Serious Human Rights Violations in International Adoption From South Korea
We discovered many cases in the past where the human rights of overseas adoptees and their families were seriously violated during illegal overseas adoption procedures. The government must declare a halt to overseas adoption to prevent similar tragedies from repeating in the future.
Soongsil University Industry-Academic Cooperation Research TeamMore than 90% (91.0-98.1%) responded that the Korean government did not sufficiently protect their human rights.
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Seong Do-hyeon = Academics have claimed that the human rights of overseas adoptees have been seriously violated due to past illegal procedures. Academics advised that the government should conduct a systematic and extensive investigation to prevent such tragic incidents from repeating.
According to adoption groups on the 10th, the Soongsil University Industry-Academic Collaboration Research Team recently submitted a report to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea titled ‘Research on measures to guarantee human rights through a survey of the human rights situation of overseas adoptees.’
According to the research team’s quantitative survey of 658 overseas adoptees, more than 70% (68.7% to 96.1%) of those surveyed responded that Korean adoption agencies did not sufficiently protect the human rights of overseas adoptees.
More than 90% (91.0-98.1%) responded that the Korean government did not sufficiently protect their human rights.
The research team analyzed that “participants perceive that the Korean government is more responsible for protecting the human rights of overseas adoptees than the adoption agency.”
10% responded that there were problems when moving to the overseas adoption country, and 7.5% responded that the person in charge of them handed them over to someone other than the adoptive parents.
When asked about the accuracy and comprehensiveness of adoption document information, many responses said that the adoption document information was neither accurate nor sufficient.
Specifically, 72.4% responded that background information was not included in their child acquisition report, and 46.7% responded that the records regarding the original family in the adoption documents were incorrect.
There were 5.1% of so-called ‘swapped’ cases in which respondents responded that they had another child’s information and were placed in an adoptive home instead of that child, and 9.0% of cases where they experienced legal problems due to missing or inaccurate information in adoption documents.
33.5% of those surveyed responded that they experienced child abuse within their adoptive family.
It was found that physical or psychological abuse and neglect were mainly caused by adoptive mothers, and adoptive fathers mainly caused sexual abuse.
When asked about the appropriateness of post-adoption services, 85.1% responded that the Korean adoption agency did not verify the person’s acquisition of citizenship, and 76.3% responded that the adoption agency in the country of adoption did not provide appropriate services.
In particular, 83.5% of the respondents answered that there is no justifiable reason for Korea to continue international adoption, and 85.4% responded that overseas adoption should have been stopped a long time ago. 72.8% of respondents said the Korean government should compensate for damages caused by overseas adoption.
The research team said, “We discovered many cases in the past where the human rights of overseas adoptees and their families were seriously violated during illegal overseas adoption procedures,” and added, “The government must declare a halt to overseas adoption to prevent similar tragedies from repeating in the future.” pointed out.
In addition, it was suggested that:
- Establish a special committee to fully investigate overseas adoptees around the world,
- Compensate victims of illegal overseas adoption,
- Establish a national agency to heal damage and trauma,
- Transfer records and information related to overseas adoption from private adoption agencies, childcare facilities, etc.
The research team summarized and delivered the results of this investigation to the 2nd Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Past Affairs (Truth and Reconciliation Commission), which is investigating human rights violations during the overseas adoption process.
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