Mediator : trois ans de prison avec sursis requis contre une ex-sénatrice accusée d’avoir modifié un rapport parlementaire

Mediator

Le parquet a requis trois ans de prison avec sursis contre l’ancienne sénatrice Marie-Thérèse Hermange accusée d'avoir modifié un rapport sur le Mediator pour minimiser la responsabilité du groupe pharmaceutique.

LE 18 SEP 2020

Guillaume JacquotPar Guillaume Jacquot

Le professeur Griscelli se défend d’avoir voulu réduire l’impact négatif du Mediator

Il est soupçonné d’avoir tenté d’influencer la rédaction d’un rapport d’information sénatorial sur le médicament alors qu’il était depuis plus de dix ans un consultant rémunéré par le laboratoire.

Par Simon Piel

Publié le 16 septembre 2020 à 00h42 - Mis à jour le 16 septembre 2020 à 08h31

Temps deLecture 3 min.

Gera ter Meulen, Knowledge Bureau ter Meulen, for Foster Care and Adoption

In the current discussion about intercountry adoption, reference is often made to the principle of subsidiarity. But I come across several publications that show that this may be more complicated than you might think. Like this article with an overview of 9 Asian countries by researchers from Japan and Malaysia.

Subsidiarity

One of the important points of view in the Hague Adoption Convention is the principle of subsidiarity: If a child cannot live with his or her parents, then preferably care in their own network, otherwise domestic adoption. Intercountry adoption is only a last resort if there is no good reception in one's own country. But is good reception always possible in your own country?

UN Guidelines for Alternative Care for Children

UN Guidelines for the Appropriate Use and Conditions of Alternative Care for Children

The draft guidelines are now available in four languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Arabic

The projected international guidelines seek to ensure that, on the one hand, children do not find themselves in out-of-home care unnecessarily and, on the other, out-of-home care provided is of a type and quality that corresponds to the rights and specific needs of the child concerned. They are designed to promote, facilitate and guide the progressive implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in this particular area of concern. The non-binding Guidelines, ultimately for adoption by the United Nations General Assembly, address not only governments but also international bodies and organisations, civil society, professionals, voluntary organisations and the private sector to the extent that they are directly or indirectly involved with organising, providing or monitoring out-of-home care for children.

A first draft of the guidelines was developed by NGOs in a working group on children without parental care, convened by International Social Service when the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended the development of international standards in this sphere following the Day of General Discussion in September 2005. UNICEF has also been closely involved in the drafting process, and the Better Care Network's advisory group reviewed and commented on the guidelines. Young people have also been included in the consultations, providing valuable insight into matters that affect them.

In May, 2006, the draft guidelines were submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The Committee reviewed and strengthened the guidelines in preparation for informal technical review by UN member states.

USAID's Displaced Children and Orphans Fund supports programs that photo of Angolan mother carrying child. USAID/Lloyd Feinberghelp families and communities provide the necessary care, protection, and support for children in need:

Children affected by armed conflict

Street children

Children with disabilities

Children otherwise separated from appropriate care-giving situations

Background

Over 60 million children have lost one or both parents throughout the world due to different causes. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is adding significantly to this number.

We know that children need and have a right to be cared for by their parents and to grow up in a family environment as much as possible. This has been recognized through years of experience and research as well as formally recognized under national and international laws. In many countries, however, few or no mechanisms exist to ensure the most appropriate placements, encourage and support guardianship and adoption arrangements, and provide support and monitoring for foster families. Much needs to be done to prevent separation by supporting families and to develop better care alternatives when separation is inevitable.

Formation of the Better Care Network

Recognizing the urgent need for concerted action, UNICEF, the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF) and the Africa Bureau for Sustainable Development of USAID, and Save the Children UK, came together to form the Better Care Network (BCN) in 2003. This decision was influenced by the Stockholm Conference on Residential Care in May 2003 and the position paper presented there by the Save the Children Alliance, "A Last Resort: The Growing Concern About Children in Residential Care," and by workshops on better care issues in Africa and the United States. During its first two years, BCN existed as a loose affiliation of organizations exchanging information through a growing listserve. As the listserve grew, and more information was shared via the network, the organizations mentioned above, together with CARE and the Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI), agreed that BCN served a vital role, and should expand its scope through the creation of a formal secretariat to support its work. Each organization agreed to contribute resources to strengthen BCN and to serve on its steering committee. In August 2005, BCN's secretariat was established. The secretariat is based at UNICEF headquarters and operates with the guidance and direction of the steering committee. In 2007, two more steering committee members joind BCN: Bernard van leer Foundation; and Firelight Foundation.

Background to the Formation of the Better Care Network

Over 60 million children have lost one or both parents throughout the world due to different causes. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is adding significantly to this number.

We know that children need and have a right to be cared for by their parents and to grow up in a family environment as much as possible. This has been recognized through years of experience and research as well as formally recognized under national and international laws. In many countries, however, few or no mechanisms exist to ensure the most appropriate placements, encourage and support guardianship and adoption arrangements, and provide support and monitoring for foster families. Much needs to be done to prevent separation by supporting families and to develop better care alternatives when separation is inevitable. National and international actors need to establish and enforce appropriate legal standards to ensure the safety, well-being, and healthy development of children placed in care, including continued efforts towards reunification and permanency.

Establishment and Expansion of the Better Care Network

Recognizing the urgent need for concerted action, UNICEF, the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF) and the Africa Bureau for Sustainable Development of USAID, and Save the Children UK, came together to form the Better Care Network (BCN) in 2003. This decision was influenced by the Stockholm Conference on Residential Care in May 2003 and the position paper presented there by the Save the Children Alliance, "A Last Resort: The Growing Concern About Children in Residential Care," and by workshops on better care issues in Africa and the United States. During its first two years, BCN existed as a loose affiliation of organizations exchanging information through a growing listserve. As the listserve grew, and more information was shared via the network, the organizations mentioned above, together with CARE and the Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI), agreed that BCN served a vital role, and should expand its scope through the creation of a formal secretariat to support its work. Each organization agreed to contribute resources to strengthen BCN and to serve on its steering committee. In August 2005, BCN's secretariat was established. The secretariat is based at UNICEF headquarters and operates with the guidance and direction of the steering committee, which meets once a year.

While visiting the Tekakwitha Nursing Home to sing for residents, 13-year-old Denise Owen was led away from the rest of her boarding school group by a nun. A special surprise awaited her.

There, in another room in the Sisseton, S.D., facility, was her newborn sister, Rose Anne. Denise got only a glimpse of the infant, lying in a bassinet in a long-sleeve shirt and a diaper, before another nun ordered her to leave. Denise was not supposed to see her sibling, soon to be adopted.

It would be 50 years before they saw each other again.

Rose Anne, who would be raised by a Glenside dentist and his wife, became a child of the country’s American Indian adoption era, a decades-long forced assimilation of Native children first established under the Indian Adoption Project, which started in 1958 and evolved to include 50 private and public placement agencies across the United States and Canada, where the so-called Sixties Scoop was coined to describe the mass removal of children from Native homes. During the next 20 years, almost 13,000 Native children would be adopted.

According to a 1969 report by the Association on American Indian Affairs, between 25% and 35% of all Native children were placed in adoptive homes, foster homes, or institutions; and about 90% of those children were being raised by non-Natives.

he number of children adopted abroad continues to fall. 244 international adoptions were carried out in 2020 against 421 in 2019, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A decrease of 47%. How to explain the continuation of this collapse which has lasted for more than a decade?

For a decade, the number of foreign adoptions has been steadily declining for French nationals or foreigners residing in France. Several factors explain this decrease.

The ethical question

In 2020, 244 children were adopted abroad by French nationals or foreigners residing in France, according to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Vietnam is the first country of origin for children followed by Colombia, Thailand, Haiti and the Republic of Congo.

Several factors explain the decline in adoptions for several years. In particular, there is a sharp decrease in adopted children in Russia, the first country of origin for a long time, restrictions have been introduced by Moscow.

The Committee for Welfare, Public Health and Family of the Flemish Parliament is once again organizing hearings on intercountry adoption. This time, the final report of the expert panel on intercountry adoption gave the starting signal. This final report examines whether and how malpractice in intercountry adoption can be prevented. The panel of experts gave twenty recommendations to fundamentally reform intercountry adoption and accommodate victims of malpractice.

The Children's Rights Commissioner participated in the expert panel. We endorse all recommendations of the final report. Nevertheless, with our advice we will go deeper into some recommendations that touch on children's rights or complaints and reports that came to us:

States that allow or recognize adoption must ensure that the best interests of the child are the primary consideration. But simply referring to the best interests of the child as the primary consideration in adoption is not enough. It is especially relevant to describe and assess that importance in terms of content. What is in the best interests of the child cannot be determined or described in advance and can only be assessed on a case-by-case basis, depending on the situation, the personal context, one's own needs and requirements. There are various sources of inspiration to fulfill that interest of the child.

The principle of subsidiarity makes intercountry adoption the exception rather than the rule. From a children's rights perspective, adoption only comes into play when all other appropriate care options in the country of origin have been exhausted. Although it is not clear from a legal point of view what exactly appropriate internal solutions are and how subsidiary intercountry adoption is compared to other care solutions, no generally unanimous answer is needed here. Every situation is different. In the interest of each child, the different care solutions must be weighed up against each other.

Informed consent from children from 12 years and from the first parents is required. The Children's Rights Commissioner finds the age limit of 12 years to give permission arbitrary. By analogy with the decree on the legal position of minors in Integrated Youth Care, we argue for a presumption of competence from the age of 12, but with the option of deviating if the minor who is younger is indeed sufficiently mature and competent to make certain decisions. to take. Whether the law in the country of origin expressly requires the consent of the first parents must be decisive in deciding whether or not to cooperate with a country of origin.