Almost 50 children from Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia were removed by Belarusian charity, according to Belta

Ukrainian children who had been illegally deported to Russia have arrived in Belarus, where state media published photographs showing them waving Belarusian flags and flanked by riot police.

The 48 children come from the occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, which Moscow claims it has annexed.

LONDON, United Kingdom — The past few decades have seen an upsurge in the phenomenon of “paper orphaning.” Children are taken illicitly from their birthparents and are falsely presented as orphans by means of fraudulent documentation, rendering the children “legally” adoptable to satisfy the demand for intercountry adoptions. This demand, mainly from couples in developed countries wanting to adopt from the Global South, combined with the adoption fees associated, results in recruiters in sending nations using illicit means to generate a sufficient supply of “adoptable” children, or illegal orphans. According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, illegal intercountry adoption is a human rights issue as the act violates several human rights and has “devastating consequences on the lives and rights of victims.” Intercountry adoption processes must at all times consider the best interests of the child. The Borgen Project spoke to Professor David Smolin, director of Cumberland School of Law’s Center for Children, Law and Ethics on the topic of illegal intercountry adoptions.

False Promises and Financial Incentives

Through coercive tactics such as deception, bribery or even abduction, wily recruiters obtain children from impoverished, vulnerable families and sometimes even pregnant women, a research article by Griffith University law lecturer Kathryn E. van Doore discusses. These recruiters promise better opportunities for the children, such as a good education, and tell parents that they can see them during the holidays. There are further incentives such as financial or other rewards. Many parents, therefore, do not give consent freely but under psychological pressure and/or deception. Sometimes, recruiters take children by force and, in some cases, parents actually pay to relinquish their child.

These children are then legally “adoptable” through the falsification of identities and papers, including falsified birth certificates and death certificates of the parents, and they become “paper orphans.” These incidents have occurred in Nepal, Cambodia, Uganda and Ghana, among others, says Van Doore on a Griffiths University news page.

Paper Orphaning and Poverty

Illegal adoptees have begun receiving a once-off payment of €3,000 from the Department of Children, to help cover the costs of DNA tests and any legal bills.

The money is being paid out following a recommendation last year by the former government Special Rapporteur on Child Protection on foot of an independent review into illegal registrations.

Professor Conor O’Mahony had called for a state inquiry into the issues raised and said the Government should formally apologise to those affected.

It is estimated that as many as 15,000 people were illegally registered as the birth child of their adoptive parents after the adoption act was introduced in 1952.

That law was meant to protect illegal trafficking of children. However, it has since emerged private unlawful adoption arrangements continued until at least the 1970s.

Emma Harriet Nicholson, Baroness of Winterbourne, is a distinguished figure whose lifelong commitment to public service and advocacy has left an indelible mark on British politics and international affairs. With an illustrious career spanning several decades, Baroness Nicholson’s accomplishments have been characterized by her tireless dedication to human rights, social justice, and gender equality. Her unwavering commitment to these causes has earned her international recognition and respect. Born on October 16, 1941, in Oxford, England, Emma Harriet Nicholson was raised in a family that valued education, philanthropy, and public service. She attended St Mary’s Wantage School, continuing her education at Royal Academy of Music, where she studied piano, cello, and singing and gained LRAM and ARCM.. Her academic pursuits laid the foundation for her future endeavors in politics and diplomacy. Baroness Nicholson’s political career took off when she became a member of the Conservative Party. Her time in the House of Lords was marked by her dedicated work on a variety of issues, including education, social welfare, and healthcare. Her efforts to improve the lives of her constituents were widely recognized and appreciated. One of the defining moments of Baroness Nicholson’s career came when she turned her attention to international affairs and human rights. In 1997, she was appointed as a member of the UK Parliament. This appointment marked the beginning of her remarkable journey as a champion for human rights on the global stage. Baroness Nicholson’s passion for human rights and social justice led her to focus on the plight of vulnerable communities, especially women and children in conflict zones and regions affected by humanitarian crises. She became a leading voice in advocating for the rights of these marginalized populations and spearheaded numerous initiatives to provide them with support and assistance.

One of the most significant achievements of Baroness Nicholson’s career was her instrumental role in establishing the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, also she was  appointed as parliamentary undersecretary for foreign affairs. She chaired the Select Committee for the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Conflict in 2015, and before that, in 2011, she was appointed to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. Baroness Nicholson has monitored over 34 elections in different countries, including Yemen and Iraq. She tirelessly campaigned against this heinous crime, raising awareness about its prevalence and advocating for stronger legislation to combat it. Her efforts were crucial in shaping the UK’s response to human trafficking and modern slavery, and her work continues to inspire others to take action. In addition to her parliamentary work, Baroness Nicholson has held several prominent positions in international organizations. She served as Vice-President of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009, where she worked on issues related to foreign affairs and human rights as President of the Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Common Defence and Security Policy; and Rapporteur for Romania, Iraq, and Kashmir. Her advocacy for gender equality and women’s empowerment was particularly noteworthy during her tenure. She also served as a Member of the European Parliament for the South East England constituency from 1999 to 2009.Baroness Nicholson’s commitment to human rights and social justice has taken her to some of the most challenging and dangerous regions in the world. She has been at the forefront of efforts to support communities affected by conflicts in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Her work in these areas has involved providing humanitarian aid, promoting peace and reconciliation, and advocating for the rights of those affected by war and violence. In recognition of her outstanding contributions to human rights and international diplomacy, Baroness Nicholson was appointed as a Life Peer in1997, granting her a seat in the House of Lords. As Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, she continued to champion causes close to her heart and to leverage her position to effect meaningful change. Her relentless pursuit of justice and equality has earned her widespread admiration and respect from colleagues, constituents, and human rights activists across the globe. Baroness Nicholson’s dedication to women’s rights has been a cornerstone of her advocacy. She firmly believes that empowering women and promoting equal opportunity are not only moral imperatives but also key drivers of social and economic progress. Throughout her career, she has worked tirelessly to ensure that women’s voices are heard and their rights protected. She has been a leading advocate for initiatives that address gender-based violence, promote women’s education, and increase women’s political participation. Furthermore, Baroness Nicholson’s efforts to combat poverty and improve healthcare have been instrumental in bringing about positive change in many communities. She has been actively involved in initiatives aimed at eradicating poverty, providing access to clean water and sanitation, and improving healthcare services in underprivileged areas. Her work in this regard has been recognized by numerous organizations, including honorary fellowships and awards for her outstanding humanitarian efforts. Baroness Nicholson’s passion for human rights and her unwavering commitment to making a difference extend beyond her political and diplomatic roles. She has been actively involved in numerous charitable organizations and foundations that focus on issues such as child protection, disability rights, and refugee support. Her philanthropic endeavors have touched the lives of countless individuals and have helped make the world a better place for those in need. As a testament to her exceptional contributions, Baroness Nicholson has received numerous accolades throughout her career. In 2000, she was appointed as a Dame Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope John Paul II for her humanitarian work. She has also been awarded the Freedom of the City of London and holds honorary doctorates from several universities. Baroness Nicholson’s impact and influence continue to resonate in the political, diplomatic, and humanitarian spheres. Her dedication, resilience, and unwavering commitment to human rights serve as an inspiration to current and future generations of activists and change-makers. Her legacy is one of compassion, integrity, and a relentless pursuit of justice. As we reflect on the remarkable achievements and professional career of Emma Harriet Nicholson, Baroness of Winterbourne, we are reminded of the power of one individual to make a significant difference in the lives of others. Her tireless efforts to promote human rights, social justice, and gender equality have left an indelible mark on the global stage. The world is undoubtedly a better place because of her unwavering commitment and selfless dedication to creating a more just and equitable society for all.

By Ovidiu Stanica

The Telangana government has decided to adopt orphaned children in the state and provide them with all amenities on humanitarian grounds.

By Apoorva Jayachandran: Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao on Monday announced that the government would introduce an "Orphan Policy" under which it will adopt orphans in the state. The policy will serve the orphans in the state and they will be considered 'children of the state', said Telangana minister KT Rama Rao. This scheme will be introduced in the next cabinet session, said the minister.

The government will provide the children with all amenities on humanitarian grounds, much like the other schemes introduced by the Telangana government, said the minister.

The Telangana government in 2022 decided to introduce a Comprehensive Act aiming at providing better living conditions for orphaned children in the state.

The cabinet sub committee on Child Welfare and Women's Development then took a slew of important decisions which included declaring orphans as 'State Children' (Rashtra Biddalu) to extend all kinds of assistance to the orphans.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Gauri Godse had directed the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) to hand over the child’s custody, who was abandoned by the mother, to the father while hearing his plea.

Matters are decided within four corners of law and not on general perceptions, remarked the Bombay High Court when a mother, who had abandoned the child since she was a minor at the time of birth, opposed handing over of the custody to the biological father following a habeas corpus (produce the person in court) petition.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Gauri Godse had directed the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) to hand over the child’s custody, who was abandoned by the mother, to the father while hearing his plea.

On Monday, additional public prosecutor Prajakta Shinde informed the court that the panel had passed a fresh order handing over the custody to the father.

Mother opposes child's custody given to father

Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Kumar Mishra told the Rajya Sabha on July 26 that 10,61,648 women above 18 years and 2,51,430 girls below 18 years went missing between 2019 and 2021 across the country.

Around 13.13 lakh girls and women went missing in the country in the three years between 2019 and 2021, with Madhya Pradesh accounting for the highest at nearly two lakhs, closely followed by West Bengal, the Ministry of Home Affairs has informed the Rajya Sabha.

Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Kumar Mishra told the Rajya Sabha on July 26 that 10,61,648 women above 18 years and 2,51,430 girls below 18 years went missing between 2019 and 2021 across the country. “In 2019, the number of girls and women who went missing was 82,084 and 3,42,168 respectively, while in 2020, 79, 233 girls and 3,44,422 women went missing,” he said.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) website, 82,619 girls went missing in 2019 and 49,436 were recovered. In the same year, 3,29,504 women went missing, and 1,68,793 were recovered. In 2020, 79,233 girls and 3,44,422 women went missing. Of these, 2,24,043 women were recovered while the number of girls recovered in 2019 was not given. “In 2021, 90,113 girls went missing and 58,980 were recovered. 3,75,058 women went missing and 2,02,298 were recovered,” the data shows.

Adoptees who want to discover their original identity are forced to turn to a program such as Spoorloos . They have nowhere else to go. There should be legal provisions regulating access to the right to identity of adoptees.

Four victims of the TV program Spoorloos want compensation from KRO-NCRV because the editors provided them with false information about their original identity. Since the late 1960s, more than 40,000 people from approximately eighty different countries have lost their original identity through intercountry adoption to the Netherlands. 1

Since 1990, Spoorloos has focused on these adoptees. The editors promise them a 'match' with their original family, in order to entertain the audience and generate viewing figures. Spoorloos confronts adoptees on television with lost family, deprived identity and their deepest pain.

By participating in Spoorloos , adoptees relinquish their right to privacy in exchange for a possible match with their original family. This also concerns false matches, as became clear after research into the TV program Oplichters tackled in 2022.

Adoptees are forced to turn to Spoorloos because they have insufficient resources and support to discover their original identity themselves. That is inherent to intercountry adoption. Adoptees cannot go anywhere else, not even at the recently established expertise center for intercountry adoption (INEA).

Well-known adoption center says it has fallen victim to a conspiracy by Madhya Pradesh officials

A central Indian state has refused to renew the permit of a Christian orphanage, accusing it of running boys’ and girls’ hostels under one license.

The Department for Women and Child Development in Madhya Pradesh refused to renew the permit of the orphanage managed by Adharshila Sansthan (Cornerstone Institution), run by a Protestant couple, in Damoh district.

[Finding the truth about 372 international adoptees] I am looking for my biological mother with my daughter.

Before heading to a small alley on a mountain hill in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul in the hot summer of July, we were enjoying the cool subway ride. My 10 year old daughter was strangely quiet. I thought her daughter was getting tired of the heat, but then she turned to me and she said, She said, "She's looking for ladies who look like her mom." After a brief pause, she continues. “And someone who looks like me. I hope I can meet my (maternal) grandmother someday.”

According to my adoption file, I was found wrapped in a blanket on the street in front of an institution called ‘Hwirakwon’ in Seongbuk-dong. I don't know what kind of organization Hwirakwon is, and it seems like it doesn't exist anymore. Someone found me and handed me over to the Seongbukam Police Station on May 6, 1976. I was about three weeks old. Now I'm back with my family and my daughter who wants to know more about adoption in South Korea and her potential grandmother. There was so little information in the adoption file that we could only find the name of the police station. So we did our best to wander around the old neighborhood of Seongbuk-dong.

When I saw my daughter's face as soon as she was born, it was like meeting my first family. Before that, I barely thought about Korea. Growing up in a white community, I experienced everyday racism, but I rarely thought about my background. Why should you think? My life began in January 1977 with a one-way ticket to Denmark. The fact that I never met my biological family after giving birth to my daughter shocked me. At 35 years old, I knew nothing about Korea or my background. Now that I have become a mother myself, I realize that I have less and less time to find my mother.

I quickly realized that Holt, the adoption agency, would not be able to help, so I found an online forum for international adoptees. In this forum I slowly started to realize that something was strange. Until then, I had said that overseas adoption in Korea was an inevitable humanitarian effort born of misfortune and poverty after the Korean War. But I had a question. Why didn't other countries send 200,000 babies overseas during the crisis, and why were I and the majority of adopted children sent overseas even during a period of significant economic development in South Korea after the end of the Korean War?

At these forums for international adoptees, I learned about the dark side of Korean overseas adoption. I learned that our records had been manipulated to simplify the adoption process, and that the adoption agency and the Korean government had greatly benefited economically from international adoption. I was very shocked when I learned that the history of adoption in Korea also includes instances of children being taken away or otherwise separated without parental consent. But what continues to haunt me is learning how our Korean mothers were humiliated, abused, and forced into adoption by a society that despises single mothers. When she discreetly told her daughter this, she cried out in pain: "It's so unfair and unnecessary! Why should I lose my child just because I'm not married? Why doesn't Korea help mothers keep their children?"

As my family and I walk through the old slums of Seongbuk-dong, I imagine my mother. I've done it many times, but now we can point to a specific house and imagine that I was born in that house with the blue roof on the hill. I imagine my mother was one of those young women who broke her daughter's heart. She became estranged from her family when she gave birth to me out of wedlock, and after struggling to care for her baby alone, she decided that neither she nor Korean society could protect me. I know from my medical records that I had thrush (oral candidiasis) when I was found as a baby. This disease usually occurs during breastfeeding through a mother who has inflammation of the breasts. This is very painful for the mother. As I imagine my own mother in excruciating pain every time she breastfeeds, alone with her crying baby, I can feel the despair that she had to give up in the end, despite her best efforts. Today I cling to the knowledge that I had thrush. To me, that information is the only proof that her mother actually existed.

Danish Korea Rights Group ( DKRG) asked the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (Truth and Reconciliation Committee) last year to investigate allegations of human rights violations in international adoption, I told my daughter that many adoptees around the world were telling the Korean government the truth about overseas adoption. He said he asked them to shed light and free our mothers' lives from the shadows of dishonor, misunderstanding and oppression. I also told her daughter that I wasn't sure if she would ever be able to meet her grandmother. Our search continues, but time is running out. I'm sure if she meets her mother. My daughter will let me know that it wasn't her fault that she lost her baby.

In September 2022, 283 overseas adoptees submitted an investigation request to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to determine whether human rights were violated at the time of adoption. The number increased to 372 as additional applications were submitted twice on November 15th and December 9th. They requested an investigation into whether human rights were violated in the adoption process of overseas adoptees adopted from Korea to Denmark and around the world during the authoritarian period from the 1970s to the early 1990s and whether there was any intervention by the government in that process. Fortunately, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced on December 8 that it had decided to open an investigation into 'human rights violations during the overseas adoption process', and on June 8, it announced the opening of an investigation into an additional 237 people. This is the first government-level investigation decision in 68 years since Korea began overseas adoption. <Pressian> plans to continue publishing articles written by overseas adoptees who have requested an investigation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Editor's note