On the 9th of September the Russian State Duma sent an appeal to the head of State concerning the regulation of the process of adoption of Russian children. This appeal proposes a temporary moratorium on the adoption of Russian children by citizens from the USA and an introduction of a bilateral international agreement as an obligatory condition of the adoption. This is the reaction towards the several cases of murder of adopted Russian children in the USA during the past several years. Boris Altshuler (right), the head of the “Right of Child” human rights organization sees a lot of serious problems in this project. (27-SEP-05)
The author of this project Ekaterina Lakhova, the head of the Duma Committee for women, family and children?s affairs, believes that only a bilateral international agreement can establish control of the Russian Federation on how adopted children live in foreign countries. She wants the Government to assume these measures and enter into negotiations with the Government of the USA on the subject of the brutal treatment given to adopted children from the Russian Federation.
Boris Altshuler, the head of the “Right of Child” organization and a member of Moscow Helsinki Group, sees a lot of serious problems in this project. He believes that the submission of the proposed law of bilateral international agreement as an obligatory condition for adoption of Russian children by foreign citizens will not lead to a tightening of control, but to a moratorium on the adoption of children by citizens not only from the USA, but also from Canada and Germany. This bilateral international agreement can?t be signed between countries with a federal structure where every state or province has its own government and legislative authority.
Boris Altshuler sent his appeal to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, the Speaker of the Russian State Duma Boris Gryzlov and the General Prosecutor Vladimir Ustinov. He explained that if this project were approved, the victims of this moratorium would be 6000 children a year. He asked not to sacrifice the orphans, particularly those who would die because of inaccessibility to necessary treatment in the Russian Federation. It especially concerns disabled children who can begin a new life after their special treatment, not to mention that this moratorium also infringes on the right of children to have a family.
The same position was expressed by the ambassador of the USA to the Russian Federation and the representative of the Canadian embassy at the Round table which was lead under the aegis of the Ombudsman for Human Rights of the Russian Federation in Moscow on the 28th of March. On the 5th of May the leading public figures of the USA, who are working on this issue, also appealed to the President of the Russian Federation and the President of the USA not to establish this moratorium from which the children would suffer.
According to the opinion of Boris Altshuler, the real steps toward the tightening of control on the life of adopted children abroad could be undertaken by ratification of the international Hague Convention, which was signed by President Putin on the 7th of September 2000. But this ratification has been blocked by the Duma Committee for women, family and children?s affairs. This Committee also ignores every legal proposition for the introduction of this law: social patronage, patronage upbringing, Ombudsman for Children?s Rights and another propositions, which could improve the situation in children?s rights in the Russian Federation.
This problem will be discussed at the meeting in Geneva under the aegis of the UN Committee for Children?s Rights, which will be held on the 28th of September. The Russian government will present its report on the situation of children?s rights in the Russian Federation. Also in attendance will be the representatives from Russian NGOs who had already presented their “Russian NGOs? Alternative Report” on the 7th of June 2005 during a working session of the UN Committee. We hope that finally the solution of this problem will be based on the interests of children.
