Notes from Nicholson/Gomes Hearing

Hearing was held 5/17/2006..................one note as you read this - which is worse, photographing a person with their skin falling off, or creating the situation that caused it in the first place??????

The hearing had Baroness Nicholson chairing with MEP Ana Gomes sitting to her left. They also brought 10 Romanian children with them both from an institution and who had previously lived in an institution, who, given that they only speak Romanian, probably understood nothing. They were there to illustrate they were "well looked after and happy". I'm sure they were props for the press conference too. However, it's my understanding that only 5 journalists attended the press conference and that none of them asked questions. There was a filmed interview with Nicholson that appeared on Romanian television. I've yet to see any European press on this hearing. My guess is all of the journalists were Romanian.

There were about 30 people in attendance and 17 of them were witnesses, including the children and Nicholson and Gomes.

None of our MEP allies - to this assistant's knowledge - were in attendance. Certainly if they were they did not speak out and challenge anything that was being said. (MEP Brian Crowley did speak out on our behalf at an EU Accession hearing later that afternoon). I'm going to presume that Cavada, Ries, and Gibault may have sent assistants, but have yet to hear back from them if they did and assistants are not allowed to speak. MEPs attending included Mairead McGuinness (Ireland), Miguel Angel Martinez Martinez (Spain), Simon Couvney (Ireland, he attended for about an hour and then left and said nothing and the spelling of his last name could be wrong). If there were others they were silent and not known to this assistant. There was no mention of the other MEP from Spain who was supposed to be co-chairing this hearing.

Below is a summary of what was said:

3 Romanian doctors, one who was designated in 2004 to investigate inter-country adoptions and make recommendations. He recommended that it be closed. He also said that national adoptions have increased. This is puzzling since their own statistics prove they have not and they are currently complaining about having more families - 1,500 - 2,000 - than there are children to adopt - 853. Those numbers also include children who are being adopted by foreign permanent residents. The "EU delagation" and UNICEF official also claimed that the numbers of abandoned children are wrong and that they cannot fulfill the numbers of Romanians wanting to adopt as "there aren't enough children being born" and that UNICEF is much in favor of restrictive ICA. He also mentioned that ICA would be "child trade" and "exporting and trafficking in children".

Another doctor claimed he went with others to the institutions in the MRDI report and "didn't have the same findings". I know at least one of these institutions was closed and the children moved to group homes, but I also question when he went to the others, when the Romanian government was alerted to these horrific institutions, how long these institutions had to "clean up" and move children, and why they didn't go to the institutions in the ABC television filmed report as they were filming the same horrific conditions in other institutions not included in the report.

NIcholson critcized the statistics and numbers in the MDRI report, and said that the photos taken of these children were in violation of the UNCRC and that it was cruel and inhumane to undress children and take photos of them naked. Of course, she left out the obvious reason as to why it was done - to show the dripping skin off the bones of a 30 pound teenager and the skin that peeled off the child who was unwrapped as the sheet was so tight and had been on for so long!

A doctor also said that a poll was taken in 2004 and that 64% of Romanians were in favor of national adoptions and not inter-country. (This is the first I've ever heard about such a poll and even the Romanian Ambassador to the U.S. has never cited this poll in his arguments.)

An "expert" on ICA (inter-country adoption) from Birmingham University (which should be noted is the same university which gave the Baroness an honorary degree last year at the request of Dr. Kevin Brown, a professor there who is against ICA) presented an ICA report and said that ICA would lead to more trafficked children - "child trade", the same percentage of abandonment occurs in other European countries, and that 38% of ICA agencies were in breach of language on their websites and using photos of abandoned children (I presume she's referring to the UNCRC and Hague Treaty) and that ICA is a last resort. She did say that ICA should be free of charge and that ICA should be used as a last resort.

At no time were the specific pending case issues raised. The assistant also said she - having only the briefest overview of the situation prior to this hearing - "felt uncomfortable listening to these speakers as there were obvious gaps in their logic and they didn't raise any of the issues that are noted in Declaration 23".

Gomes played a video of neglected abandoned mentally retarded children in Bulgaria and noted that Bulgaria's abandoned children were in worse shape than Romania's - who now has "model child welfare legislation" and that the Romanians were well on their way to having stellar conditions and solutions for these children. She then asked why the pro-adoption advocates weren't trying to improve conditions in Bulgaria! It's quite obvious that Gomes and Nicholson were laying the ground work for shutting down ICA in Bulgaria, as they have long promised, and that Moldova, Ukraine, etc. will be next on their "to do" list as Nicholson has alluded to in the press.

Gomes also said she knew of a Swiss family that had paid money to adopt their child (who is one of the pending cases), still hadn't seen the child, and that if they did adopt the child they would sell the child for slavery! And that NGO's who "owned the children" and care for them via private orphanages, group homes, and privately supported foster care, would certainly make money off these abandoned children if ICA reopens in Romania and would take advantage of ICA options.

MEP Martinez noted that the issues of Bulgarian and Romanian abandoned children shouldn't be mixed up as we could show similiar videos of Romanian children. He said that the photos of all the happy, clean, healthy abandoned children illustrated nothing as anyone could take photos of children anywhere and say they were institutionalized and that you would have to take photos of every institutionalized child to be representative of the actual situation. (Nicholson was upset and said hers were "verified"). However he also made the following points:

1) This was all just a case of bad marketing and bad press as he concluded the problem was misrepresented to the public and that pending parents "were being misled in their sorrow that all institutions were awful" and that they didn't truly know the reality of these children.

2) That Romania was being unfairly treated - none of the EU requests (I presume in regards to these children) had been made of other countries that had joined the EU like Spain and that the EU shouldn't require more from Romania. He then went on to detail all of the requirements Spain had to fulfill.

3) That abandoned children should remain in their country of birth

4) Stop talking about the "lobby" (whatever that means)

MEP McGuinness noted the following:

1) The best interest of the child should come first
2) She is being "lobbied" by both sides
3) There should be a general debate in Parliament on inter-country adoption everywhere
4) That we have to look in a "wider spectrum", that progress is being made in Romania re:abandoned children and their care, and that we need to be neither critical or defensive and find the middle ground.

It was said by several in attendance that Romanian should be allowed to deal with their own problems without interference from the international community.

Nicholson noted that Romania is one of the "top 11 countries for human trafficking" and that it will "increase with inter-country adoption". (I know, I know, that's what she said before ICA was banned as a reason for stopping ICA...amazing how she can work the argument both ways)

There was also a Romanian Senator in attendance speaking - (this is phonetic, we're getting their name) - Alene Tudorescu and a Greek MEP (Lamborg ?).