South Korean adoption system systematically violated human rights: 'Children were made adoptable'

A new week, a new generation of the Goed Ingelichte Kring . Adoption is often seen as a noble act: a chance for orphaned children to find a loving home. Yet international adoption brings with it a complex and painful story. A truth commission from South Korea has now determined that the country systematically violated human rights. Host Sam Hagens spoke about it with radio host Mischa Blok and Alice Flikweert of the foundation Netherlands Korean Rights Group. Both were adopted from South Korea.

Fraud exposed

After a lengthy and in-depth investigation, a South Korean truth commission has found that the country committed decades of systematic human rights violations in intercountry adoptions. The investigation, which lasted two years and seven months, focused on adoptions to 11 Western countries and included a detailed analysis of 367 files. It covers the period from 1954 to 1999, a time when South Korea sent large numbers of children to the West.

"You read in black and white that fraud was committed on a large scale, and that children were made adoptable. That is a term that you actually loathe," says Mischa. Many files were falsified so that adoptees could no longer find their parents. "Instead of putting the name of the father and mother in it, they noted that you were foundling. Taking that away from a child - the basic information that you are entitled to, such as who your parents are and where you come from - is of course terrible."

CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: The Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar rural police on Thursday arrested a couple on the charges of murdering a four-year-old girl they had allegedly adopted without going through the due process and by paying Rs 5,000 to her biological parents in Jalna district six months ago.

Police said the arrested couple Faheem Shaikh (35) and wife Fauziya (27) were originally from Ajanta and currently residing in the Moghulpura area of Sillod tehsil in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district. A local court on Friday sent the couple to two days of police custody.'

‘Purchased’ child died of infections after assault: Cops
Lawyers in Sillod abstained from representing the couple in the court following a resolution in protest against the excesses committed on the girl, identified as Ayat Shaikh. In the FIR registered with the Sillod city police station, the accused were booked and arrested for murder and under relevant sections of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

Superintendent of police Vinaykumar Rathod said: "The autopsy report stated that the child died because of the infections caused by the injuries she had suffered in the alleged assault by the couple. The couple said they had paid Rs 5,000 to her biological parents to adopt the child. Buying or selling a child is an act of crime. We will investigate these violations as well."

An officer said the accused claimed to have a bond paper that stated the "willingness" of the child's biological parents to give their daughter for adoption to Shaikh and Fauziya. He said: "During questioning, Fauziya admitted to have assaulted the child, but said she was unaware that the action would lead to her death."

The officer said: "As the couple were trying to perform the child's last rites, some local residents alerted the police. Following this, the girl was taken to a sub-district hospital, where doctors declared her dead. The child's burial was performed in the presence of her biological parents."

The incident occurred in Mogalpura area in Sillod city on Wednesday afternoon. The police have arrested the cruel couple identified as Fauzia Faheem Shaikh (27, Mogalpura, Sillod) and Shaikh Faheem (35). The deceased girl has been identified as Aayat Faheem Shaikh (4).

A couple purchased a four-year-old girl for Rs 5,000 as they had four sons. However, they killed the girl by severely beating her, breaking her limbs and branding her with hot rod.

The incident occurred in Mogalpura area in Sillod city on Wednesday afternoon. The police have arrested the cruel couple identified as Fauzia Faheem Shaikh (27, Mogalpura, Sillod) and Shaikh Faheem (35). The deceased girl has been identified as Aayat Faheem Shaikh (4).

Faheem and Fauzia are native of Ajanta and were presently living in Mogalpura in Sillod city. They had four sons and wanted a daughter. Hence, they purchased Aayat for Rs 5,000 from Shaikh Naseem Abdul Qayyum, a resident of Jalna around six months back. The transaction was noted on an affidavit. Faheem is a labourer and he came to Mogalpura with his family around fifteen days back. However, Fauzia did not like the adoption of Aayat and she used to quarrel with Faheem over it frequently.

Tip off by unidentified person

A couple has been arrested on charges of murdering a minor girl, who reportedly was 'adopted' by them from her biological father.

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:Police on Thursday arrested a couple from Maharashtra's Sillod on charges of murdering their four-year-old adoptive daughter. It is being suspected that the victim, Aayat Fahim Sheikh, died after being beaten and struck on the head with some heavy object.

While the motive behind the alleged murder is yet to be ascertained, the legal status of adoption has come under scrutiny now as accused claimed the girl was bought through a middleman.

As per reports, one Sheikh Fahim Sheikh Ayyub and his wife Fauzia Sheikh Fahim have been arrested by police in connection with the case. Police are also verifying the legality of the victim's adoption, as the accused claimed she was bought for Rs 5000.

Police sources said, the accused couple staying in Sillod already had four children but they wanted a daughter, which is why they adopted Aayat from her biological father Sheikh Naseem Abdul Qayyum of Jalna six months back. However, the accused have now revealed that the girl was bought from Sheikh Naseem through a middleman from Jafrabad, claiming that they have the written documents confirming the transaction.

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: A couple from Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district has been arrested for allegedly killing their “adopted” 4-year-old daughter, an official said on Friday. 

Sillod residents and accused Fauzia Shaikh (27) and her husband Faheem Shaikh (35) also tried to hush up the alleged crime by attempting to carry out the child’s final rites hastily, he said. 

The couple has told the police that they had adopted the child, Aayat, six months ago. 

The kid was taken to the sub-district hospital around 3 am on Wednesday, but doctors declared her dead.
However, someone from their locality tipped the police that the child did not die of any natural causes, like an illness or some health condition, the ofcial said. 

Police moved swiftly and stopped Fauzia and Faheem from burying Aayat’s body, which was sent for post-mortem. 

Korea and Norway agreed Thursday to cooperate on investigations into intercountry adoption irregularities and support the rights of affected adoptees, as both nations conduct separate probes into past adoption practices.

Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Chairperson Park Sun-young met with Camilla Bernt, head of the Norwegian Investigation Committee on Intercountry Adoption, in Seoul, where the two sides agreed to share their respective investigative findings.

Their meeting took place a day after the TRC announced the initial findings of its yearslong probe into adoption misconduct from the 1960s to 1990s, which unearthed the Korean government's mistakes and oversights in the process.

The investigation found that inadequate government supervision and administrative failures led to widespread misconduct, falsified documents and corrupt practices.

"Korea is the country from which there has been the highest number of adoptions to Norway, totaling more than 6,500 children. For the Norwegian committee, TRC’s investigation is therefore highly relevant. The report will be an important source for our investigation and evaluation," Bernt told The Korea Times in an email.

The Minister of Social Affairs will have detailed how an expanded investigation will be financed.

After previously refusing to expand an investigation into the area of ​​adoption, Minister of Social Affairs Sophie Hæstorp Andersen (S) will now enter into dialogue with the opposition.

She does this after the opposition gathered a domestic political majority on Thursday for an expanded investigation , which is not only a historical investigation, but also a legal assessment.

- Now I have heard the desire from the opposition parties to expand the investigation, and I look forward to getting more details on exactly what they agree on and how they envision it being financed, says Sophie Hæstorp Andersen.

Question: So you won't rule out expanding it?

South Korea's adoption practices over nearly 50 years are being butchered in a new report, with the government largely blamed.

The report, prepared by South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and presented at a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday, follows a three-year investigation and describes the entire adoption process as a mistake.

The commission also believes that the government must apologize to the victims and provide compensation to children whose identities were forged.

Many children were given orphan status even though their parents were alive, which has made it very difficult for adopted children to track down their biological relatives. Some of the children were outright abducted from their parents before they were adopted.

The commission states that for almost 50 years, South Korea handed over responsibility to adoption agencies without adequate oversight, and that the adoptions were characterized by fraud and mismanagement.

Entrepreneur and media personality Anitha Clemence has spent most of her adult life wondering about her adoption.
When she was 26, she went to India with her then-boyfriend.
There, she began to unravel her past, even though it was difficult.

Anitha Clemence was actually worried about what she would find out about her biological family.

– I was really scared. I had a boyfriend in high school who was adopted from Chile. When he went back, he found out that his mother had been a prostitute and drug addict, so I was scared of what I might encounter, says Anitha when we meet at the Soho House members' club in Stockholm.

Anitha knew that she had been found on the street outside a hospital in the city of Kottayam, just a few days old. It was the summer of 1978 and nuns had cared for her inside the hospital.

In this strictly Catholic region of India, it is very common for children born out of wedlock to be left outside the hospital, as the mother otherwise risks social death and exclusion.

Switzerland is considering banning international adoptions following the exposure of questionable past practices. Other countries have halted international adoptions in the name of child welfare.

No more foreign children should be adopted in Switzerland: this is the plan presented by the Federal Council last January. The Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) has been tasked with preparing a bill by the end of 2026. This radical decision was taken after the publication of a damning report in 2023. 

Berne then acknowledged significant irregularities in international adoptions that took place between 1970 and 1999. The findings of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences highlighted systemic failures and negligence on the part of federal and cantonal authorities. Also read:End of international adoptions in Switzerland

Several thousand children from Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, India, Colombia, South Korea, Lebanon and Romania were brought to Switzerland through illegal practices, including child trafficking, falsified documents and the lack of information about their origins.

Written consent from biological parents was often lacking.