PETITION: Mr. Didier Reynders, Minister of Foreign Affairs: Bring together the 12 adopted Congolese children and their Belgian families.

3 December 2015

THIS PETITION IS SUSPENDED FOR THE MOMENT. THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING MOBILIZED.

WE HOPE TO USE YOUR MOBILIZATION AT A MORE OPPORTUNITY. YOUR SIGNATURES ARE NOT LOST.

To the attention of Mr. Didier Reynders, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

We are a collective of adoptive parents in Congo (DRC) and we ask for your help so that our adoptive children, stuck in Congo, can finally join us.

A dozen Belgian families are legally the parents of children born in the DRC.

For some of them, only one authorization to leave the territory remains to be obtained so that the children can join them in Belgium.

On September 25, 2013, the DRC suspended exit permits for all adopted children.

More than a year has passed since this decision, and we have no visibility on the sequence of events.

Some families have been waiting for children for more than two long years.

The conditions in which these children live are deteriorating day by day.

We ask for the help of Belgian diplomacy so that families and children are finally reunited.

"Due to the moratorium on international adoptions introduced since September by the Congolese authorities to protect children from human trafficking, the structure (the orphanage, NDLA) no longer receives any funds. "The adoptive parents paid approximately 5,000 dollars (3,800 euros) per adopted child, which allowed us to ensure the well-being of all children. But since the moratorium, we can no longer offer children for adoption. Since September, so we no longer have any money coming in, we have nothing left", explains the Namur resident Julienne Mpemba, coordinator of the ASBL Tumaini (www.tumaini.be) and of the orphanage which bears the same name in Kinshasa."

source: http://www.lavenir.net/article/detail.aspx?articleid=DMF20140622_00493793

We thank you very much for your help.

To know more :

http://www.rtl.be/info/monde/international/1128141/enfants-congolais-la-rdc-prolonge-le-gel-de-la-sortie-d-enfants-adoptes-par-des-couples- foreigners

http://www.franceinfo.fr/actu/societe/article/manifestation-de-familles-en-attendance-de-leurs-enfants-adoptes-en-rdc-601073

http://www.tendanceouestrouen.com/actualite-82324-adoption-au-congo-des-parents-eurois-attendent-leur-enfant-depuis-des-mois.html

http://www.nordeclair.fr/info-locale/annoeullin-parents-d-une-fillette-depuis-trois-ans-ils-jna60b0n512724