VIETNAM - Adopts International Adoption Treaty

VN adopted Hague Adoption Convention

Vietnam News

HA NOI - Viet Nam has officially adopted the Hague convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention). This is the first convention of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HccH) to be adopted by Viet Nam.

Viet Nam's Ambassador to the Netherlands Huynh Minh Chinh signed the convention on behalf of the Vietnamese Government earlier this month.

The Hague Adoption Convention, one of 38 HccH's conventions, aims to protect children and their families against the risks of illegal, irregular, premature or ill-prepared adoptions abroad. To date, 81 countries have adopted the convention.

Minh said joining the convention was a milestone in the efforts of Viet Nam in integrating into the multi-dimension collaboration on international law. "The Vietnamese government would accelerate the process to complete the legal framework and have this convention put into effect," he said at the signing ceremony.

On January 1, 2011, the Adoption Law of Viet Nam will also start to take effect. Together with the Hague convention, the country hopes these measures will help protect the rights of children. - VNS

UAI COMMENTS: Although it is presented as an important step in the adoption-world to adopt the Hague Adoption Convention (HAC) , it is not an guarantee that the countries who are joining the HAC, the direct involved (parents and adoptees) are automatically protected against flaws in the adoption-procedure and have their rights protected. The HAC even allows and admits, that it cannot secure protection for the vulnerable ones in the adoptionsystem. Childtrafficking and laundering and trade of children for intercountry adoption is not halted by the convention which is primarily an open treaty to secure certain topics to be addressed to the members of the treaty. The origin of the treaty is the one to see upon an coherent legal definition to pursue intercountry adoption instead of protecting the most vulnerable people (most times single mothers) against suppression and misleading by the (international) adoptionsystem. Studying the treaty shows, that it is very compact and does not serve the ones who are affected by relinquishment and adoption.
The danger of the treaty is also, that due to becoming a member, supervision and control regarding sending and receiving countries are passed. Meaning, if you become a signatory or member of the convention, all responsibility of a correct adoptionprocedure and morals and ethical understanding of intercountry adoption is wavered, so the international community accepts in this way all possible risks due to the fact, that international condemnation of countries which do not follow the intention (which is quite unclear) of the convention will be protected by the same convention. Members of the HAC will therefore be protected by the same convention for international legal disputes and also for diplomatic questions regarding the wrongdoings in the adoptionprocedures or the effects based on International Human Rights. It seems, that the HAC even overrules international human rights for the better of receiving country and the worse of the affected ones.
We have seen many examples over the years in i.e. China, India, Guatamala etc. who are members of the HAC. Also does it not prevent lucrative earnings of adoption organisations and orphanages. Even cash 'bribery' under supervision of states are allowed by the HAC. For instance, the Dutch government even build a legal framework to allow so called euphemistic ' facilitation' payments to pay Chinese Orphanages cash unregistered money by adopters to 'free' children for intercountry adoption.

Understanding this, it is obvious that the HAC (HCCH) does not want adoptees from the UAI or other critical adoptees with knowledge about the HAC to be involved.

There is a need to caution the promotion of the HAC as the solution for the many problems which comes with the rising demand for intercountry adoption.

Read for more information:

Work of David Smolin, Chantel Rayn (Past, present and future, concerns regarding Intercountry adoption and the regulation) and Celica Bojorge and others.

VIETNAM - a fee table for adoption according to the Hague Convention ?

Law on Adoption brought into line with international practices

Ha Noi — According to the latest version of the draft law on adoption, only children under 16 years can be offered for adoption.

The National Assembly Standing Committee, the provision would be congruent with the country's legal system and international laws.

During their discussion of the adoption law yesterday in the capital city, NA deputies also touched upon the termination of the relationship between the adoptive parents and adopted children.

"Emancipation is only acceptable when a child reaches the age of maturity," stated the draft law.

Deputy Nguyen Minh Hong, from Nghe An Province, did not agree with the provision that children should only be adopted by foreign couples when there are no Vietnamese parents who want to adopt them.

"We should be most concerned with the child's welfare and whether the child is being cared for or not," said Hong.

Pham Thuong Luong, from Yen Bai Province, proposed that the law should have a provision prohibiting immediate relatives like grandparents or siblings adopt their family member.

"Such an act is popular with ethnic minorities," said Luong.

Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy, from Da Nang, agreed with Article 12 of the draft law which specifies a fee table for adoption.

"This is a very sensitive issue that's why everything should be transparent, particularly the fee so we can avoid the problem of child trafficking," said Thuy.

Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong said the fee was congruent with the 1993 La Haye Convention on adoption.

Some deputies questioned the Standing Committee's view that the State must take responsibility for public postal services through one of its enterprises when the parliament debated the draft Postal Services Law yesterday.

The deputies argued that as Viet Nam had joined the World Trade Organisation, more than one enterprise should be given the job of providing public postal services to create healthy competition.

But the committee responded that given the prevailing reality in Viet Nam, it was reasonable for the State to designate an enterprise to supply postal services and benefit from specific policies intended to help it.

The size and development of the postal network was limited and it was still necessary for the State to compensate it for its losses, the committee said.

Information and Communications Minister Le Doan Hop explained that delivery of a letter cost VND3,500 but the price of a stamp was just VND1,000.

There was not a non-State-owned company with the personnel and facilities to provide a nation-wide service, he said. It would be difficult for the State to manage the activities of such a company and the quality of the services, together with the people's interests, would suffer.

Communal system

Deputy Nguyen Viet Lenh, central Binh Dinh Province, and deputy Nguyen Thanh Tam, southern Tay Ninh Province, said more research into the development of the communal postal-service system should be done to ensure its efficiency.

The law governing the management of postal services should be strengthened and violators punished, added deputy Tam.

Deputy Nguyen Lan Dung, Central Highland Dak Lak Province, said rural dwellers go short of newspapers but if the communal system was built scientifically, the people's right to information would be assured. — VNS

Sixteen Vietnamese medical and charity workers went on trial

Sixteen Vietnamese medical and charity workers went on trial Tuesday for committing fraud in 266 adoptions of local children by foreign parents.

The accused allegedly took money from adoption agencies to create fake documents enabling foreigners to adopt the children, said Ngo Tien Hung, vice president of the People's Court in the southern province of Nam Dinh. The United States and several other countries have halted adoptions of Vietnamese children because of widespread fraud by Vietnamese adoption agencies. A revision of Vietnam's adoption law is pending in the country's National Assembly.

A report last year by the US embassy detailed a practice of falsely claiming that children had been abandoned by their parents to simplify adoption procedures. Some parents were paid by adoption agencies to allow their children to be listed as abandoned while in other cases children were given away against their parents' wishes. The defendants face charges of "abuse of official position." If convicted, Hung said, they would face five to 15 years in prison. The court was expected to return a verdict at the beginning of next week.

Celstraffen Vietnamezen voor adoptiefraude

ANP - 29.09.2009 Volkskrant

HANOI - Zes Vietnamezen zijn dinsdag veroordeeld tot celstraffen van 2 tot 4,5 jaar voor het regelen van ruim driehonderd frauduleuze adopties. Tien andere aangeklaagden hebben voorwaardelijke gevangenisstraffen gekregen.

De veroordeelden waren onder meer werkzaam als leidinggevenden van welzijnscentra en als verpleegkundigen en artsen. Ze zijn schuldig bevonden aan het vervalsen van documenten.

Kinderen van arme Vietnamezen werden voor adoptie aangeboden in onder meer Frankrijk, Italië en de Verenigde Staten. In de vervalste papieren stond ten onrechte dat de kinderen door hun ouders in de steek waren gelaten. Hierdoor konden de kinderen voor adoptie door buitenlanders in aanmerking komen.

Doctors And Nurses 'Sold Hundreds Of Babies'

The sixteen defendants are charged with "abuse of power and authority" and face up to 10 years in prison.

Among them are the head of two social welfare centres in Nam Dinh province as well as several doctors and nurses at village clinics.

They allegedly solicited infants from unmarried mothers and desperately poor families and falsified documents claiming the babies had been abandoned at village clinics.

This made them eligible for adoption.

It is alleged the ring sent 266 babies for foreign adoption between 2005 and July 2008 - although the nationality of the adoptive parents is not known.

The defendants are said to have earned up to $550 (£338) each.

Vietnam and the US, one of the country's largest recipients of children for adoption, have yet to renew an adoption agreement which expired in September.

In April last year, the US embassy said in a report that Vietnam had failed to police its adoption system, allowing corruption, fraud and baby-selling to flourish.

The report described brokers scouring villages for babies, hospitals selling the infants of mothers who could not pay their bills, and a grandmother giving away her grandchild without telling the child's mother. > read more <