The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change has recommended that the government assuage concerns raised over the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019, including over creation of a national databank of crime scene DNA profiles and fears of communities being targeted.

While recognising the importance of DNA technology in criminal investigation, the committee, in its report tabled in Parliament Wednesday, says, “The risk with a national databank of crime scene DNA profiles is that it will likely include virtually everyone since DNA is left at the ‘crime scene’ before and after the crime by several persons who may have nothing to do with the crime being investigated.”

It adds, “These fears (regarding the Bill) are not entirely unfounded (and) have to be recognized and addressed by the government and by Parliament as well… The Committee is of the strong opinion that an enabling ecosystem must be created soon to ensure that DNA profiling is done in a manner that is fully consistent with the letter and spirit of various Supreme Court judgments and with the Constitution.”

First proposed in 2003, the Bill has gone through several revisions, by both the Department of Biotechnology and Law Ministry. It was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee in October 2019, soon after it was passed. A number of MPs who deposed before the panel repeated fears — expressed by members earlier too — that the Bill could be misused to target segments of society based on religion, caste or political views.

The panel’s report says, “The Committee is conscious of the fact that this Bill is very technical, complex and sensitive. A number of Members have expressed concern about the use of DNA technology — or more accurately its misuse — to target different segments of our society based on factors like religion, caste or political views. These fears are not entirely unfounded (and) have to be recognized and addressed.”

LEO VARADKAR HAS told the Dáil he was “quite surprised” to hear that audio recordings of witness testimony given to the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes were destroyed.

His comments come amid calls for Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman to “take immediate action” to preserve the testimony of witnesses who gave evidence to the commission.

A number of campaigners and opposition TDs have also called for the commission to not be dissolved as planned at the end of the month amid concerns of the deletion of audio recording of testimony.

They say the commission should remain in operation until its members answer questions about its final report, as well as the destruction of audio recordings of witness testimony.

Varadkar said O’Gorman is examining if it “makes sense” to extend the term of the commission so these issues can be examined.

The adoption file of Doriet Begemann (41) from Zwolle is full of mistakes. "I take into account that I have been stolen and resold."

Doriet, like thousands of other adoptees, desperately searches for her origins.

The question is whether the Dutch government played a role in illegal adoptions between 1967 and 1998. An investigation committee will hand over a report to Minister Sander Dekker (Legal Protection) on Monday. Civil servants may have been involved , he writes when he establishes the committee in 2018.

The committee examined adoptions from countries including Bangladesh, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Colombia and Indonesia.

DORIET

No love, no human contact, languishing and forgotten in the home: Under the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceau?escu, babies who did not fit the norm were mercilessly sorted out. Whats become of you?

Izidor spent the first three years of his life in the hospital.

The dark-eyed, dark-haired boy, born June 20, 1980, was abandoned when he was a few weeks old. The reason for this was obvious to all who looked: His right leg was twisted. After an illness (probably polio) he had been thrown into the sea of ??abandoned infants in the Socialist Republic of Romania.

In films from the period that capture the care of orphans, nurses are seen like assembly line workers wrapping newborns from a seemingly endless supply; with muscular arms and careless indifference, they toss the children onto a square cloth, expertly knot it into a neat bundle, and place it at the end of a line of silent, worried-looking babies. The women do not speak softly to them or sing to them. You can see the little faces trying to understand what is happening as their heads roll back and forth during the winding manoeuvre.

At his hospital in Sighetu Marma?iei, a mountain town in northern Romania, Izidor was probably fed with a bottle placed in his mouth and propped against the bars of his cot. Well past the age when children in the outer world begin to taste solid foods and then eat for themselves, he and his peers remained on their backs, sucking from bottles whose openings had been widened to allow watery gruel to flow through. Without proper care or physical therapy, the baby's leg muscles atrophied. At the age of three he was found "deficient" and transferred to the other side of town to a C?min Spital Pentru Copii Deficien?i , a home for unsavable children.

Adoptions

Child abuse, Bulgaria condemned: "Reports from Italian judges ignored"

by Fabrizio Gatti February 4, 2021

According to the European Court of Human Rights, Sofia did not investigate. And the role of the Milanese association Aibi in creating "an atmosphere of conflict" that did not favor the investigation is central

The reports of abuse transmitted by the Italian judiciary should not have been immediately archived. The shocking testimonies of three children, who had suffered atrocious sexual violence together with other children of the same age in a Bulgarian orphanage , were credible and detailed. The children had begun to confide in the psychologists appointed by the adoptive family, after their adoption in Italy concluded in 2012 with the mediation of the association “Aibi – Amici dei bambini” of Milan. And they had then confirmed their words before the public prosecutor of a Juvenile Prosecutor's Office who, following international procedures, had transmitted the documents to Sofia. The judicial file described children who had also been raped by adults, who on some occasions had filmed the attacks.

For this reason, on 2 February the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights condemned Bulgaria , upholding the appeal against an initial decision of the Court that had rejected the appeal of the adoptive parents. According to the majority of judges, the Sofia authorities "who did not avail themselves of the available investigations and international cooperation mechanisms, did not take all reasonable measures to shed light on the case and did not carry out a complete and careful analysis of the evidence submitted to them. The omissions observed", explains a note from the European Court, "appeared sufficiently serious to consider that the investigation carried out was not effective in accordance with the purposes of Article 3 of the Convention, interpreted in the light of other international provisions and in particular the Lanzarote Convention".

INHUMAN AND DEGRADING TREATMENTS
According to the Grand Chamber, Bulgaria has therefore violated the European Convention on Human Rights, which in Article 3 establishes that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". Even more so if the children were under ten years old at the time. The Bulgarian State will therefore have to compensate the three children , assisted by the lawyer Francesco Mauceri, within three months with a total sum of thirty-six thousand euros.

The judges, also due to the lack of in-depth investigations, do not maintain that the reported violence actually occurred and that therefore there was a violation of the substantial part of Article 3. Instead, they establish that Bulgaria violated the procedural part that should have ascertained the possible substantial violation of the same article. A principle that concerns the States, which however must not be deprived of the full collaboration of the intermediation associations that, in international adoptions, operate with the authorization and on behalf of the respective governments.

THE THEORY DICTED BY MILAN
Among the ninety-eight pages of reasons , the non-appealable judgment of the Grand Chamber dedicates entire paragraphs to the conduct of the association Aibi-Amici dei bambini , which is based in San Giuliano Milanese and is supported by famous testimonials from the world of politics, entertainment and sports. "The conclusion of the Grand Chamber", note in a joint opinion judges Turkovi?, Pinto de Albuquerque, Bošnjak and the Italian Raffaele Sabato, "could be integrated, in our view, by the consideration that the reasoning adopted by the Bulgarian judicial authorities and by the State Agency for Child Protection substantially reaffirmed the theory advanced by the association that had acted as an intermediary for the adoption".

“The representatives of that association,” the judges explained, referring to Aibi, “when the adoptive parents approached them after the first disclosure of the abuse, began to express the opinion that the parents were not suitable to adopt the children, on the basis of their behaviour during a meeting organised by the association on 2 October 2012. The Court was unable to ascertain whether the report on this meeting between the association’s staff, the parents and the children was authentic, given that… the applicants produced a police report stating that three representatives of the association had to provide proof of their signature, and acknowledged that the report bears three different signatures, all written by the same hand.”

THE RETOUCHED REPORT
“Furthermore,” the judges of the Grand Chamber noted, “the report apparently showed discrepancies in the text, in the form of additions and deletions, which the Court was unable to verify. Regardless of whether the Bulgarian authorities knew from the beginning about this alleged forgery, it appears clear to us that the forgery of the document was discussed by the applicants before the Grand Chamber without the Government responding on the point. This circumstance, together with the fact that the association met with representatives of the various authorities involved... and drafted a highly critical report on the adoptive parents' account, which it then transmitted to the Juvenile Court... testifies to the central role played by the association in creating an atmosphere of conflict which did not favour the initiation of effective investigations".

"The Court", the judges continue in the judgment, still referring to Aibi, "also regretted thatthe association that acted as intermediary for the adoption with the authorities of the respondent State, had sent a note to the Court in which it expressed the opinion that the parents were unsuitable as adoptive parents because – in the opinion of the association – they had triggered a process of denunciation of abuses that did not exist , with the aim of denigrating the procedure that had led to the adoption. The content of this decision, in our opinion, reinforces the idea that the minors' revelations were credible, and [therefore] the association's approach was officially rejected».

IT WAS NOT PREMATURE SEXUALITY
The orphanage of horrors was reported in an investigation by L'Espresso and subsequently closed. The Aibi association, which operates under the authorization of the Italian government, did not respond to our request for comment.

«A final observation», conclude the judges of the Grand Chamber, «must be made, in our opinion, regarding the consideration that the events were a “simple” phenomenon of precocious sexuality, due to the fact that the children live together in an orphanage. According to this point of view, consequently there was no need to investigate, since only the minors were responsible for the sexual contacts and no criminal liability could be attributed to them. First, we note once again that this was the theory supported by the association that acted as an intermediary in the adoption», highlight the judges of the Grand Chamber of the Strasbourg Court, always referring to Aibi: «Second, there were reports, even in the first disclosures, of violent sexual contacts initiated by minors. In this regard, we must underline that also important international norms consider violence inflicted by peers as violence against minors and that in these cases the criminal liability does not lie with the violent children, but with those who have the task of supervising and caring for them».

POLICE REPORT
The prosecutor's office and the juvenile court, which had deemed the complaint of the three children credible, also established the full suitability of the adoptive parents, who, according to the Strasbourg Court, Aibi had defined as unsuitable. But as happened in Bulgaria, the Italian judiciary that deals with the behavior of adults has archived all the numerous complaints filed over the years against the Milanese association, for alleged irregularities in the adoption procedures .

The same police report that in Rome attested to the "three different signatures, all written by the same hand" ended up in the archives: they appear at the bottom of the report delivered to the juvenile court by the top management of Aibi, who at that time were acting before the judicial authority in their capacity as an entity authorized by the Italian government. This is the unusual reason why an ordinary public prosecutor requested and obtained the archiving: "The false signature on the report produced by Aibi to the Juvenile Court remains to be considered [...]. The only crime that can be configured in this sense, since it is a party act, is the falsity of a private document no longer provided for by law as a crime."

The very dire socio-economic situation in the country was inadvertently dramatised by 22-year-old Seun Oladayo in Ondo State who had planned to ‘dispose’ of her baby after delivery because she would not be able to take care of the baby. She claimed that the father of the baby absconded the moment she got pregnant.

It is a sign of good fortune for the innocent baby that one Pastor Olawale was approached by the uncle, one Yinka, to pay a paltry N10,000 for the baby. In a rare display of piety, the pastor reported the evil plot to the Amotekun Corps in Ondo town. We commend the display of kindness and vigilance by the pastor who even noticed that the birth of the baby might have been induced and there was evidence that the mother deliberately wanted to kill the child by strangling her with the umbilical cord.

The pastor’s exceptional behaviour must be commended in an era when some pastors are being upbraided for far too many crimes, including ritual killing of children. His is a huge elixir for Christendom in such trying times. His behaviour is so Christ-like and must be an example of the expected behaviour from all Christians.

On the part of the lady, we regret that her motherly instincts did not pop up to shield her baby from the trauma of induction and a deliberate attempt to strangle her with the umbilical cord. Even though we blame the father of the baby for absconding on confirmation of pregnancy, a very reprehensible and irresponsible attitude, we still feel that the state must search him out and make sure he faces justice.

Again, the attempt to sell her baby or even wish the baby death by the mother speaks to her hurt and state of mind. Even selling the baby for a paltry N10,000 speaks to the level of poverty afflicting the girl and her family. To sell her own child for less than $30 speaks to the mental and material poverty of the mother and her brother. It is a pointer to the impact of the fact that Nigeria is presently the poverty capital of the world. Make no mistakes about it, an attempt to sell the baby for a trillion dollars does not negate the odious and tragic transaction in any way.

Actor Salim Diwan has revealed that he has adopted 12 children, and he looks after their education. He points out there is a stigma around adoption in our country.

“Adopting a child is very common abroad. There are plenty of international renowned names who have adopted children and even funded their education. In India, the thought is finally pacing up but it will still take a lot of time,” Salim said.

“I have always believed in the concept of ‘right to education’, children are our future and right education will not only help them prosper financially, it also makes them a better human being. As of now I have adopted and looked into the education of 12 lovely bright children,” he added.

Explaining his thoughts, he said, “There is a stigma around adoption that has been created by the people in our society so they either don’t do it or keep it in private. I never believed in talking about it but I feel with the changing phase and thoughts of the young souls of our nation, now is the time to speak up.”

“I will consider my work done even if my voice reaches out and inspires a few people. I would urge everyone to come out and openly accept these kids as they can live a life which they might have only dreamt off,” he added.

A report German authorities tried to silence shows how Catholic nuns peddled orphaned boys to predatory priests and perverts for decades.

ROME—A jarring report outlining decades of rampant child sex abuse at the hands of greedy nuns and perverted priests paints a troubling picture of systematic abuse in the German church.

The report is the byproduct of a lawsuit alleging that orphaned boys living in the boarding houses of the Order of the Sisters of the Divine Redeemer were sold or loaned for weeks at a time to predatory priests and businessmen in a sick rape trade. The men involved in the lawsuit say as boys they were denied being adopted out or sent to foster families because selling them for rape lined the sisters’ coffers for their “convent of horrors.” Some of the boys were then groomed to be sex slaves to perverts, the report claims.

The alleged abuse went on for years, with one of the males claiming the nuns even frequently visited their college dorms after they had left the convent. He said the nuns often drugged him and delivered him to predators’ apartments. The Order of Sisters of the Divine Redeemer did not answer multiple requests for comment about the allegations.

A second lawsuit, first reported by Deutsche Welle last year, comes after a separate case against the German church led by 63-year-old Karl Haucke who demanded the Archdiocese of Cologne carry out a full investigation into clerical sex crimes, which it concluded in January 2021. But the details of that investigative report were so horrific that Archbishop Reiner Maria Woelki refused to make it public, demanding that any journalists who see it sign confidentiality agreements. Eight German journalists walked out of a press conference in January after being denied access to the church’s investigation unless they agreed not to publish its contents.

A family who lost their daughter years ago was finally reunited with her, but what happened is something that the family would have never imagined. As per a report published in a leading English daily, the family was finally reunited with their daughter, but over the years, something had changed.

The Incident

Sakina and her husband live with their three children in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. Years ago, the family had gone on a pilgrimage trip. After visiting Ajmer Sharif, the family of 5 went to Mecca Masjid. The girl accompanied her father to get water, when the unfortunate incident happened.

Sakina and her husband lost their daughter 15 years ago during their visit to Mecca masjid in Hyderabad. When the daughter, Fatima was just two-and-half-years old, Sakina lost her baby girl in the Masjid. The family tried a lot to search for the girl.

The Search and Struggle

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INFORMATIE DOSSIER

Samenwerkende Vergunninghouders Adoptie ten behoeve van het Algemeen Overleg

Februari 2021

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