Children’s Rights to Access Justice and Effective Remedies

On 18 May 2024, ICAV was invited by Identity Rights Group, chaired by Protection de l'identité de l'enfant (CHIP) et le Institute of Statelessness and Inclusion, to speak as one of 20 organisations to join in with and present to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) about Children’s Rights to Access Justice and Effective Remedies. The organisations included UNICEF, UNHCR and ICAV.

Watch our ICAV presentation below, followed by the closing statements made by the UNCRC Chairperson, Ann Skelton: (click on CC for subtitles in English)

Read our ICAV transcript ici.

Many thanks to Identity Rights Group for organising this meeting and to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child for your time and willingness to listen to our experiences and views.

Thanks also to Peter Regal Møller and Boon Young Han from Groupe danois des droits coréens (DKRG) for putting in the time and effort to prepare jointly with me for this ICAV presentation. Their work is having a huge impact in Korea and other European countries such as Denmark and Norway.

Thanks also to some incredible adoptee contributors below in ICAVs wider network who have also provided their expertise input to our compilation of material for the paper which we will provide to the UNCRC (currently being compiled).

You can read their expert papers below:

Joie Alessi: Mind the Citizenship Gap – How US Intercountry Adoption led to Terminal Crisis for Thousands of Adoptees

Gregory Luce : Outline of Issues with Intercountry Adoptions to the USA

Jini Roby : UNCRC Input on Access to Justice and Remedies

Anna Bohrn & Gustav Fiman : Chile adoptions to Sweden Report

Statement from a deported adoptee, Annisa

As an international adoptee who has been unjustly deported from the United States, my foremost demand is the restoration of all my rights as an adoptee.

Regardless of my immigration status, I deserve equal treatment and recognition of my status as a member of my adoptive family.

I should not be denied the rights and privileges that other biological children enjoy simply due to my adoptive origin or deportation status.

It is imperative that the legal and social barriers that prevent me from accessing my rightful place within my adoptive family be dismantled, and that I am granted the same legal standing and familial rights as any other child.

Furthermore, I fervently seek the opportunity to return home and reunite with my family. Being separated from my loved ones due to deportation has inflicted profound emotional and psychological distress upon me. I yearn to be back in the loving embrace of my family, to share in their joys and support them through life’s challenges.

It is my fundamental human right to live in a nurturing and stable environment surrounded by those who care for me.

Therefore, I implore the authorities to facilitate my repatriation to the United States, where I rightfully belong, and to ensure that I am treated with dignity, respect, and equality under the law.

List of the 20 Organisations and individuals who participated

CRC Members supporting the meeting included: Suzanne Aho, Hynd Ayoubi-Idrissi, Bragi Gudbrandsson, Philip Jaffé, Faith Marshall-Harris, Mikiko Otani, Luis Pedernera, Ann Skelton, Velina Todorova and Benoit Van Keirsbilck who thanked experts attending – representing all regions – especially those with lived experience for contributing to their understanding of the challenges faced with respecting Arts.7-8 CRC and identifying concrete solutions to improve access to justice.

This expert meeting was held as part of the Identity Rights Working Group currently co-chaired by Protection de l'identité de l'enfant (CHIP) et le Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion including multiple organisations including their representatives: Areej Alshammiry, Iris Amaldi, (ATD Fourth World), Armando Augello Cupi, Italy (Unione Italiana Apolidi), Christina Baglieto (CHIP), Zoé Bertrand (Global Survivors Fund), Laurence Bordier (Child Identity Protection), Valeriia Cherednichenko (UNHCR), Mia Dambach (Child Identity Protection), Siena Demetriou (Child Identity Protection), Yuko Doi (UNHCR), Helen Griffiths (OHCHR), Neha Gurung, Nepal (Citizenship Affected Peoples Network and ISI), Catherine Harrington (Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights and Women’s Refugee Council), Boonyoung Han (Danish Korean Rights Group), Arthur Kermalvezen (Origines), Audrey Kermalvezen (Origines), Terry Kiarie, Kenya (ATD 4th World), Lynelle Long (InterCountry Adoptee Voices), Kirsten di Martino (UNICEF), Bhaskar Mishra (UNICEF), Peter Regel Møller (Danish Korean Rights Group), Deneisha Moss (ISI), Bina Ramanand, Malaysia (Family Frontiers and Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights), Aleksandra Semeriak, Europe (European Network on Statelessness), Rachel Sloth-Nielson (Oxford University), Gisela Sin Gomiz (Child Identity Protection), and Danaé van der Straten Ponthoz (Global Survivors Fund).

Ressources

Victims of Illegal Intercountry Adoptions speak out at the UN

One adoptee’s thoughts on the UN Joint Statement on Illegal Intercountry Adoptions

Adoptees as Experts influencing International Standards through Advocacy

Voices against Illegal Adoptions speak at the United Nations

Governments finally recognising Illegal and Illicit Intercountry Adoption practices