trafficking of children

International or Intercountry Adoption (ICA), involves the transfer of children for parenting purposes from one country, “the sending country” (usually a developing Nation in the Global South) to another, “the receiving country” (usually a developed Nation in the Global North), where adoptive parents and children meet across different lines involving not just biological, but also socio-economic class, race, ethnic culture and nationality. It has become a complex occurrence closely linked to the social economic and political factors influencing families in the societies in which is practiced. The nature of ICA has become unclear and difficult to define when two points of view become contradicting: some view ICA as a “beautiful act of compassion” whilst others view it as a “form of child trafficking”. ICA has become a global market where the demand for healthy children from developed countries has created many opportunities for profit makers in poor, developing nations. The payment of high adoption fees and “donations” to orphanages, adoption agencies and government officials, it’s seen as an incentive for widespread abuse and a motivation to ensure a steady supply of children, through vicious practices such as, kidnapping, stealing, trafficking and buying children particularly in disadvantaged Asian, Latin American and African countries. The introduction of the Hague Convention in 1993, to ensure that ICAs take place in the best interests of the child and to protect children’s fundamental rights has brought a decline in the number of adoptions and has seen many countries imposing severe new restrictions. However, stories of abuse and child trafficking continue to come to light, particularly from countries that are not signatori...

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...cated parents who left their children in these so called “child-caring institutions”, expecting to bring the child home sometime later, would discover to their astonishment that the child had been adopted abroad. As soon as corrupt officials and individuals discovered that there were profits to be made in ICA, they began to “find” the healthy infants and toddlers that Westerners most wanted to adopt (Schuster Institute, 2008).

The Convention on the Rights of the Children, states that every child has the right to know and be cared for by his or her own parents which is ratified by UNICEF and other partners. Alternatives means of caring for a child should only be considered when a child’s family cannot be traced or the family is unable or unwilling to care for the child. Under international law, adoption within the child’s birth country is clearly preferred over ICA.