To increase search options in countries of origin, pilot projects will be supported by INEA from 2023. This support comes specifically from the services that INEA offers regarding Searches & Country Approach. On Wednesday, September 20, 2023, the first design session of the country-specific pilot project Indonesia took place at INEA.

The pilot process starts with country-specific design sessions. This first Indonesia design session was held to map the current search infrastructure with the aim of improving it. During this session the following eight pillars were discussed:  

1. Legislation and Regulations                                                
2. Technological Tools                                                   
3. Culture                                                                                                                                          
4. Best Practices                                                                                                                       
5. Stakeholders         
6. Group Knowledge                                                    
7. Database/Register                      
8. Remaining Aspects 

The design session

For each pillar, general knowledge, risks and opportunities were brainstormed. The results have been inventoried and processed in a report, which will be shared with the participants of the relevant session. Following this successful meeting, follow-up sessions will be scheduled at a time yet to be determined in order to arrive at a concrete pilot project.   

Surrogacy could soon be classified as a form of human trafficking by the EU.

At its meeting on October 5th, the EU parliament’s joint committee on women’s rights and civil liberties added surrogacy to the list of crimes targeted by the bloc’s directive on preventing human trafficking.

The directive, put in place in 2011, is being revised at a crucial moment when parallel legislation on rules recognizing parentage risks facilitating surrogacy within Europe.

Most EU member states have bans on surrogacy in place, but several do permit altruistic surrogacy or simply have not regulated it. On the edges of the EU though, in countries from Ukraine to Georgia, a booming commercial surrogacy industry exists whose clients often come from within the EU. Additionally, Ukraine, well-known for its surrogacy industry, is seeking fast-track entry into the EU.   

“By classifying surrogacy as a form of human trafficking, the European Union takes a substantial step toward preventing the exploitation of women’s bodies and the commodification of children,” the European citizen’s initiative One of Us said in a statement. “This marks a significant stride in effectively safeguarding the most vulnerable and actively combating the commodification of human bodies.”

When Surat resident Arun Kumar Nikam was not selling vegetables in his teens or early youth, he spent his time writing and crooning songs. The veggie vendor who set up a stall in Surat's vegetable market, has released a Hindi song dedicated to girl child adoption, online. The song, called ‘O Papa' was released online on October 3 and is available on YouTube.

The song

Said Nikam, 36, of his song, "I work as a vegetable seller, but my passion is writing. I have written the lyrics for several songs, and the latest is for the cause of adoption of girls. I think this is truly worthy, giving a little girl a home, and the joy of having parents, a family." Nikam said, "Statistics show that of 11 million abandoned children in India, 90 per cent are girls. When I heard this, I wanted to make a difference. This song: ‘O Papa' are my feelings in melodious form, as music has no borders."

Arun Kumar Nikam selling veggies in Surat

Some of the lyrics of the song go: ‘What is our relationship, I do not know…you called me papa and I was moved, yet bewildered…" The video features a young man, rescuing an abandoned female infant from a stationary rickshaw one monsoon night and handing her over to a home for adoption. She is now a little girl, and he visits her occasionally, sponsors her and when he arrives at the home, she runs to him and calls him: papa'.

Pro-life organisations and politicians laud the adoption of a draft against human trafficking within the European Parliament. “Reproductive exploitation” is on its way to becoming an EU-wide crime.

To combat human trafficking and help its victims, the Women’s Rights and Civil Liberties committees within the European Parliament adopted a draft position on revised rules. Several Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) wanted to include “surrogacy for the purpose of reproductive exploitation” in that draft. In a vote on Thursday, that amendment was approved with a solid majority.

While the text leaves room for interpretation, politicians and pro-life organisations react delighted to the result. The French MEP François-Xavier Bellamy of the centre-right European People’s Party Group (EPP) tabled the amendment. He calls the approved draft “a very important step to protect the most vulnerable and to fight against the commodification of bodies.”

However, Bellamy’s amendment attracted wider support than just from conservative quarters. Several socialist MEPs also supported the amendment.

One of Us, the European Federation for Life and Human Dignity, called the voting result “groundbreaking.” According to Marina Casini, the president of the pro-life NGO, this decision “means that the weakest will be more protected in the European territory.”

New crimes at EU level would include forced marriage, illegal adoption and surrogacy for reproductive exploitation

Broader scope for law enforcement to dismantle criminal organisations

Penalties for companies convicted for trafficking

Ensuring victims are not prosecuted for criminal acts they were coerced into committing

On Thursday, the committees on Women’s Rights and Civil Liberties adopted a draft position on revised rules to combat human trafficking and to help its victims.

New crimes at EU level would include forced marriage, illegal adoption and surrogacy for reproductive exploitation

Broader scope for law enforcement to dismantle criminal organisations

Penalties for companies convicted for trafficking

Ensuring victims are not prosecuted for criminal acts they were coerced into committing

On Thursday, the committees on Women’s Rights and Civil Liberties adopted a draft position on revised rules to combat human trafficking and to help its victims.

The National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons has apprehended the founder of Arrows of God Community Children’s Home, Anambra State, Rev. D.C. Ogo, for illegal child adoption.

A statement on Wednesday issued by Chidinma Ikeanyionwu, the media aide to the Anambra State Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, said the ministry handed over Ogo to officials of NAPTIP, two months after busting the “baby factory”.

The activities of the orphanage home were busted in August 2023, by security operatives led by the ministry, following a report by an investigative journalist, ‘Fisayo Soyombo, which uncovered some illegal activities of the facility.

The report which made the rounds on social media and local television stations alleged that the state Ministry of Women and Social Welfare was involved in an illegal adoption of a baby girl alongside one of her registered homes in the state.

Following the development, the orphanage home was sealed and 20 children including a newborn baby, recovered.

By Mercy Juma & Africa Eye

BBC News

A Kenyan hospital worker caught by the BBC trying to sell a baby has been sentenced to 25 years in jail.

Fred Leparan, who worked at Nairobi's Mama Lucy Kibaki hospital, was filmed accepting $2,500 (£2,000) to sell a baby boy under the hospital's care.

He was arrested in 2020 and found guilty of child trafficking, child neglect and conspiracy to commit crime.

An Irish law that gave adopted people the right to access their birth records has led to more than 10,000 applications during its first year of operation.

The Birth Information and Tracing Act, external was designed to end much of the secrecy embedded in Ireland's 70-year-old adoption system.

But for many adoptees waiting decades for answers about their early lives, the new procedures meant delays and frustration.

The legislation created a new family tracing service and throughout the year 5,500 requests to find relatives were submitted.

However, due to the complexity of some searches, 53% of tracing requests are yet to be allocated to staff.

Many late adopters struggle with serious problems and abuse after their traumatic start in life.

Society does not have a box for Alex Balógh. She is diagnosed with ADHD, emotionally unstable personality disorder and has self-harming behaviour. 

She is homeless, addicted to benzodiazepines, opioids and other prescription drugs. 

But she fits well into one box. A box that can explain why Alex has been fighting with herself for 26 years.