US congress members pressure Romania to resume international adoptions - report

US congress members pressure Romania to resume international adoptions - report

Thu, Jul 23 2009 14:20 CETbyClive Leviev-Sawyer1057 Views2 Comments

1 of 1

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who reportedly handed over the letter calling on Romania to reverse its ban on international adoptions.

The United States is trying to exert pressure on Romania to resume the international adoption of children after more than five-year break, Romanian Jurnalul National said on July 23 2009, Bulgarian news agency Focus reported.

Eight senators and 13 members of the United States house of representatives signed and sent in May a document in which they require immediate resumption of the international adoption of children.

Meanwhile, the Child Protection Committee made the same recommendation after the presentation of the report on Romania in Geneva on June 5.

The official document sent to the Romanian authorities says that the undersigned are "ordinary American citizens", requiring amendments to Act No 273, which bans the international adoption of Romanian children, but the signatories stated that they were senators and members of the house of representatives.

The letter, which has not been made public so far, was handed to Romanian foreign minister Cristian Diaconescu by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton in May, when Diaconescu was on an official visit abroad, the newspaper said.

.