Bizarre and shady adoption scandal in Croatia
Eight Croats have been prosecuted in Zambia on suspicion of smuggling toddlers. They were imprisoned, but were acquitted after two trials and have since returned home. The case resembles a soap opera. Some details in the case are so unlikely that the Croats - who say they are not aware of any wrongdoing - are left with many questions.
Get notified of important articles on General News .
Four Croatian couples flew to the Zambian town of Ndola, near the border with Congo, at the end of last year. They wanted to pick up four Congolese children they had adopted, between the ages of one and three. The Zambian authorities put a stop to this. They suspected human trafficking and arrested the four couples at Ndola airport in early December, when they were about to fly to Croatia with the children. The Croatian adoption papers were in order, but Congo has no longer allowed adoption by foreign parents since 2017.
At the beginning of February, the Zambian judge nevertheless acquitted the Croats. They then went again with the four children to Ndola airport to fly to Croatia.
Trans people are not allowed to adopt children
But the joy was short-lived. Just before boarding and after hours of delay, the eight were arrested again and detained for the same offense. The reason was a new tip from a Croat, the Zambian prosecutor said. It turned out to come from the 37-year-old radical ex-parliamentarian Ivan Pernar. He revealed that one of the intended parents is a trans man, born as a woman. Trans people are not allowed to adopt children under Croatian law. Pernar said he was his neighbor in Zagreb.
Pernar even flew to Zambia to testify against his compatriots and reported on his trip on social media. He received support from extreme quarters, but also strong criticism, including from the Croatian ombudsman. Pernar's comments put Croats at risk, she said, given the poor position of LGBTI+ people in Zambia.
Diplomatic chaos
In the meantime, not only the legal, but also the diplomatic chaos was complete. Croatia does not have many representations in Africa. The Croatian ambassador in Cairo, three thousand miles away, flew to Ndola to serve as a translator. Croatian President Zoran Milanovic publicly complained that the European Union, especially Germany and France, did nothing to come to Croatia's aid.
Last week, the Zambian judge also acquitted the Croats of human smuggling in the second instance. The four couples and their children, who have been granted Croatian nationality, have now arrived in Zagreb.
There are sounds that the children have been bought
But the Croats are left with many questions. The most important one: how is it possible that Congo has been banning adoption by foreigners for years, and yet the prospective parents still received the correct Croatian papers? Government sources in Zagreb told the AFP news agency that about a hundred children have been adopted in this way in Croatia over the past decade.
There are rumors that the children have been bought, with or without the help of corrupt Congolese officials who provide the correct papers and stamps in exchange for money. The director of child protection at the Congolese ministry for family affairs rules out that the Croats can fall under an exception in the law. “I don't know how they got those papers. That law is unambiguous,” said Gauthier Luyela. “Foreign adoptions are currently impossible. There is no customization.”
Adoption does have an attractive effect, say cultural anthropologist Pien Bos, Will van Sebille (founder of the Distance Mothers Foundation) and Hilbrand Westra (international adoption expert) in response to Marinus van IJzendoorn. Birth mothers are forced to give up their children through deception and coercion. Stop adoption forever, they advise.