Overview of legislation on international protection of children left without parental custody (orphans or boarding schoolers) with a focus on international adoption regulation made for a class on International Protection of Children Rights at Belarusian State University within MA in Human Rights and Democratization for Eastern Partnership countries academic mobility semester

1. International Protection
of Children Left without
Parental Custody
with special focus on
international adoption

2. Outline
• Legal framework
• Possible solutions &
Challenges
– International Adoption
– Russia & Ukraine
• Food for Thought
(Several Case Studies)

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Legal Framework
League of Nations’ Geneva Declaration (1924)
IGOs (UN, UNICEF, WHO)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) – Art. 25(2)
ICESCR – Art 10(3), 12(2)a & ICCPR – Art 23(4)(1966) = Bill of Rights
UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959)
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (1989) – Art 3
World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of
Children (1990)
European Convention on the Exercise of Children's Rights (1996)
Model Law by Commonwealth of Independent States Interparliamentary Assembly On Additional Guarantees for Orphans and
Children Left without Parental Justice (1998)

4. CRC Ratification
US
Somalia
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child.svg

5. Who we are talking about
• Orphans
 Left without parents due to their death
 Social
 when parents were refused parental rights
 when taking out of parental custody
 when parents missing or invalid
 when parents under arrest
 when left by parents

6. Possible Solutions
• Guardianship
• Orphanages
• Patronat (US, Britain)
– Social
– Families
• Foster Families
• Adoption (mostly from China and Russia to US)

7. International Adoption
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UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959)
UN Declaration on Social and Legal Principles relating to the
Protection and Welfare of Children, with Special Reference to
Foster Placement and Adoption Nationally and Internationally
(1986)
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (1989)
The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption
Convention) (1993)
European Convention on the Adoption of Children (1967, rev.
2008)

8. Consequences & Problems
• Corruption
• Child Trafficking
Pavel Astakhov, Russia’s
Children Rights Defender
• Loss of culture,
family, or identity
• Bad conditions – Dima Yakovlev Law
ban on Americans adopting from Russia
(70% of children in Russian families as of 2011
Source: http://www.usynovite.ru/statistics/2011/4/)
– Case of Artem Savelyev aka Justin Hansen
– Case of Maxim Kuzmin aka Max Alan Shatto

9. Moratoriums for adopting
Russians by Americans
Romania (2004) – only biological
Kyrgyzstan (2008) temporary (?)
over fears of donor adoptions
Ukraine???

10. Ukraine
• Children’s Rights Defender (2011)
– 83% in Ukrainian families (as of 2011)
– Case of Andrew Batler (Italy)
http://www.president.gov.ua/content/pravadytyny.html
Yuriy Pavlenko

11. Food for Thought – Case Study
#1 – Ukrainian Center for Social
Rehabilitation of Orphans)
Dom Solntsa (Sn House), Donetsk,
Youth in Action Study Visit, 2010

12. Notes from UnderGrad,
Spring 2010
Food for Though – Case Study
#2 (English Classes in
Ukrainian Boarding House)

13. Happy November, 20 !
th

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Sources
Основные документы по защите прав детей
International Adoption [Электронный ресурс] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_adoption
Зилковская Л. М. Некоторые аспекты охраны прав детей в сфере международных
соглашений // Вісник Одеського національного університету – 2010 - №1 - сс. 33-40
История социальной защиты детей и защита детей в Украине: Реферат [Электронный ресурс] http://gendocs.ru/v17678/история_социальной_защиты_детей_и_защита_детей_в_украине
Международная защита прав детей: Реферат [Электронный ресурс] http://works.doklad.ru/view/cy6GtpCp_4w/all.html
Мораторий на усыновление российских детей гражданами США [Электронный ресурс] http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Мораторий_на_усыновление_российских_детей_гражданами_США
Пестикова Е. В. Правовое регулирование социальной поддержки детей-сирот и детей,
оставшихся без попечения родителей, в саратовской области: статья V Международной
студенческой электронной научной конференции «Студенческий научный форум» (15 февраля –
31 марта 2013 года) [Электронный ресурс] - http://www.scienceforum.ru/2013/22/20
Семейные формы социального устройства детей–сирот: курсовая работа (Москва, 2009)
[Электронный ресурс] - http://www.fmx.ru/sociologiya_i_obshhestvoznanie/semejnye_formy_socialnogo_ustrojstva.html

15. Kostiantyn Iakovliev
(Ukraine)
MA in Human Rights and
Democratization,
Yerevan State University –
Belarusian State University,
2013
https://plus.google.com/u/0/
+KostiantynIakovliev/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/
iakovliev