JK Rowling backs expert in fight for Romanian children Feb 20, 2006 00:00 By Birmingham Post A Birmingham academic has teamed up with Harry Potter author JK Rowling to launch a charity improving the lives of children in care. 334 Shares Share Tweet +1 Email A Birmingham academic has teamed up with Harry Potter author JK Rowling to launch a charity improving the lives of children in care. Professor Kevin Browne, an expert on childcare and protection at the University of Birmingham, is among a team of four working for the charity Children's High Level Group. The others include Rowling, MEP Baroness Emma Nicholson and education expert Muir-John Potter. The charity was launched on the back of work Prof Browne and Baroness Nicholson have done in Romania. The two have already worked closely with the Romanian Prime Minister to reduce the number of young children in care. About 22,000 children have been put back into family-based care over the past four years, with half of them returned to their parents or relatives. Also, due to a change in the law, it is no longer possible to institutionalise children under two years old. Instead of working from the grass roots, the charity aims to continue its work with high-level officials and government representatives. The charity has received funding from the EU to repeat its work in the eight EU countries with the highest number of children under the age of five in care. These are the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Hungary. "With the celebrity status of JK Rowling and the political talent of Baroness Nicholson, I hope we will be able to target leaders of government and solve this problem," Prof Browne said. "There are many negative psychological and develop-mental effects from taking young children away from their families and not providing adequate foster care for them where they can receive one-to-one interaction. "These countries have all signed the UN Convention on the right of the child, and the Children's High Level Group hopes to help them meet their targets as part of it." The charity will also work with other countries inside and outside Europe and is already in discussions with the Prime Minister of Moldavia. Prof Browne, based at the Centre for Forensic and Family Psychology, said JK Rowling "is aware of the publicity that she can attract to the charity". He added: "I am convinced that she will soon become an expert on childcare issues in her own right."

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Children's book author Jennifer Wolfthal and her husband, Joseph Wolfthal were jailed for severe abuse of their adopted kids

A Florida-based children’s book author and her husband have been sentenced to 10 years in prison after they pled guilty to abusing their three adopted children.

The author of “A Real Friend" Jennifer Wolfthal and her husband, Joseph Wolfthal, an engineer for Lockheed Martin, were charged with child abused and neglect.

The Commission held a series of three public hearings on “Human Rights and the Process of NATO Enlargement” in anticipation of the summit of Heads of State and Governments of Member States of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to be held in Madrid, Spain, on July 8 and 9, 1997.

The emergence of new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe and the demise of the Warsaw Pact created a security vacuum in the territory between the current eastern frontier of NATO and the Russian border. The first attempt to address the new security realities in the region occurred at the end of 1991 with the establishment of NATO’s North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) as a forum for the evolution of a new relationship based on constructive dialogue and cooperation. In early 1994, the Partnership for Peace (PfP) was launched with the aim of providing a practical program to transform the relationship between NATO and states participating in PfP, moving beyond dialogue and cooperation to forge a genuine security partnership. (All 27 states of the Partnership for Peace (PfP) are OSCE participating States.) Simultaneously, NATO began to consider the possibility of enlarging the Alliance. The result was the 1995 Study on NATO Enlargement which addressed practical steps and requirements candidates for membership would have to satisfy. In December 1996, NATO foreign ministers called for a NATO summit at which one or more countries that wanted to join NATO would be invited to begin accession negotiations.

The U.S. Congress was instrumental in stimulating the debate through several legislative initiatives. The NATO Participation Act of 1994 (PL 103-447) provided a reasonable framework for addressing concerns about NATO enlargement, consistent with U.S. interests in ensuring stability in Europe. The law lists a variety of criteria, such as respect for democratic principles and human rights enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act, against which to evaluate the suitability of prospective candidates for NATO membership. The Act stipulates that participants in the PfP should be invited to become full NATO members if they… “remain committed to protecting the rights of all their citizens….” Under section 203, a program of assistance was established to provide designated emerging democracies with the tools necessary to facilitate their transition to full NATO membership.

The NATO Enlargement Facilitation Act of 1996 (PL 104-208) included an unqualified statement that the protection and promotion of fundamental freedoms and human rights are integral aspects of genuine security. The law also makes clear that the human rights records of emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe interested in joining NATO should be evaluated in light of the obligations and commitments of these countries under the U.N. Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Helsinki Final Act.

1. We, the Heads of State and Government of the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance, have gathered in Brussels to renew our Alliance in light of the historic transformations affecting the entire continent of Europe. We welcome the new climate of cooperation that has emerged in Europe with the end of the period of global confrontation embodied in the Cold War. However, we must also note that other causes of instability, tension and conflict have emerged. We therefore confirm the enduring validity and indispensability of our Alliance. It is based on a strong transatlantic link, the expression of a shared destiny. It reflects a European Security and Defence Identity gradually emerging as the expression of a mature Europe. It is reaching out to establish new patterns of cooperation throughout Europe. It rests, as also reflected in Article 2 of the Washington Treaty, upon close collaboration in all fields.
   • to adapt further the Alliance's political and military structures to reflect both the full spectrum of its roles and the development of the emerging European Security and Defence Identity, and endorse the concept of Combined Joint Task Forces;
   • to reaffirm that the Alliance remains open to the membership of other European countries;
   • to launch a major initiative through a Partnership for Peace, in which we invite Partners to join us in new political and military efforts to work alongside the Alliance;
   • to intensify our efforts against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.
2. We reaffirm our strong commitment to the transatlantic link, which is the bedrock of NATO. The continued substantial presence of United States forces in Europe is a fundamentally important aspect of that link. All our countries wish to continue the direct involvement of the United States and Canada in the security of Europe. We note that this is also the expressed wish of the new democracies of the East, which see in the transatlantic link an irreplaceable pledge of security and stability for Europe as a whole. The fuller integration of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and of the former Soviet Union into a Europe whole and free cannot be successful without the strong and active participation of all Allies on both sides of the Atlantic.
3. Today, we confirm and renew this link between North America and a Europe developing a Common Foreign and Security Policy and taking on greater responsibility on defence matters. We welcome the entry into force of the Treaty of Maastricht and the launching of the European Union, which will strengthen the European pillar of the Alliance and allow it to make a more coherent contribution to the security of all the Allies. We reaffirm that the Alliance is the essential forum for consultation among its members and the venue for agreement on policies bearing on the security and defence commitments of Allies under the Washington Treaty.
4. We give our full support to the development of a European Security and Defence Identity which, as called for in the Maastricht Treaty, in the longer term perspective of a common defence policy within the European Union, might in time lead to a common defence compatible with that of the Atlantic Alliance. The emergence of a European Security and Defence Identity will strengthen the European pillar of the Alliance while reinforcing the transatlantic link and will enable European Allies to take greater responsibility for their common security and defence. The Alliance and the European Union share common strategic interests.
5. We support strengthening the European pillar of the Alliance through the Western European Union, which is being developed as the defence component of the European Union. The Alliance's organisation and resources will be adjusted so as to facilitate this. We welcome the close and growing cooperation between NATO and the WEU that has been achieved on the basis of agreed principles of complementarity and transparency. In future contingencies, NATO and the WEU will consult, including as necessary through joint Council meetings, on how to address such contingencies.
6. We therefore stand ready to make collective assets of the Alliance available, on the basis of consultations in the North Atlantic Council, for WEU operations undertaken by the European Allies in pursuit of their Common Foreign and Security Policy. We support the development of separable but not separate capabilities which could respond to European requirements and contribute to Alliance security. Better European coordination and planning will also strengthen the European pillar and the Alliance itself. Integrated and multinational European structures, as they are further developed in the context of an emerging European Security and Defence Identity, will also increasingly have a similarly important role to play in enhancing the Allies' ability to work together in the common defence and other tasks.
7. In pursuit of our common transatlantic security requirements, NATO increasingly will be called upon to undertake missions in addition to the traditional and fundamental task of collective defence of its members, which remains a core function. We reaffirm our offer to support, on a case by case basis in accordance with our own procedures, peacekeeping and other operations under the authority of the UN Security Council or the responsibility of the CSCE, including by making available Alliance resources and expertise. Participation in any such operation or mission will remain subject to decisions of member states in accordance with national constitutions.
8. Against this background, NATO must continue the adaptation of its command and force structure in line with requirements for flexible and timely responses contained in the Alliance's Strategic Concept. We also will need to strengthen the European pillar of the Alliance by facilitating the use of our military capabilities for NATO and European/WEU operations, and assist participation of non-NATO partners in joint peacekeeping operations and other contingencies as envisaged under the Partnership for Peace.
9. Therefore, we direct the North Atlantic Council in Permanent Session, with the advice of the NATO Military Authorities, to examine how the Alliance's political and military structures and procedures might be developed and adapted to conduct more efficiently and flexibly the Alliance's missions, including peacekeeping, as well as to improve cooperation with the WEU and to reflect the emerging European Security and Defence Identity. As part of this process, we endorse the concept of Combined Joint Task Forces as a means to facilitate contingency operations, including operations with participating nations outside the Alliance. We have directed the North Atlantic Council, with the advice of the NATO Military Authorities, to develop this concept and establish the necessary capabilities. The Council, with the advice of the NATO Military Authorities, and in coordination with the WEU, will work on implementation in a manner that provides separable but not separate military capabilities that could be employed by NATO or the WEU. The North Atlantic Council in Permanent Session will report on the implementation of these decisions to Ministers at their next regular meeting in June 1994.
10. Our own security is inseparably linked to that of all other states in Europe. The consolidation and preservation throughout the continent of democratic societies and their freedom from any form of coercion or intimidation are therefore of direct and material concern to us, as they are to all other CSCE states under the commitments of the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris. We remain deeply committed to further strengthening the CSCE, which is the only organisation comprising all European and North American countries, as an instrument of preventive diplomacy, conflict prevention, cooperative security, and the advancement of democracy and human rights. We actively support the efforts to enhance the operational capabilities of the CSCE for early warning, conflict prevention, and crisis management.
11. As part of our overall effort to promote preventive diplomacy, we welcome the European Union proposal for a Pact on Stability in Europe, will contribute to its elaboration, and look forward to the opening conference which will take place in Paris in the Spring.
12. Building on the close and long-standing partnership among the North American and European Allies, we are committed to enhancing security and stability in the whole of Europe. We therefore wish to strengthen ties with the democratic states to our East. We reaffirm that the Alliance, as provided for in Article 10 of the Washington Treaty, remains open to membership of other European states in a position to further the principles of the Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area. We expect and would welcome NATO expansion that would reach to democratic states to our East, as part of an evolutionary process, taking into account political and security developments in the whole of Europe.
13. We have decided to launch an immediate and practical programme that will transform the relationship between NATO and participating states. This new programme goes beyond dialogue and cooperation to forge a real partnership - a Partnership for Peace. We invite the other states participating in the NACC, and other CSCE countries able and willing to contribute to this programme, to join with us in this Partnership. Active participation in the Partnership for Peace will play an important role in the evolutionary process of the expansion of NATO.
14. The Partnership for Peace, which will operate under the authority of the North Atlantic Council, will forge new security relationships between the North Atlantic Alliance and its Partners for Peace. Partner states will be invited by the North Atlantic Council to participate in political and military bodies at NATO Headquarters with respect to Partnership activities. The Partnership will expand and intensify political and military cooperation throughout Europe, increase stability, diminish threats to peace, and build strengthened relationships by promoting the spirit of practical cooperation and commitment to democratic principles that underpin our Alliance. NATO will consult with any active participant in the Partnership if that partner perceives a direct threat to its territorial integrity, political independence, or security. At a pace and scope determined by the capacity and desire of the individual participating states, we will work in concrete ways towards transparency in defence budgeting, promoting democratic control of defence ministries, joint planning, joint military exercises, and creating an ability to operate with NATO forces in such fields as peacekeeping, search and rescue and humanitarian operations, and others as may be agreed.
15. To promote closer military cooperation and interoperability, we will propose, within the Partnership framework, peacekeeping field exercises beginning in 1994. To coordinate joint military activities within the Partnership, we will invite states participating in the Partnership to send permanent liaison officers to NATO Headquarters and a separate Partnership Coordination Cell at Mons (Belgium) that would, under the authority of the North Atlantic Council, carry out the military planning necessary to implement the Partnership programmes.
16. Since its inception two years ago, the North Atlantic Cooperation Council has greatly expanded the depth and scope of its activities. We will continue to work with all our NACC partners to build cooperative relationships across the entire spectrum of the Alliance's activities. With the expansion of NACC activities and the establishment of the Partnership for Peace, we have decided to offer permanent facilities at NATO Headquarters for personnel from NACC countries and other Partnership for Peace participants in order to improve our working relationships and facilitate closer cooperation.
17. Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery means constitutes a threat to international security and is a matter of concern to NATO. We have decided to intensify and expand NATO's political and defence efforts against proliferation, taking into account the work already underway in other international fora and institutions. In this regard, we direct that work begin immediately in appropriate fora of the Alliance to develop an overall policy framework to consider how to reinforce ongoing prevention efforts and how to reduce the proliferation threat and protect against it.
18. We attach crucial importance to the full and timely implementation of existing arms control and disarmament agreements as well as to achieving further progress on key issues of arms control and disarmament, such as:
    • the indefinite and unconditional extension of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and work towards an enhanced verification regime;
    • the early entry into force of the Convention on Chemical Weapons and new measures to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention;
    • the negotiation of a universal and verifiable Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty;
    • issues on the agenda of the CSCE Forum for Security Cooperation;
    • ensuring the integrity of the CFE Treaty and full compliance with all its provisions.
19. We condemn all acts of international terrorism. They constitute flagrant violations of human dignity and rights and are a threat to the conduct of normal international relations. In accordance with our national legislation, we stress the need for the most effective cooperation possible to prevent and suppress this scourge.
20. We reaffirm our support for political and economic reform in Russia and welcome the adoption of a new constitution and the holding of democratic parliamentary elections by the people of the Russian Federation. This is a major step forward in the establishment of a framework for the development of durable democratic institutions. We further welcome the Russian government's firm commitment to democratic and market reform and to a reformist foreign policy. These are important for security and stability in Europe. We believe that an independent, democratic, stable and nuclear-weapons-free Ukraine would likewise contribute to security and stability. We will continue to encourage and support the reform processes in both countries and to develop cooperation with them, as with other countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
21. The situation in Southern Caucasus continues to be of special concern. We condemn the use of force for territorial gains. Respect for the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia is essential to the establishment of peace, stability and cooperation in the region. We call upon all states to join international efforts under the aegis of the United Nations and the CSCE aimed at solving existing problems.
22. We reiterate our conviction that security in Europe is greatly affected by security in the Mediterranean. We strongly welcome the agreements recently concluded in the Middle East peace process which offer an historic opportunity for a peaceful and lasting settlement in the area. This much-awaited breakthrough has had a positive impact on the overall situation in the Mediterranean, thus opening the way to consider measures to promote dialogue, understanding and confidence-building between the countries in the region. We direct the Council in Permanent Session to continue to review the overall situation, and we encourage all efforts conducive to strengthening regional stability.
23. As members of the Alliance, we deplore the continuing conflict in the former Yugoslavia. We continue to believe that the conflict in Bosnia must be settled at the negotiating table and not on the battlefield. Only the parties can bring peace to the former Yugoslavia. Only they can agree to lay down their arms and end the violence which for these many months has only served to demonstrate that no side can prevail in its pursuit of military victory.
24. We are united in supporting the efforts of the United Nations and the European Union to secure a negotiated settlement of the conflict in Bosnia, agreeable to all parties, and we commend the European Union Action Plan of 22 November 1993 to secure such a negotiated settlement. We reaffirm our determination to contribute to the implementation of a viable settlement reached in good faith. We commend the front-line states for their key role in enforcing sanctions against those who continue to promote violence and aggression. We welcome the cooperation between NATO and the WEU in maintaining sanctions enforcement in the Adriatic.
25. We denounce the violations by the parties of the agreements they have already signed to implement a ceasefire and to permit the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to the victims of this terrible conflict. This situation cannot be tolerated. We urge all the parties to respect their agreements. We are determined to eliminate obstacles to the accomplishment of the UNPROFOR mandate. We will continue operations to enforce the No-Fly Zone over Bosnia. We call for the full implementation of the UNSC Resolutions regarding the reinforcement of UNPROFOR. We reaffirm our readiness, under the authority of the United Nations Security Council and in accordance with the Alliance decisions of 2 and 9 August 1993, to carry out air strikes in order to prevent the strangulation of Sarajevo, the safe areas and other threatened areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In this context, we urge the UNPROFOR authorities to draw up urgently plans to ensure that the blocked rotation of the UNPROFOR contingent in Srebrenica can take place and to examine how the airport at Tuzla can be opened for humanitarian relief purposes.
26. The past five years have brought historic opportunities as well as new uncertainties and instabilities to Europe. Our Alliance has moved to adapt itself to the new circumstances, and today we have taken decisions in key areas. We have given our full support to the development of a European Security and Defence Identity. We have endorsed the concept of Combined Joint Task Forces as a means to adapt the Alliance to its future tasks. We have opened a new perspective of progressively closer relationships with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and of the former Soviet Union. In doing all this, we have renewed our Alliance as a joint endeavour of a North America and Europe permanently committed to their common and indivisible security. The challenges we face are many and serious. The decisions we have taken today will better enable us to meet them.

It has been newly revealed that at least 31 children admitted to the Brothers Welfare Center between 1976 and 1989 were adopted overseas.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) held its 96th committee meeting today (the 21st) and decided to “find the truth” about 10 cases, including the Brothers Welfare Center human rights violations.

The TRC announced that it confirmed the existence of 31 children and 17 biological mothers among the Brothers Welfare Center inmates who were adopted overseas.

The results of the investigation also revealed that the “Confirmation of Support Obligor Notice,” which should have been conducted to find guardians before requesting adoption of children admitted to the facility, was ineffective. The notice

was conducted at a district office in Seoul, unrelated to the place where the children were found, while the children had already been transferred to an adoption agency and were in the process of being adopted overseas.

The TRC recommended that the government issue an official apology, restore the victims’ honor, restore identities and family relationships lost during the forced detention process, and identify missing persons.

At today’s meeting, it was decided that the truth of the Samcheong Education incident would be further investigated, and 70 additional human rights violations were confirmed. Accordingly, the number of victims whose truth has been investigated in relation to the Samcheong Education has increased to 634.
 

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Moon Ye-seul (moonster@kbs.co.kr)

On Wednesday 22 January, Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe (Sp) received an interim report from the committee that investigates adoptions abroad.

The investigative committee was appointed by the Støre government on 20 June 2023, and will find out whether Norwegian authorities have had good enough control over foreign adoptions, and whether there have been illegal or unethical conditions in connection with foreign adoptions to Norway. The committee must now deliver an interim report which, among other things, contains preliminary findings on adoptions from Colombia and Ecuador. The committee will deliver its final report in December 2025.

See the committee's mandate.Committee leader Camilla Bernt, professor of jurisprudence at the University of Bergen, will present the interim report.After the presentation, there is an opportunity for an interview with the Minister for Children and Families and the head of the selection committee.Time: Wednesday 22 January at 10:00–11:00. Registration from 09.30. Bring your press card and valid ID.City: The auditorium in R5, Akersgata 59.Registration: Press wishing to cover the meeting can register before 12.00 Tuesday 21 January to media@bfd.dep.no.The event will be filmed by the Danish Security and Service Organization (DSS) and can be followed directly on this page.For questions from the press, contact communications advisor Amalie Knudsen by email: Amalie-fosse.knudsen@bfd.dep.no or phone number: +47 926 66 262.

Perhaps those children, who are now adults and often have children of their own and have built a (perhaps good) life, do not want to be "reunited" with people they do not know at all. This also applies to adopted children. Some do everything they can to find their biological parents, others decline them festively. And sometimes that biological family does not want to be "found" either.

The Adoption Committee criticizes both the Norwegian authorities and the Adoption Forum association for adoptions from Ecuador and Colombia.

For one year, the adoption committee has been investigating foreign adoptions to Norway.

The committee's task is to determine whether Norwegian authorities have had sufficient control over international adoptions and to uncover whether illegal adoptions to Norway have occurred.

– We take what we have found seriously, said committee leader Camilla Bernt when she handed over the report to Minister of Children and Family Affairs Kjersti Toppe (Sp).

A gynaecologist from Heraklion and a colleague from Chania, were arrested on Monday, January 20, as part of an investigation into an illegal adoption ring uncovered last August.

This comes after Australian parents were unable to bring their newborns home after a well-known fertility clinic in Crete, which uses surrogacy, was raided by police due to claims of human trafficking and fraud.

Nine newborns – including a number of Australian babies – were detained by the Greek government in a high-security neonatal ward in Crete’s Chania Hospital after the Mediterranean Fertility Institute was raided by federal police on accusations of human trafficking and fraud.

Through the utilisation of DNA testing for identification, the babies were eventually returned to their biological parents.

The Heraklion-based doctor supposedly linked to the scandal was arrested while working and discreetly transferred to Chania for questioning. There, he was initially brought before the prosecutor and then the investigating judge.