While families across the country prepare to gather for Christmas, Michael Hickey is facing another festive season forbidden from meeting his mother.

He is one of thousands of adopted Australians barred from contacting biological family members under so-called "contact vetoes".

Adoption lobby groups are fighting for an end to the vetoes, arguing they were "cruel" and "outdated".

Mr Hickey was adopted out as a newborn in Perth in 1960 when unmarried mothers were shunned and often pressured into giving up their babies.

He knew from a young age he was adopted and tried to find his biological mother when he was in his 30s.

Mustafa Chowdhury

One of the most important initiatives that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman undertook post-Liberation War was enacting the Bangladesh Abandoned Children (Special Provisions) Order in 1972. Unfortunately, not very many people are aware of this initiative that is deeply significant for our national history.

After assuming power, Bangabandhu's first priority was to rebuild the war-torn country, but while doing so, he recognised the grave problem regarding the birth and simultaneous abandonment of the children who were born as a result of mass rape by Pakistani soldiers and their associates. All throughout 1972, newspapers such as the Daily Azad, Purbosesh and Daily Ittefaq referred to the war babies as "unwanted" or "enemy babies" of Bangladesh.

Bangabandhu took quite a different position and stood up for these babies, calling them manobshontan (humanity's children), echoing the same sentiment expressed by Mother Teresa.

Contrary to his administration, the Bangalees' indignation for the newborns displayed a more insidious form of bias prevalent in Bangladeshi society. People's attitude towards the war babies was shaped by a careful choice of terms, such as "unwanted" or "throwaway", the objective of which was to intentionally denigrate the status of war babies in their country of birth.

On October 5, 2022, the Racines & Dignité group filed complaints with the public prosecutor for the opening of a judicial investigation with the main actors who participated in our forced exodus without the consent of our biological families. We are publishing the letter addressed to Mrs. BECCUAU so that our request is taken into account in the face of these crimes against humanity.

October 5, 2022

For the attention of Mrs. Laure BECCUAU, Public Prosecutor of Paris

Madam Prosecutor,

We have the honor to inform you that we are a group of victims born in Romania since the 1960s. We created the group Racines&Dignité in order to denounce the establishment of a child trade and the violations of children's rights to which we have been subjected.

39-year-old Barbara Quee, one of the victims to whom 'Spoorloos' linked the wrong Colombian parents, has found her biological mother. "She thought I had died," she tells the 'Algemeen Dagblad'.

"She always thought I died shortly after birth"

Born in Colombia, Barbara was adopted in 1984 by a Dutch couple. Because Barbara wants to know more about her past, she registers for the Spoorloos program in 2005 in the hope of finding her biological parents. Her mother is found by the Colombian fixer (and, as it turns out, con artist) Edwin Vela, who has been matching adopted people with the wrong biological parents for years.

During the broadcast she is told that her mother cannot go public because she is in hiding from the police. "That would have to do with her identity, which would be used for criminal purposes," Barbara looks back. "A story in which I had many questions. Why was Spoorloos able to find her and the police could not?"

The program promises her to go after two brothers, but it remains silent. When Barbara meets another adopted boy in 2008, she decides to start a new search through Edwin Vela, to whom she has to transfer money each time. "It felt like a second chance. I asked Spoorloos for support, but that ultimately did nothing," Barbara continues her story.

Calling all overseas adopted Koreans: Take part in the 1st Survey on Human Rights in Korean Intercountry Adoption (KICA)

A note from the researchers:

You are invited to participate in a survey which is part of a study led by a team of researchers in collaboration with the Korean National Human Rights Commission on the status of human rights with respect to South Korea's intercountry adoption (ICA) program. The purpose of this survey is to:

Assess the status of human rights in ICA involving South Korean children

Identify types of human rights issues in such ICA

Dear PAO,

Two years ago, my brother and his wife, who both work on a cruise ship, legally adopted Den, a 2-year-old boy. I took care of Den when both were away because of the nature of their work. I grew fond of him over the course of time. Sadly, his adoptive parents died due to a shipwreck. As their next of kin, I took Den home. Since then, I have been taking care of my nephew without any problem until one day, the biological parents showed up at my house and told me that they wanted Den back. They told me they should be the ones who should rear their son now that the adoptive parents are gone. I told them that they were not his parents anymore and that, as his aunt, I should be the one who should take care of him. Who between us is correct?

poster

Rona

Dear Rona,

Smriti Irani also said that more girls are being adopted in the country since the last three years and gave figures for the same.

New Delhi: A child will not have to get adopted if there are more parents who are ready to do the procedure, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani told the Rajya Sabha, underlining that more girl children are being adopted in India in the last three years against boys.

Replying to the supplementaries during question hour, the minister said the average time taken to adopt a child through court processes was so lengthy that a minimum of two years was needed by adoptive parents in terms of waiting and to reduce the time gap the ministry has proposed the amendment in the law, as in many cases it took up to 3.5 years.

"On September 23 this year, we notified the new regulation as there were close to 900 cases pending in states in our high courts. After the states acted on the new resolution, over 580 children have already been adopted, including children who are in the 'hard to place' category in older age groups who have never been adopted before," she told the house.

Ms Irani said there are children who are older and are made available to our NRI diaspora and OCI card holders.

A Gurugram-based couple was booked for sexually exploiting two minor children they had adopted through a Kolkata-based organisation. The couple exploited the kids for nearly three months before sending them back to the adoption centre.

By India Today Web Desk: Two kids were sexually exploited by a couple in Gurugram who had adopted them from a Kolkata-based organisation. They exploited two minor siblings for over nearly three months before sending them back, said the police.

The incident came to the fore when the kids were sent for a medical examination. On November 29, a complaint was lodged in the matter by Deepak Sinha on behalf of the Indian Society for Rehabilitation at Rabindra Sarobar police station in Kolkata.

ADOPTED KIDS SEXUALLY EXPLOITED

The police booked Nitin Sharma and his wife, residents of Sector 10, Gurugram, who had adopted a 2-year-old girl and her 4-year-old brother from Kolkata on March 30.

Landgericht Karlsruhe

Pforzheimer Stadträtin Oana Krichbaum klagt wegen übler Nachrede

Eine 50-jährige Frau bezichtigt die Pforzheimer Stadträtin Oana Krichbaum des illegalen Kinderhandels und bombardiert sie mit Nachrichten.

Gunther und Oana Krichbaum als Delegierte beim Bundesparteitag der CDU in Hannover

Sollen mit Nachrichten konfrontiert werden: Gunther und Oana Krichbaum wehren sich gegen den „Terror“. Foto: Oana Krichbaum

A 50-year-old woman accuses Pforzheim City Councilor Oana Krichbaum of illegal child trafficking and bombards her with messages.

Prominence does not protect against slander. Oana Krichbaum (CDU) has had this experience for years. The Pforzheim city councilwoman is bombarded daily with e-mails, Facebook postings and letters from a 50-year-old from the Enzkreis district in which she accuses the wife of Bundestag member Gunther Krichbaum (CDU) of illegal child trafficking. Therefore, since November, the allegation of defamation has been heard in the outer chamber of the Karlsruhe Regional Court.

At first she defended herself with a civil lawsuit against the "terror", as she puts it, reported Oana Krichbaum as a witness. The woman will not be dissuaded from her actions by a judgment passed against her in 2019. Not even because of the fines, which increase up to 10,000 euros, for violating the conditions imposed in the civil proceedings.

While driving home from the court hearing in Karlsruhe, the accused continued the Facebook terror until today. She therefore saw no other way out than to defend herself now with a procedure before a criminal court.

Oana Krichbaum's husband also receives countless e-mails