When Khaled Quzmar was 14 years old, his brother was arrested by Israeli occupation forces and Khaled was only able to see him through an “iron net” when he visited. His desire to break through this iron net and give his brother a hug – a simple request denied by the Israeli prison authorities – is what inspired Khaled to become a lawyer: “I found that the only way was to become a lawyer and visit him in prison and hug him inside.”

He studied for his law degree at Oran University in Algeria, and returned to Palestine 5 years later to find his brother still in prison. Two days later, he was inside his brother’s cell and was finally able to hug him.

For the next 20 years, Khaled continued to work as a defence lawyer representing mainly child prisoners inside the Israeli military courts.

However, after 20 years, Khaled became so frustrated that he felt that he could no longer continue to battle in the Israeli military courts system.

“I got aggressive with my children. I couldn’t accept it when I came home after working 10 hours in the military courts, leaving children alone behind bars without anybody to take care of them, subjected sometimes to torture and ill-treatment, while my children asked me to go to a restaurant or to the cinema. So I became aggressive. But then I thought to myself, ‘Why am I doing that? Why am I blaming my children? Why am I punishing them?’ So I decided to stop working, to have a rest, and to study something.”

When Khaled Quzmar was 14 years old, his brother was arrested by Israeli occupation forces and Khaled was only able to see him through an “iron net” when he visited. His desire to break through this iron net and give his brother a hug – a simple request denied by the Israeli prison authorities – is what inspired Khaled to become a lawyer: “I found that the only way was to become a lawyer and visit him in prison and hug him inside.”

He studied for his law degree at Oran University in Algeria, and returned to Palestine 5 years later to find his brother still in prison. Two days later, he was inside his brother’s cell and was finally able to hug him.

For the next 20 years, Khaled continued to work as a defence lawyer representing mainly child prisoners inside the Israeli military courts.

However, after 20 years, Khaled became so frustrated that he felt that he could no longer continue to battle in the Israeli military courts system.

“I got aggressive with my children. I couldn’t accept it when I came home after working 10 hours in the military courts, leaving children alone behind bars without anybody to take care of them, subjected sometimes to torture and ill-treatment, while my children asked me to go to a restaurant or to the cinema. So I became aggressive. But then I thought to myself, ‘Why am I doing that? Why am I blaming my children? Why am I punishing them?’ So I decided to stop working, to have a rest, and to study something.”

ROMFILATELIA SUPPORTS SERA ROMANIA FOUNDATION THROUGH A POSTAL STATIONERY FOR A NOBLE CAUSE – “EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FAMILY!”

On Monday, October 24th, 2016, the Romanian Athenaeum hosted the anniversary event 20 years of activity SERA Romania Foundation, which marked two working decades of this nongovernmental institution, serving to protect the children in need.

The event included a series of moments which guaranteed an exceptional evening, based on a noble cause “Every child deserves a family”: the anniversary charity symphonic music concert, having the famous American pianist Alan Gampel as special guest, the photo exhibition dedicated to the work of the foundation, the philatelic moment of presenting the dedicated postal stationery and a cocktail which ended the evening successfully.

The host of the evening, Mr. Bogdan Simion, Executive Director of SERA Romania Foundation, had several special guests: Mr. Dragos Pislaru, Minister of Labour, Family and Social Protection for the Elderly, Ms. Arielle de Rothschild, President of the Board of Directors of the CARE France Foundation, Ms. Michele Ramniceanu, Board Member of the CARE France Foundation, members of the Chamber of Deputies, of the Diplomatic Corps, including H.E. Ms. Tamar Samash, the Israeli Ambassador to Bucharest. There were also representatives of the General Directorates for Social Assistance and Child Protection, guests from the business environment, as well as institutional partners of the foundation.

In order to support the activity of the Foundation, as well as celebrating its anniversary of 20 years of existence, Romfilatelia joined the festive moment by designing a postal stationery with a fixed stamp, wishing to be a loud voice for those causes that deserve to be heard.

‘I felt abandoned’: children stolen by France try to find their past, 50 years on

For decades, children from Réunion island in the Indian Ocean were removed to repopulate rural areas of France

Jessie Moenner

Jessie Moenner, pictured in the Réunion capital, was one of many hundreds of children taken from their families to live in France. Photograph: Vidhi Doshi

Vidhi Doshi

UNICEF Condemns Liberia Failure To Address Inter-Country Adoption

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Horrific Abuse Allegations Shock Denton as Texas Falls Under Scrutiny to Protect Kids

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2016 AT 4 A.M. BY CHRISTIAN MCPHATE

John and Georgiana Tufts

“I don’t want to talk about bad guy,” the 5-year-old told Cook Children’s Hospital psychologist Phillip Breedlove.

Her adoptive parents, John and Georgiana Tufts of Denton, told one of her peer’s parents that she came from an abusive family in Poland. But in late August, police in Denton were interviewing her

Working Group on illicit practices in adoption: Ms. Mia Dambach and Professor David Smolin both represented ISS General Secretariat. The Working Group referred to a number of resources ISS has developed, including the Grey Zones study, Responding to Illegal Adoptions and a Guide for Prospective Adopters as being extremely valuable for implementing in practice the goals of the working group. Together with UNICEF, ISS emphasized the need to ensure that the environment creating illicit practices was addressed as well as the needs of past victims. ISS looks forward to continue the collaboration with the working group to further develop tools.

HCCH.NET

HCCH | Meeting of the Working Group on illicit practices in adoption

Hague Conference on Private International Law - The World Organisation for Cross-border Co-operation in Civil and Commercial Matters

A woman has complained to the Hassan police that her child was forcibly taken away from her by a specialised adoption agency in the district and has demanded that she get her child back.

Shwetha (24), said that she had delivered a baby boy on February 11. Three days after the delivery, Dr. H.K. Phalaksha, a paediatrician, who runs Thavaru Public Charitable Trust, the adoption agency, took her baby away and forcibly put him up for adoption. “I had not signed the papers that the doctor brought. In fact, he took my thumb impression, though I could have signed my name,” she said.

Shwetha’s husband had passed away three years ago. She was in a live-in relationship with another person, with whom she had the baby. The complainant has also accused V. Geetha, Deputy Director, Department of Women and Child Development, Veena and Jayashree – both counsellors at a women’s care centre, where Shwetha had stayed during her pregnancy, of a role in the alleged abduction.

The mother met the Superintendent of Police in Hassan on Friday. The police have called in Dr. Phalaksha and the others for an inquiry. So far, nobody has been arrested.

Doctor denies allegation

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a human rights organisation, has voted to reject a proposal to introduce international guidelines on surrogacy and children's rights...

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), a human rights organisation, has voted to reject a proposal to introduce international guidelines on surrogacy and children's rights.

It voted 83 to 77 against a draft recommendation to create 'European guidelines to safeguard children's rights in relation to surrogacy arrangements', prepared by rapporteur Professor Petra De Sutter, a member of the Flemish Green Party.

The report included proposals to ban 'for-profit' surrogacy as well as recommending that the Council of Ministers work with the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) on private international law issues concerning children born through surrogacy arrangements, including legal parenthood.

Distinct from the European Union, the Council of Europe was set up in 1949 by various European states, including the UK, to promote democracy and human rights. While it has itself no law-making power, it performs an advocacy role and campaigns on rights issues. Its parliament includes MPs from national parliaments across the European Union, Turkey and Russia. 

Hemlata Momaya Named Recipient of Congressional 2016 Angels in Adoption Award

India-West Staff Reporter 12 hrs ago 0

Hemlata Momaya

Hemlata Momaya, Indian American founder of the Bal Jagat adoption agency in Long Beach, Calif., with her 2016 Angels in Adoption Award certificate. (photo provided)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hemlata Momaya was recently named the 2016 recipient of the 2016 Angels in Adoption Award by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute here.