Note: UN Convention on Persons with Disability is not part of this list

EU ratifies UN Convention on disability rights

Following formal ratification, it is the first time in history the EU has become a party to an international human rights treaty – the United Nation's (UN) Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. The Convention aims to ensure that people with disabilities can enjoy their rights on an equal basis with all other citizens. It is the first comprehensive human rights treaty to be ratified by the EU as a whole. It has also been signed by all 27 EU Member States and ratified by 16 of these (see Annex). The EU becomes the 97th party to this treaty. The Convention sets out minimum standards for protecting and safeguarding a full range of civil, political, social, and economic rights for people with disabilities. It reflects the EU's broader commitment to building a barrier-free Europe for the estimated 80 million people with disabilities in the EU by 2020, as set out in the European Commission's disability strategy (IP/10/1505).

"Good news for the new year and a milestone in the history of human rights as it is the first time ever that the EU becomes a party to an international human rights treaty. I would like to thank the Belgian Presidency for their excellent cooperation, which allowed the swift and successful conclusion of the ratification process," said European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding, the EU's Justice Commissioner. "The UN Convention promotes and protects the human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities. In November, the Commission presented an EU disability strategy for the next ten years: concrete measures with a concrete timeline to implement the UN Convention. I now call on all remaining Member States that have not yet ratified the Convention to do so swiftly. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that people with disabilities do not face additional obstacles in their everyday lives."

The EU signed the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities on its opening day for signature on 30 March 2007 (IP/07/446). It has since been signed by all 27 EU countries and a further 120 states worldwide. Following completion of the ratification procedure, the EU as a whole is now the first international organisation which has become a formal party to the Convention (as are 16 EU Member States too).

GENEVA - In 1963, seven-year-old Tibi Lhundub Tsering was picked up by his foster parents at Zurich Airport, Switzerland. His mother Youden Jampa, working in a road-building camp in India, knew nothing of her son's whereabouts.

This is the beginning of the inconvenient and uncomfortable truth presented in Swiss documentary "Tibi and his mothers" directed by Ueli Meier.

According to the documentary, Tibi was one of the 200 so-called "Tibetan orphans" who were brought to Switzerland in the 1960s from the Nursery for Tibetan Refugee Children in Dharamsala headed by Tsering Dolma, the elder sister of the Dalai Lama. They were moved through a program privately run by Swiss entrepreneur Charles Aeschimann and approved by the Dalai Lama.

Contrary to the expectations of the foster parents in Switzerland, only 19 of these children were orphans, while the vast majority had at least one parent in Tibet, often both, said Meier in the bonus feature of the DVD edition, citing a report by Aeschimann.

In a confidential letter in February 1963, the Swiss Ambassador to India at the time said he discovered many of these "orphans" selected in Dharamsala actually had at least one parent. He warned against the "human and spiritual difficulties" faced by children who became "contractually assigned care items" thanks to the agreement between Aeschimann and the Dalai Lama.

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In the last fifty years, transnational adoption—specifically, the adoption of Asian children—has exploded in popularity as an alternative path to family making. Despite the cultural acceptance of this practice, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the factors that allowed Asian international adoption to flourish. In Global Families, Catherine Ceniza Choy unearths the little-known historical origins of Asian international adoption in the United States. Beginning with the post-World War II presence of the U.S. military in Asia, she reveals how mixed-race children born of Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese women and U.S. servicemen comprised one of the earliest groups of adoptive children. Based on extensive archival research, Global Families moves beyond one-dimensional portrayals of Asian international adoption as either a progressive form of U.S. multiculturalism or as an exploitative form of cultural and economic imperialism.

EAC, Inc.

October 9, 2013

EAC continues to submit family dossier's and is receiving referrals from the D.R. Congo. We remain optimistic the situation will be resolved soon.

The U.S. Department of State issued the following notice regarding the Congo's suspension of exit visas:

Adoption Notice

Letter/Report come from physical file - difficult to find! Or they did not want to find it.

While of course must be registered in electronic register - easy to find

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Prosecution over murky intercountry adoptions started

8 Oct 2013

THE POLICE have launched a criminal prosecution over abuse of powers by public officials and child trafficking on June 25 in a case pertaining to intercountry adoptions. The prosecutor heard the first witness on October 1, the SITA newswire reported.

Reports of questionable practices surrounding adoptions of Slovak children abroad, particularly to Italy, involving the Slovak state body that facilitates them, the Centre for International Legal Protection of Children and Youth (CIPC), surfaced in the media in 2012 and 2013

The prosecution was launched after Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP Lucia Nicholsonová and her party colleague Natália Blahová filed a criminal complaint in November 2012. They criticised the activities of the CIPC under its previous director Alena Mátejová, who has since been replaced by Andrea Císarová.

No chrono's from Cabinet Verheugen sent to Central Archives

Did I inherit my blue eyes from my mother? Is my father also a late riser? How much do I resemble my siblings? For most people, knowledge of their family heritage is essential to their identity.

In Germany, a system of so-called "baby hatches" allows desperate mothers to anonymously turn over their newborns to hospitals. These infants, raised by adoptive parents, usually have no way to learn about their biological parents later in life.

Supporters, such as some church representatives, see baby hatches as a way to prevent the deaths of unwanted children. But critics like the German Ethics Council argue that all children have the right know where they come from.

Schröder supports the new lawImage: Reuters

EU calls for care of children in state institutions of family and community

Added: 04/10/2013 14:02:20 | Hits: 234 | Comments: 0 | Category: News and charitable events

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European Union, through the European Commission and child protection associations, sky Romania institutionalization of vulnerable children and making a transition to ensure them a family and community care so that children have more chances to develop harmoniously and subsequently integrate into society.

Wednesday, October 2nd, this issue has Orphansbeen discussed at an international seminar, which was attended by the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Protection and the Elderly, Ministry of European Funds, European Expert Group (EEG) UNICEF Romania and Hope and Homes for Children Romania.