World Whistleblower Day 2025: “Whistleblowers usually don't get applause”
Amsterdam, June 23, 2025 – Today, on World Whistleblower Day 2025, we honor the courage and determination of people who speak out against abuses and celebrate the positive changes they bring about. In that light, Transparency International Netherlands tells the story of whistleblower Ina Hut who, as director of Wereldkinderen, exposed the abuses and dangers of child trafficking in the adoption world. After a long battle full of resistance and intimidation, twenty years later she has finally achieved what she wanted: no new intercountry adoption procedures have been started since May 2024. In recognition of the courage and perseverance that Ina Hut has shown in addressing abuses in the adoption world, Transparency is presenting her with the Spotlight Award today.
Hut speaks out after receiving signals about serious abuses in the adoption world at the beginning of the 21st century. The demand for adopted children is many times higher than the supply, with all the risks of child trafficking. At the time, Ina Hut still thought that she could improve the system from within, but it is a losing battle. She tries to raise the issue with various authorities and for six and a half years she speaks out publicly and very critically about adoption on many occasions. She is not appreciated. She encounters a lot of resistance from adoptive parents, from the Ministry of Justice and Security, but also from fellow permit holders and direct colleagues.
Adoption full of market forces and corruption
Ina Hut studies pedagogy and business administration. She has her own company, is an advisor to employers' organisation VNO-NCW and a board member of Nyenrode University. Because Hut wants to do something for the less fortunate, she makes an early switch to the non-profit sector in early 2003: the adoption world. Early, partly due to the death of her first child during birth. Ina Hut starts as director of Wereldkinderen with the idea that children were adopted in the interest of the children, but was disappointed. She herself is also registered for adoption. After a look behind the scenes, she is shocked by what she finds: a harmful system of market forces and corruption in which the demand for adopted children stimulates the supply. It is even reason for her to stop her own adoption procedure a year after her appointment as director of Wereldkinderen, after having been on the waiting list for 12 years.
Children taken away and resold
In 2005, the series of adoption scandals begins with abuses around adoptions in countries including India, Haiti and Colombia. When Hut hears that Chinese children's homes pay money for the supply of foundlings, she travels to China herself and urgently requests the Ministry of Justice to ask the Chinese authorities for clarification. Justice travels to China, speaks with the Chinese authorities and reports back that, according to China, the Netherlands does not have to worry.
That reassurance turns out to be worthless. In 2008, the media also travels to China and speaks with, among others, a children's home director who states that money is systematically paid for the supply of foundlings and local governments that take children from their parents and sell them on to the highest bidder for adoption purposes. There is a majority in the House of Representatives for a stop to adoptions from China, but the Minister of Justice wants to hear the Chinese authorities first. China states that no children are taken away and that any abuses are addressed. The Minister of Justice then states that one must trust the statement of the Chinese authorities.
According to Hut, this is precisely the problem in the adoption world: you cannot work 100% on the basis of trust. Central authorities and licensees such as the Wereldkinderen foundation must be able to work in the opaque world of adoption, but no one has the authority to monitor the course of events in China. Moreover, according to Hut, the Minister of Justice allows trade interests with China to prevail over the interests of children. This while the Ministry of Justice is responsible for monitoring the Hague Adoption Convention.
Justice puts a stop to independent investigation
The Chinese government states in a letter to the Ministry of Justice that it does not appreciate Dutch interference. However, Hut continues to hear new sounds about abuses with adoptions. She wants a further investigation, preferably international and independent. But the Ministry of Justice puts a stop to that. The ministry threatens to revoke the license of the Wereldkinderen foundation if Hut continues with this. Hut blames this on the paramount trade interests with China and indicates that the Ministry of Justice itself has told her that more interests than just adoption interests should be taken into account in the relationship with China. Hut is still trying to get it on paper, but after six and a half years of internal struggle, she is completely exhausted. In a short time, she has lost 18 kilos due to all the stress. She decides to sound the alarm by publicly resigning from her position as director of Wereldkinderen .
Any form of recognition
Ultimately, after several critical voices and reports, Minister Weerwind decides in 2024 not to start any new intercountry adoption procedures , but Hut indicates that the pro-adoption lobby has been in full swing since then. She is pleased that the applications for adoption have decreased significantly after her public resignation as director of Wereldkinderen in 2009. After all, demand creates supply. Critical reports from the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice & Youth Protection (2016) and the Joustra Committee (2021) that endorse what Hut has been denouncing for years feel like recognition to her.
But unfortunately whistleblowers still do not receive applause. After leaving Wereldkinderen, she did not have a paid position for five years. To her great surprise, she was selected by CoMensha (the Dutch Coordination Centre against Human Trafficking) at the end of 2014 to be appointed director – manager as of 1 January 2015. Here she can continue her fight against human trafficking. At CoMensha she also puts the fight against adoption on the agenda. For her efforts against child trafficking and human trafficking, Ina Hut will receive a Royal distinction of 'Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau' in 2024.
Spotlight Award Ceremony on World Whistleblower Day
Transparency International Netherlands today presents the Spotlight Award to Ina Hut, an award for individuals who have made an exceptional effort for transparency and integrity. Previously, this award was presented to Frits Veerman , a whistleblower known for the nuclear espionage scandal, and to Laurens Dassen , party leader of Volt.
In recognition of the courage and perseverance that Ina Hut has shown in exposing abuses in the adoption world, Ina Hut may receive the Spotlight Award 2025. Marjo van den Broek, board member of TI-NL and chair of the TI Whistleblower Protection Committee: “To this day, Ina Hut continues to work for the good cause, despite the sacrifices she has had to make for more than 20 years, which makes her more than deserving of this award.”
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