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Nancy Adams, the US Trade Representative’s (USTR), er, representative in Brussels, leaves for Geneva in July. She’ll become senior counsellor for technical assistance and market access at the USTR mission to the World Trade Organisation. Replacing her is Christopher Wilson, who arrives from the USTR’s Latin American office in August.

Also, Larry Wohlers, the EU Mission’s long-time public affairs counsellor, leaves in July for a Moscow posting. He’ll spend a year in Washington first, brushing up his Russian. Taking over from him will be Anne Barbaro, currently at the US embassy in Madrid. Press officer Ed Kemp assumed most of the day-to-day spokesman duties from Wohlers and will continue in that role.

And finally, ‘institutional officer’ Rob Faucher, who’s usually seen spying around the press bar at Councils and summits, is headed for Suriname at the end of June. “I refuse to serve in any country that doesn’t border France,” he joked. Suriname borders French Guiana in South America.

Replacing him is Rick Holzapple, a former National Security Council aide from Washington who’s spent the last year at the European Commission, working in DGs Relex and Enlargement.

Robert Hull has been appointed director of consultative work at the European Economic and Social Committee. He takes over from Diarmid McLaughlin, who is retiring.

President Mádl of Hungary celebrating HCCH's 110th Anniversary

On the 31st of October 2003 the Hague Conference on Private International Law celebrated its 110th Anniversary at 4.30 p.m. in the Great Hall of Justice of the Peace Palace in The Hague. President Ferenc Mádl of Hungary, a former delegate to the Hague Conference, marked the occasion by giving a speech on “Milestones on the Road of Private International Law Developments”. Significant among those milestones are the many “Hague” Conventions negotiated at the Peace Palace. The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, now Secretary General of NATO, Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, introduced him.

This celebration gathered Ambassadors from more than 50 countries, representatives of other international organisations based in The Hague and high-ranking officials of the Netherlands. Also present were delegates from more than 40 States from all over the world, who have now come together to confront the challenge of operating three of the existing Hague Conventions in a globalising and increasingly electronic environment.
Full programme of the celebration | Speech delivered by President Mádl

 

Harvard Hosts Debate on Transnational Adoption

Harvard Hosts Debate on Transnational Adoption
Published On Wednesday, November 02, 2005  2:02 AM
CRIMSON/ EUGENE B. CONE
Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law Elizabeth Bartholet advocates international adoption at a debate in the Barker Center yesterday.
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Greedy lawyers in the private transnational adoptions sector are creating unnecessary family separations, Rosa M. Ortiz, a member of the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child, said in a debate at Harvard last night.

Arguing against her was Elizabeth Bartholet, Wasserstein public interest professor of law, who said that the global community should promote international adoption because the children affected generally grow up in loving, healthy families, which otherwise might not be possible.

Bartholet and Ortiz made their assertions as part of a debate on the topic of transnational adoptions hosted by the Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies last night in the Barker Center.

“We should promote international adoption and work simultaneously to promote global justice,” said Bartholet, an adoptive parent of two Peruvian children. “We are not going to deal with the wrong of injustice and poverty by eliminating the benefit to children who do well by adoption.”

Ortiz, who worked for a variety of non-governmental organizations on children’s rights before joining the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, said that the current problems facing transnational adoption outweigh the benefits that children may receive.

She cited unnecessary separations due to monetary incentives, lack of government oversight, and a lack of cooperation between international and domestic adoption agencies as the main flaws in the present system. Ortiz suggested that a system which involved increased government oversight and fewer separations between parents and children, such as the one in place in Paraguay, would reduce these problems.

While Bartholet also agreed that poverty is a driving factor behind women’s choices to put their children up for adoption, she said she did not believe that the adoption fee motivates women to give up their children.

“Money given to biological parents by adoptive parents rarely makes the difference in the choice whether or not to give up their child,” Bartholet said.

Ortiz said that a dearth of social services in poor countries is a major factor contributing to the transnational adoption rate. She said that the number of transnational adoptions of Paraguayan children dropped from over 600 to 50 annually after Paraguay instituted initiatives to help poor mothers and began to monitor and restrict the adoptions.

Bartholet cited other benefits of transnational adoption, namely that the system exposes the world to injustices and detrimental situations in other countries, such as gender discrimination in China.

“Adoption is an amazingly mind-opening experience for the parents. It makes them less racist, more globalist, and more willing to adopt even older children,” she said.

The two also discussed issues such as the age of adopted children, the importance of cultural heritage, and public versus private adoption agencies.

The debate drew a sizeable crowd, mainly of graduate students and faculty.

“I think [the debate] brought to the forefront the gravity of human rights issues related to transnational adoption. In that sense, it was very educational,” said Jane Chen, a first-year Kennedy School of Government student.

Roelie Post to President-elect Von der Leyen

 

Tue, 30 Jul 2019

to Bjoern.SEIBERT

Dear Mr. Seibert,

Please find attached my plea to President-elect Von der Leyen.

Europol niet opgewassen tegen strijd kinderhandel

NIEUWS

Europol niet opgewassen tegen strijd kinderhandel

29 augustus 1996 00:00

(tijd) - Naar aanleiding van de zaak-Dutroux gaan steeds meer stemmen op om kinderhandel Europees aan te pakken. Daarbij wordt dan in de eerste plaats gedacht aan een versterking van de Europese politiesamenwerking Europol. Maar de gegevens die door Europol kunnen worden uitgewisseld, mogen geen 'persoonlijke' gegevens bevatten, ook niet over seksuele geaardheid.Europol, de Europese politiedienst voor drugsbestrijding, werd pas een maand geleden door alle lidstaten formeel goedgekeurd. De politiedienst, die vooral gegevens zal verzamelen, uitwisselen en analyseren, kan pas van start na ratificatie door alle EU-landen. De taak van Europol is intussen wel uitgebreid tot mensenhandel, autozwendel, nucleaire smokkel en clandestiene immigratie.

EU-Commissielid Anita Gradin, verantwoordelijk voor de samenwerking inzake justitie en binnenlandse zaken, zei op het congres in Stockholm tegen seksueel misbruik van kinderen dat kinderhandel duidelijk onder de bevoegdheid van Europol valt. De voorbije dagen gingen her en der stemmen op om het takenpakket van Europol expliciet uit te breiden tot kinderhandel en pedofilienetwerken.

EFA: Mission République de Moldavie et Roumanie (janvier 2019)

Mission République de Moldavie et Roumanie (janvier 2019)

En janvier 2019, EFA a effectué une mission en République de Moldavie et en Roumanie. S’il n’y a aucune adoption internationale dans ce premier pays et très peu dans le second (les adoptions internationales sont autorisées uniquement pour les personnes d’origine roumaine), il s’agissait avant tout de comprendre leur système de la protection de l’enfance et plus particulièrement la place qu’y tient l’adoption.

Les défis auxquels ont à faire face ces deux pays sont similaires en ce qui concerne la protection de l’enfance et la désinstitutionnalisation des enfants placés. Les progrès y sont considérables même si les différences entre les villes et les campagnes restent importantes.

Cette mission a été l’occasion de présenter le fonctionnement d’EFA aux autorités de ces deux pays, d’envisager les perspectives possibles en matière d’adoption internationale et, pour la Roumanie, de comprendre également le système mis en place pour la recherche des origines. En effet, dans les années 1990, un nombre important d’enfants roumains, devenus adultes depuis, ont été adoptés et peuvent aujourd’hui entreprendre une démarche de recherche des origines.

Subject: Conference: Discover the reality of child protection in Romania De Combret, back from Romania

(mission report De Combret on file - in ask the EU: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/correspondence_with_mr_francois

From: CAVADA Jean-Marie

Sent: 12 June 2006 20:01

To: MEP, ASSISTANTS & OBSERVATEURS

Subject: Discover the reality of child protection in Romania with the Vice-Chairman of CARE France, back from Romania

Orphelins d'Asie et adoption: attention aux "bons sentiments"

Enfants d'Asie

Envoyé par:

Date: 04 janvier 2005

Orphelins d'Asie et adoption: attention aux "bons sentiments"

PARIS (AFP) - Devant la détresse des orphelins victimes du séisme en Asie, des familles occidentales peuvent être tentées par l'adoption, mais gouvernement et spécialistes de l'enfance mettent en garde contre "les bons sentiments", invitant à "ne pas confondre adoption et humanitaire".