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NEWS STORY
September 3, 2010 The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti was a disaster of unprecedented proportion in modern times, with over 222,000 deaths and over 300,000 injured in a single, already fragile, nation. Largescale emergencies of this nature not only put the international humanitarian interventions to the test, they are also a “stress test” for rules designed to guide international actions. This report focuses on one particular aspect of the international community’s post-earthquake response, and in how far it was in fact guided by the relevant rules: the response for children whose transfer for adoption abroad had been, or might have been, envisaged. The intention is to reflect upon what occurred in Haiti, and hence to inform future actions. There are two main instruments for guiding and determining initiatives in this domain: The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which came into force twenty years ago; and the Hague Convention of 1993 on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, that entered into force in 1995 (the 1993 Hague Convention). The 1993 Hague Convention builds on the CRC by setting out obligations and a cooperation framework between countries of origin and receiving countries. It is designed to ensure ethical and transparent processes through uniform safeguards and procedures, therefore respecting the rights of children, adoptive parents and birth parents in the intercountry adoption process. The provisions of the CRC are to be complied with at all times and in all circumstances – there is no derogation clause allowing for the suspension of obligations it creates in times of emergency. Similarly, the 1993 Hague Convention explicitly excludes the possibility for Contracting States to make reservations as to its applicability. Moreover, both instruments are now globally recognised as constituting the baseline, in their respective spheres, against which policy and action are to be assessed, even for non-ratifying countries. Against this background, and using a range of intergovernmental, governmental, nongovernmental and media sources, this report compiled by International Social Service constitutes an unprecedented effort to document, and draw preliminary conclusions from, the course of events related to intercountry adoptions from Haiti in the first half of 2010. The report pinpoints many issues that will require objective and in-depth consideration if the identified problems are to be avoided in the future. Some of the relevant issues were indeed already broached at the Special Commission that met in the Hague in June 2010 to review the practical operation of the 1993 Hague Convention. Among the key findings two are of particular concern in this context: that approaches differed widely among the countries involved – and to some extent also over time – despite the agreed standards and common obligations; and that the emergency context gave rise to rushed, “expedited” actions, whereby the supposed urgency led to principles and procedures being circumvented, which are otherwise rightly viewed as essential and indispensable safeguards. We welcome this report as a significant contribution to on-going efforts to identify and resolve concerns in the field of intercountry adoption and to secure the cooperation of all involved, so that future interventions in similar contexts can build on the lessons learned in Haiti and avoid some of the mistakes that were made. Hans van Loon Secretary General, Hague Conference on Private International Law The Hague, Netherlands full report
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The Children and Armed Conflict Unit