International adoptions: two brothers from Guatemala file a complaint in France for "kidnapping"

The two men, now aged 45 and 46, were taken from their mother to be adopted in France, and only discovered the truth in 2019. By publicizing their case, they hope that other victims will be identified, and will not hesitate to assert their rights before international courts.

Javier and Lorenzo (their names have been changed) were 3 and 4 when they were taken from their mother in Guatemala. While she thought she was placing them in a center for malnourished minors, they were sent to France through a private organization approved by the State, Les Amis des enfants du monde (AEM), to be adopted by a Parisian couple. For thirty-eight years, they lived in the fable of abandonment. And only discovered the truth of their theft in January 2019. Their mother, torn all her life by the disappearance of her little boys, had just died two months earlier in Guatemala.

It is for what Javier describes as "trafficking in human beings" that the two men, now aged 45 and 46, filed a complaint, Thursday, November 17 in Paris, for "kidnapping". The complaint is based in part on documents found in Guatemala by Le Monde at the end of an investigation into the channels of international adoption, the various sections of which were published in December 2021. The two children, underlines the text of the complaint, entered France in 1981 "in violation of French immigration laws, a violation which could not be ignored by the organization Les Amis des enfants du monde and which was permitted by the serious negligence of the State authorities of the two States". Contacted by Le Monde,the AEM did not wish to speak.

“I am convinced that our complaint will move a lot of lines, says Javier. It is shown that the irregularities were also committed here, not only in Guatemala. My fight is for France not to normalize child abduction and allow full compensation for victims like my brother and me. »

Prescription pitfall

In France, approximately 100,000 children have been adopted abroad since 1979, an underestimated figure given the irregularity of the practices, on which many alerts have been ignored. These children who have become adults and who seek to find their origins and obtain reparation come up against the indifference of the administration and the inadequacy of the judicial systems, being opposed to classifications without follow-up for prescription.

“The qualification of kidnapping is the one that best corresponds to the situation of Javier and Lorenzo , explains their lawyer, M e William Julié. Prescription only runs from the moment they become aware of being victims of a forced and illegitimate removal. That is to say, for them, in January 2019. This reality was concealed from them before that date, and the infringement therefore continued to produce its effects until then. »

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The opening of an investigation, hopes Mr. Julié , will make it possible to identify other potential victims of the same Guatemalan and French networks. “In the case of sexual violence, the Minister of Justice [Eric Dupond-Moretti] spoke out for an investigation to be systematically opened, even if the facts are likely to be prescribed. So why not take a committed position on this other issue? “ , challenges the lawyer. In fact, Javier, who in July created his own association, I AM (Illegal - Adoption - World), has already been contacted by other people adopted by the MEAs, who doubt the legality of the process.

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The pitfall of prescription was denounced at the end of September by seven United Nations organizations, which issued a historic joint statement on illegal international adoptions. This “innovative” text , according to Olivier de Frouville, member of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances at the UN – one of the seven signatory bodies – promotes legislative reforms in member countries so that these adoptions are considered a “continuing” offense. The declaration also establishes that they can, under certain conditions provided for by international law, “constitute serious crimes such as genocide or crimes against humanity”. therefore imprescriptible.

"States must realize that there is a problem linked to human rights and international criminal law around this issue", explains Mr. de Frouville, who believes that the declaration will also "allow victims to assert their rights before international courts and bodies”. This is the approach that the lawyer of Javier and Lorenzo intends to take if their complaint comes up against an end of inadmissibility from French justice.

“Responsibilities must be established”

Under pressure from groups of adoptees, several European countries, Switzerland and the Netherlands in the lead, have announced over the past two years the creation of commissions of inquiry on the subject. In France, the then Secretary of State for Children, Adrien Taquet, had promised in December 2021 the establishment of an interministerial mission "in the first quarter of 2022".

It finally took almost a year for, on November 8, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice, and the State Secretariat for Children to announce that they had seized their respective general inspectorates for an "inspection mission". six-month period aimed at identifying illegal practices and recommending measures to ensure that they do not recur.

“It is she who will decide on the countries of origin studied and its perimeter, we are assured at the Quai d'Orsay. Nothing is excluded. The objective of this mission is to shed light on everything that happened and in complete transparency: responsibilities must be established. The work, the results of which will be made public , should however relate only to the period after the 1980s . 1960 to the present day, and on all the countries having sent children to France” , says Yves Denéchère, professor of contemporary history at the University of Angers. For the past year, the latter has been directing a postdoctoral mission, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the history of illicit practices in international adoptions. Work whose conclusions are expected in early 2023.

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Javier wants to go further than his complaint, have his full adoption revoked and find his original name. The recent joint declaration of the UN proves him right, recalling that the victims of illegal adoptions “have the right to recover their identity quickly”. He also filed a complaint in Guatemala on October 11, the day of his birth. Quite a symbol: “October 11 will now be the anniversary of the day when the truth and all responsibilities will be demonstrated” , he underlines.

For Olivier de Frouville, there is an urgent need to find multilateral mechanisms, in particular at the UN, for the search for the origins and the reparation of the victims. "Every day, we discover the extent of this problem, and it will become a mass litigation," he concludes.

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