The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) has called on Switzerland to conduct an impartial investigation into past illegal adoptions from Sri Lanka and pay reparations to victims.

In its review of Switzerland’s record on enforced disappearances on Tuesday, the CED raised the issue of illegal adoptions of Sri Lankan children that happened a few decades ago.

While acknowledging that the Alpine nation had accepted its failure to prevent the illegal adoptions, the committee said that a rich country like Switzerland “should do more” for these children who are now adults. Specifically, the Swiss authorities were asked to follow up on the cases to determine the gravity of the injustices committed during that period.

“The Committee urged the State party [Switzerland] to conduct thorough and impartial investigations to determine whether children adopted from Sri Lanka during the 1980s and 1990s may have been victims of enforced disappearance and wrongful removal, and whether other offences, such as falsification, concealment or destruction of identity documents were committed in these cases,” the CED stated.

The committee also recommended that Switzerland should “guarantee the right to reparation to any person who has suffered from such acts”.

(Keystone-ATS)

A UN committee asks Switzerland for in-depth investigations into illegal adoptions in Sri Lanka during the 1970s to the 1990s. Berne must verify whether enforced disappearances have been perpetrated and guarantee reparations to the victims.

In their observations published Tuesday in Geneva, the independent experts of the Committee against enforced disappearances, who do not speak on behalf of the UN, welcome the regrets of the Federal Council last December. But during the recent hearing of the Swiss delegation, one of them said that a rich country like Switzerland "must do more" for these children now adults.

According to the committee, Berne must actively support these people in their search for identity. The Confederation must also verify that documents have not been falsified, concealed or destroyed. Reparations must be made, including if the violations were perpetrated in Sri Lanka.

In December, Federal Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter announced that the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) would strengthen its relations with partner countries of origin and seek solutions with them for concrete cases. But she recalled that the task falls above all to the cantons.

As media reports show heart-wrenching stories of children orphaned by the pandemic, social media started blowing up with posts calling for donations and offers for the adoption of such children. But while the public might be sympathetic, such posts and the demand for donation and adoption clearly violate the law.

The Juvenile Justice Act 2000 and the guidelines issued by the Central Adoption Resource Authority are very clear when it comes to children in need of care.

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Any child, who loses their parent, cannot simply be adopted or taken care of by an NGO or any person. Even for family members, there is a clear process in place under the Juvenile Justice Act (JJ Act) before they can assume guardianship of the child.

Under the law, the child will be taken before the district Child Welfare Committee, which would conduct an inquiry regarding the family prospects and consider whether the child can be put under ‘kinship care’- i.e. with family members/friends, or would need ‘institutional care’ and be sent to a childcare home.

The government today presents a broad political agreement that will raise the children and social area by almost 800 million kroner.

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Jens Dresling

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DENMARKMAY 11, 2021 AT 10.30

THE family of Martina Anderson have accused Sinn Féin of "publicly humiliating" her.

Ms Anderson and fellow Foyle MLA Karen Mullan announced last week they would not be standing for re-election next year following a party review.

While she admitted it had been a “body blow”, Ms Anderson accepted the decision.

However, in an unprecedented attack on the Sinn Féin leadership last night, the former IRA prisoner's family appealed for help to "correct what we believe is a massive miscarriage of justice".

"The British could not do to our Martina what her comrades and friends have done," they said.

TORONTO -- Hari Gopal Garg and his wife Komal Garg have been stuck in India since Ottawa banned flights from the country, which has been overwhelmed by its second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Gargs travelled to India to finalize the adoption of a 14-month-old girl, and had completed paperwork to return to Canada just days before flights were banned.

“We were just two days away from our flight, and it was disappointing that the Canadian government didn't give us any time, as other countries did,” Hari told CTV News Channel in an interview on Monday.

Newsletter sign-up: Get The COVID-19 Brief sent to your inbox

He said part of the trouble with trying to return to Canada is receiving only automated email responses from government officials.

Nagpur: Any person sympathetically taking part in adoption of orphans, whether the parents died due to Covid or otherwise,

may face serious legal implications if the norms are not followed. Any adoption without a court order is bracketed as a ‘crime’

under at least three different laws.The latest advisory has been issued by the Maharashtra State Child Protection Society,

operating under the women and child development department, alerting against participating in any adoption through

messages seeking support or shelter for Covid orphans.

Being a mother is not just a relation but an emotion. This Mother’s Day we got in touch with Bollywood choreographer, Shabina Khan, who is currently in news for her latest work, ‘Dil De Diya’ from Radhe. The idea was to shift the limelight from her personal achievements to something she seldom speaks about: her personal life, motherhood and adoption. Excerpts from the interview:

Adoption is a great choice but our society still has inhibitions about it. When you were making the decision, did this bother you?

Everybody knows that a good deed, is a good deed. But not everyone has the courage to do it. I was very young around 9–10-year-old when I told my mother that I will adopt 5 girls. The reason behind the number was that we're five siblings, so I always told her that I'll adopt 5 girls. My mother asked me if I don't want my kids. To which I replied: I want my kids, but that shouldn't stop me from adopting. That's a different thing. I'll have my child, with my adopted babies and will raise them equally. This is a true symbol of humanity.

I met lot of people who believe in adoption. I've also seen families who are blessed with a child after an adoption, and they raise both kids equally. After I adopted my first baby, the joy that she brought to us was hard to describe in words. At the same time, me and my husband both felt that we had so much more love to give, and wanted to give a family to another child. That's when we adopted my son. My two kids now share an unbreakable sibling bond, and are the pride and joy of our lives.

What is that one message you would like to give it to people who want to adopt?

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In the midst of cries for oxygen, hospital beds and emergency drugs on social media, a desperate appeal that stopped people in their thumb scrolling tracks a fortnight ago was a message urging families to adopt two girls — one aged three days and another six months — with the claim that they had lost their parents recently to Covid. “Please help these kids get a new life, spread the word,” urged the post that quickly went viral.

Such emotional pleas for adoption of children orphaned by the virus have surfaced over the past few days. And though these forwards may be well intentioned, the request is unlawful and could even put a child in danger of being sold or trafficked.

The investigation into forced adoption between 1956 and 1984 has ended in painful embarrassment. The advocate of the Dutch Distance Mother Foundation has stated its confidence in the investigation led by the outgoing Minister for Legal Protection Sander Dekker.

Dekker admitted last summer that mistakes had been made in the investigation and apologized for this. Stories of children and parents who have had to deal with forced adoption turned out not to be safe at the 'registration point' that was set up for them. A committee was set up to see what went wrong, but now that the mothers have not heard anything for months, the measure is full for them. The DNA Foundation is even pushing for a parliamentary inquiry to expose the errors.

Researchers estimate that it concerns about 15,000 Dutch children who were handed over to an adoptive family during this period. This often happened under great pressure, for example because their mothers were not married or were still minors. Committing an abortion was not an option at the time.

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