Dr. Pfund has been endorsed by Marquis Who's Who as a leader in the legal field

 BOWIE, MD, October 31, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Peter Harry Pfund with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award.

Pfund retired in 1997 after working in the Office of the Legal Adviser (L) of the U.S. Department of State since 1959, with two assignments abroad. He began in 1959 as one of several attorneys working on the Department publication Whiteman: Digest of International Law. Subsequently he was in the part of L responsible for European and Canadian matters, including US-Canadian boundary waters.

1966 to 1968 Pfund was seconded to the Legal Division of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Thereafter he returned to the part of L counseling the Consular Affairs Bureau, working primarily on extradition to and from the United States. Pfund was posted to the U.S. embassy in Bonn, Germany as its legal adviser from 1973 to 1978, focused mainly on issues concerning the status and security of Berlin, as well as legal issues involving U.S. forces stationed in Germany.

From 1979 until his retirement from L in 1997, Pfund was Assistant Legal Adviser for Private International Law in L, responsible for U.S. participation in the private law unification and harmonization work of four intergovernmental organizations, including the U.N. Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCOPIL). During that tenure, Pfund headed the U.S delegations to sessions of those organizations and the diplomatic conferences at which the final texts of treaties were negotiated and adopted, including the 1980 U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the 1980 Hague Convention on International (Parental) Child Abduction. The United States subsequently became a party to both Conventions. He was also responsible for U.S. participation in the negotiation and conclusion of the 1993 Hague Convention on the Intercountry Adoption of Children, designed primarily to protect the children involved in such adoptions and their biological parent(s). The United States became a party to the Convention in 2007. Pfund retired from L at 65 in 1997, but continued to work part-time until his final retirement in 2004 in the Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs on the provisions of federal regulations for the implementation of the Intercountry Adoption Convention by the United States.

Pfund is a graduate of Amherst College, cum laude (history), and of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is a member of the D.C. Bar, the American Bar Association (ABA), and the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs, was on the Board of International Legal Materials and has been a member of the American Society of International Law. He helped to found the Bonn-based Deutsch-Amerikanische Juristen Vereinigung (German-American Lawyers Association) in 1975 and served on its Board of Directors from 1975 to 1978.. He was given the Secretary of State's Career Achievement Award upon his retirement from L in 1997. The ABA in 1987 awarded Pfund the Leonard J. Theberge Prize for Private International Law. In 2000 the National Council for Adoption conferred on Pfund its Adoption Hall of Fame Award.

The Swiss government admitted that thousands of children were illegally adopted abroad and brought to Switzerland between 1970 and 1990. This discovery has prompted the government to seek a revision of the country's adoption laws. A report from 2020 revealed that the authorities failed to take appropriate action despite clear indications of irregularities in adoption placements. A second study conducted by Zurich University of Applied Sciences found evidence of illegal practices, child trafficking, falsified documents, and missing declarations of origin in multiple countries.

GENEVA: Thousands of children were probably illegally adopted abroad and brought to Switzerland between 1970 and 1990, the government admitted Friday.
The findings triggered ministers into seeking a revision of Switzerland's laws on adopting children from abroad.
Following numerous poignant testimonies from people illegally adopted in Sri Lanka, a first report in 2020 showed the authorities failed to take appropriate measures "despite early and clear indications" of irregularities in adoption placements.

The government commissioned a second study that was carried out by Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) which looked at adoptions from 10 other countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, India, Lebanon, Peru, Romania and South Korea.

"There were also indications of illegal practices, child trafficking, falsified documents and missing declarations of origin in these countries of origin," the government said in a statement.
"The number of entry permits issued suggests that several thousand adopted children could have been affected by irregularities during the period under investigation."
Over the period in question, ZHAW researchers found 8,000 authorisations for children to enter Switzerland, of which some 2,799 children came from India, 2,122 from Colombia, 1,222 from Brazil and 1,065 from South Korea.

The government "acknowledges the irregularities in international adoptions and regrets that the authorities did not adequately fulfil their responsibility towards the children and their families", it said.
"These shortcomings on the part of the authorities continue to shape the lives of adoptees to this day."
The federal government said it was up to the 26 cantons that make up Switzerland to support those affected in uncovering their origins.

After 70 years of more than 200,000 cases of overseas adoption, Korea is still grappling with the question of whether a person’s right to know the truth about their beginnings overrides their parents’ wishes to remain forgotten.
 
“Confidential, that is what everybody keeps telling me,” says Fanny, a French adoptee who asked to be identified only by her first name. “This is about my story, yet no one can give me the right information.”
 
Fanny, adopted by a family in France when she was only a few months old in 1982, has returned to Korea multiple times in search of her birth family.

She is joined by at least 3,000 others who did the same between 2019 and 2021.
 
But more than half of them were given the same answer in their search: The records of their biological parents were either lost or confidential.
 
In Korea, privacy laws give the parents the right to remain confidential, even after adoptees file an official request to the government for information about their birthparents, hoping to learn more about their beginnings.
 
And despite years of work by some adoptees and local advocates to convince lawmakers otherwise, Korea is about to pass another law allowing parents to remain anonymous when registering the birth of their child. 

 
“Every single person should know exactly where they came from,” said Ami Nafzger, founder of G.O.A.L., an NGO based in Seoul that has assisted adoptees in their search since 1997, and Adoptee Hub in the United States.
 
“It wasn’t our choice to leave the country,” she said, speaking from her experience of being adopted to the United States when she was four. “It wasn’t our choice to lose the language. It wasn’t our choice to lose our identity and our entire family history. The people passing these laws are not thinking about what it would be like if it were them.”
 
 
 

Adoptionen in Zwangssituationen: Die Geschichte der nationalen und internationalen Adoptionen in der Schweiz von den 1960erJahren bis heute Ergebnisse eines Forschungsprojekts des NFP 76 Dr. Susanne Businger, Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Prof. Nadja Ramsauer, Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Dr. Rahel Bühler, Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Sofiane Yousfi, Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Das Forschungsprojekt hatte zum Ziel, die Zwangssituationen bei Inlandadoptionen in der Schweiz von 1960 bis heute zu untersuchen. Die Untersuchung der Auslandadoptionen war als Sondierstudie konzipiert, um Forschungsfragen zu eruieren. Im Zentrum der Untersuchung standen Adoptionen im Kanton Zug im Zeitraum 1960 bis Ende der 1980er-Jahre. Die Zwangskonstellationen, in denen sich die zumeist ledigen Mütter befanden, waren vielfältig. Die Behörden unterbanden in der Regel den Kontakt der Mütter zu ihren Kindern. Finanzielle Sachzwänge, fehlende Unterstützungsleistungen, gesellschaftliche Normvorstellungen von Familie und Zwang von Seiten des Umfeldes, der Behörden und der Vermittlerinnen setzten die Mütter unter Druck. In den 1980erJahren gab es im Kanton Zug mehr Adoptionen von Kindern aus dem Ausland, bei Suchtmittelabhängigkeit und psychischen Erkrankungen der Eltern oder bei Wiederverheiratung nach Scheidung in Form der Stiefkinderadoption

A new study shows that the extent of illegal adoptions from abroad to Switzerland may be significantly greater than assumed. We are talking about forged documents and mafia-like structures in different countries of origin.

Hundreds of children were taken from their parents in Sri Lanka from the 1970s to the 1990s and placed as adoptive children in countries such as Switzerland, often using false identities. When this long-standing practice became known four years ago, it caused a wave of outrage throughout Switzerland. Now a report commissioned by the Federal Council as a result of the research shows that the scandal surrounding the adopted children from Sri Lanka may have only been the tip of the iceberg.

In several thousand other cases, irregularities may have occurred during this time, according to the report published by the Federal Council on Friday. It was written by Nadja Ramsauer, Rahel Bühler and Katja Girschik from the Institute for Childhood, Youth and Family at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). The authors examined adoptions from ten countries in Asia, Africa, South America and Europe. Most of the children came from India, Colombia, Brazil and Korea.

Agent collects $3,000 to $5,000 for a child

In these and six other countries there is numerous evidence of illegal practices, forged documents, missing origin information and child trafficking. According to the report, it is no longer possible to determine how many adopted children are affected. However, based on the entry permits issued during this period, the authors assume that there are several thousand people affected. Irregularities and misconduct did not only occur in the countries of origin. The authorities in Switzerland and the diplomatic missions in the countries are also said to have brushed aside information.

Dear Presidents,Ladies and Gentlemen,On June 17, 2005, the National Council adopted the Hubmann postulateFederal Council commissioned to present a report on Swiss adoption practice. This report corresponds to the concerns of the National Council.We therefore request that you write off the following postulate as completed:2005 P 05.3138 Report on the adoptions (03/17/2005, Hubmann)We assure you, Mr. Presidents, ladies and gentlemen, of oursexcellent respect.... On behalf of the Swiss Federal CouncilThe Federal President: Moritz LeuenbergerThe Chancellor: Annemarie Huber-Hotz

Between 1970 and 1999, several thousand children from abroad probably came to Switzerland illegally for adoption. This is what a new report shows. These illegal practices are known from Sri Lanka. “Back to the Roots” tries to support those affected and help them deal with their adoption story. Sarah Ineichen is co-founder of the association and came to Switzerland as a baby from Sri Lanka to adoptive parents. She now also wants to help adoptees from other countries.

SRF News: What did the report trigger for you?

Sarah Ineichen: I'm shocked. It was clear to us that the irregularities in adoptions from Sri Lanka were just the tip of the iceberg. It is now factually proven that ten other countries of origin are affected. There are countless fates behind these numbers.

Those affected should be supported. At best.

And we are affected: no amount of money will make up for it. It's time for the federal government and the cantons to stand up. If a mistake has been made, I believe we can expect an apology. And those affected should be supported. At best.

According to a study, the problem of unlawful adoptions in recent decades is far greater than previously known. Thousands of children are likely to be affected.

Celin Fässler was adopted from Sri Lanka. Today she advises adoptees who are looking for their birth parents.

The investigations into adoptions from Sri Lanka got the ball rolling. Three years ago it emerged that many children from Sri Lanka had been illegally adopted. Now it is clear: Sri Lanka is not an isolated case. Children who had been bought or taken away from their parents were also adopted from other countries. This is shown by a report from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) commissioned by the federal government. 

What are the key findings of the new report?

The researchers searched the Federal Archives for documents from the 1970s to the 1990s from ten countries of origin: Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, India, Colombia, Korea, Lebanon, Peru and Romania. They come to the conclusion that there is also numerous evidence of illegal practices, child trafficking, forged documents and missing origin information for these countries.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-2426

Departement Soziale Arbeit Institut für Kindheit, Jugend und Familie Hinweise auf illegale Adoptionen von Kindern aus zehn Herkunftsländern in der Schweiz, 1970erbis 1990er-Jahre Bestandesaufnahme zu Unterlagen im Schweizerischen Bundesarchiv