired boy, whom she and her husband had met during several medical> missions to Romania.>  > But before that process was completed, the government passed its new child> welfare law, which forbids international adoptions, among many other> provisions. The measure, known as Law 272, has left hundreds of families in> Western Europe and the United States without children they had counted as> theirs. More important, critics say, the sweeping law leaves thousands of> abandoned Romanian children stranded indefinitely in institutions or foster> care.>  > "You have a child in your heart and you've made all the arrangements, and> it's clear that child wants a family, too," Hubbell said. "But for Vasile,> time is passing without the stability of a home. And that's harder and> harder to make up for." >  > When, in 2002, officials in Brussels demanded that Romania clean up a> chaotic and sometimes corrupt child-welfare system as a condition for> admission to the European Union, Romanian politicians jumped into action,> desperate to be included in the club. Law 272, written in collaboration with> EU advisers, aimed to halt decades of mismanagement in just a few years,> with edicts that many critics now say are overzealous and impractical.>  > In response to criticism that orphans were growing up in sterile> institutions, the government mandated that no child under the age of 2 could> live in one; the new law, it noted, favored reuniting children with> biological relatives or placing them in foster care. In response to charges> that adoptions by foreigners were so poorly managed that they sometimes> resembled child trafficking, the government declared that there would be no> further international adoptions. >  > Experts both in and out of the country applaud the law's central goal: to> encourage Romanian families to stay together and to end the longstanding> practice here of abandoning unwanted children. But many child advocates> doubt that this poor country, just 15 years out from a brutal dictatorship,> will quickly be able to find good living situations for its huge population> of orphaned and abandoned children. Many children currently in orphanages> and hospitals, they say, will be stranded.>  > "There are good impulses behind the law - to provide more assistance to> mothers, to keep children out of institutions - and we all felt the system> needed more standards," said Gabi Mihaela Comanescu, program director of> ProChild, a Bucharest nongovernmental organization.>  > "But there are problems," Comanescu said. >  > "For example, there are older children who are as adoptable as ever, but> there is no one to adopt them now. Also, the law says every abandoned child> under 2 should be in foster care, but as far as I know there aren't nearly> enough foster homes.">  > The unintended result: A number of deserted infants now pass their precious> first year in a hospital ward. >  > There are close to 10,000 children abandoned at hospitals each year in> Romania, according to a new study by Unicef, and up to 50,000 children in> care of the state.>  > Before Law 272 took effect on Jan. 1 this year, politicians from France,> Italy and United States, among others, vigorously lobbied the Romanian> government to rethink the ban on international adoptions - or at least to> allow cases already in process to proceed. In January, the new Romanian> prime minister, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, said that he would "not forget> foreign families" who had taken steps to adopt Romanian children.>  > According to the Romanian Adoptions Office, 467 babies were adopted by> foreigners in 2002, although a partial moratorium was already in effect.> Before that, several hundred Romanian children were adopted annually by> families in Italy, France, Israel and the United States, according to> adoptions groups in those countries. Today the number is zero.>  > Instead, Romanian county child welfare officials are now required to> "reintegrate or integrate the children into their biological/extended> families or to place them with a Romanian foster family," said Theodora> Bertzi, head of the new Romanian Office of Adoptions. >  > New families are being trained in foster care to meet the need, she said.> Romanian couples (or grandparents living overseas) are being encouraged to> adopt unwanted children. Orphanages, euphemistically called "placement> centers," can take children over 2 when no home is available. >  > Florin Catanescu, 28, grew up in the centers after being abandoned at birth> by a schizophrenic mother. He carries his past in one small photo album> decorated with a child's glittery stickers. He is skeptical about Law 272,> at least in the short term.>  > "I just don't think the resources are sufficient in our country for this new> law, and attitudes will not change that quickly," said Catanescu, who is> starting a nongovernmental organization to help graduates of the centers> integrate into society: find jobs, rent apartments, buy coffee. "Children> will be stuck - there are still so many families who abandon children.">  > In Romania, the law has recently come under fire because of news reports> that large numbers of abandoned infants under 2 now live in Bucharest> hospitals. The new law says that abandoned children in this age bracket can> be placed with families, but not in orphanages, since research shows that> institutional upbringing impedes their development. But there are not enough> willing families.>  > When a Romanian journalist, Adriana Oprea-Popescu, stayed in the hospital> with her sick infant this year, she was shocked to find herself rooming with> two toddlers who were growing up in hospital beds. One, a healthy> 8-month-old, had lived there since the age of 7 days.>  > The result of that experience was a series of exposés in the newspaper> Jurnalul National describing feeding rooms where newborns get bottles from> their mothers and abandoned babies are fed with a bottle propped on a cloth.> >  > "What is happening is really tragic," Comanescu said. "The law compares a> home with an institution, and concludes a home is better. But a hospital is> even worse, since there are no play programs" at a typical hospital.>  > A new Unicef report, marked "not for distribution" but provided to a> reporter, concludes that "children under the age of 2, and especially> newborns left without their mother, constitute an emergency segment that> requires immediate priority.">  > Romania's unusual tradition of child abandonment began with a ban on birth> control imposed by Nicolae Ceausescu, the former dictator, in 1966, in the> aim of increasing the population. Within a year, women began dropping off> unwanted children at state orphanages or hospitals. Their logic was that> "the government wanted them, so the government should raise them," the UN> report said. >  > Child abandonment has continued at the same level for 40 years, said Pierre> Poupard, head of the Unicef office in Bucharest, even though birth control> is widely available in post-Communist Romania. Now, mothers desert babies> because they feel they cannot afford to raise them. >  > Many of the abandoned children continue to have contact with their mothers> even if they live in placement centers for years, making it hard to define> their family status.>  > Under the old law, if a mother disappeared for more than six months, the> child could be put up for adoption. But the new law stipulates that a> mother's right to her child is indefinite, extending through years of> absence.>  > In order for a child to be put up for adoption, the mother must sign a paper> formally ending the relationship, which is impossible in cases like Vasile's> when the mother has long since disappeared. Other relatives have to decline> the child as well. >  > At the Sunbeam Complex of Community Service, a placement center 100> kilometers, or 60 miles, from Bucharest, 15 of the 16 children (aged 4 to 9)> have had in their lives some contact with their biological families. Only> one girl, aged 4, is technically adoptable. >  > The tidy two-story house, lying amid dusty fields, is far superior to the> huge, impersonal orphanages in Communist Romania that made its child welfare> system so notorious. On a recent afternoon, young residents busied> themselves drawing pictures at low tables and playing with blocks.>  > But before Law 272, five children left here each year, adopted by foreign> families, said Letitia Stefanescu, the home's director.>  > The new law "has many good aspects," Stefanescu said, such as offering> preventive counseling and financial assistance to young mothers deemed at> risk of abandoning babies. But she acknowledged the downside for the> children in her care: "International adoptions gave them a chance for a> family.">  > A cute 9-year-old with pigtails, who can only be identified as M.S., said,> "I like being here, but I would like more to be with my mom." The girl's> mother, who lives nearby, hasn't visited for several years.>  > Stefanescu has faith that the new system will find solutions: New programs> will encourage or force some mothers to pick up abandoned kids; other> children will find foster homes. The 4-year-old, she hopes, will be adopted> by Romanians, even though they traditionally do not adopt older children. >  > Becky Hubbell, who spends holidays volunteering here, thinks it's great that> the Romanian government is now helping families stay together. But in the> meantime, she said, "there are kids like Vasile who have no options but> adoption abroad. We already provide support for him. We will be his family,> no matter what.">  > Copyright © 2005 The International Herald Tribune>  >  <http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/21/news/adopt.php>> http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/21/news/adopt.php      *** sustineti [romania_eu_list] prin 1% din impozitul pe 2005 -detalii la http://www.europe.org.ro/euroatlantic_club/unulasuta.php ***      Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to:    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romania_eu_list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:    [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/    
[romania_eu_list] Re: Baroneasa Munchausen si "modelul european"... Florin Rapan 
RE: [romania_eu_list] Re: Baroneasa Munchausen si "modelul european"... Vali Nas 
 
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