An Italian court has handed over a Ukrainian child for adoption to a foreign family, despite the current ban on intercountry adoption. This was reported by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets. According to him, the child’s father has disappeared, but she has a mother and sisters.
“A moratorium on interstate adoption is in force in Ukraine. Such a ban is due to the war in order to protect evacuated and forcibly displaced Ukrainian children. Children whose parents have disappeared under special circumstances. Children whose parents are defending the country,” the ombudsman said.
The child was evacuated to the Italian Republic in 2022. The child’s father has disappeared, but she has sisters and a mother who has parental rights. Despite this, the juvenile court of the city of Lecce in the Apulia region ruled on the adoption of the child by foreigners.
“This decision grossly violates international standards for the protection of the rights of the child. After all, the priority is one – preserving the child in his family and the country of birth. But in this particular case, the Italian court not only ignored the moratorium, but also the fact that the child has a family: a mother and siblings!”, – Lubinets reported.
The Ombudsman noted that the Italian court did not take into account the real participation of the parents in the case, limiting itself to only the formal recognition of their “absence”, including the father. Lubinets called this a violation of the child’s right to preserve family ties and ignoring international law. The child’s siblings were returned to Ukraine, but she still cannot be reunited with them.
“The Italian court’s decision was preceded by systemic violations: the removal of Ukrainian legal representatives, the appointment of foreign guardians, and restrictions on access to children by Ukrainian diplomats. We have recorded systemic problems in countries such as Germany and Switzerland,” Lubinets said.
He also emphasized that similar risks were identified for another 82 children from the Chynadiivka boarding school, the Emerald City sanatorium and health center for social rehabilitation, and the Sumy orphanage named after S.P. Supruna.
“The decision of the Italian court must be immediately appealed, the adoption of Ukrainian children by foreigners is inadmissible, the child must be immediately returned to Ukraine to the mother. Children who were evacuated abroad must be returned,” said Dmytro Lubinets.
He reported that he had sent a letter of response to the Prime Minister of Ukraine with a request to immediately take measures to reunite the family and return all Ukrainian children home. Separately, Lubinets called on other state bodies, in particular the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, to join this case.
The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada also said that he had appealed to the Vice-President of the European Parliament Pina Picerno to submit this issue for consideration by the European Parliament, to the Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the Situation of Children in Ukraine, Tordis Kolbrun Reykfjörd Gylfadottir, to the President of the National Coordination of Ombudsmen of Italy, the Ombudsman of the Lazio Region Marino Fardelli, to the European Network of Ombudsmen for Children (ENOC), as well as to the Italian Department for Children and Adolescents.
According to the Ombudsman, this case is being investigated directly in Italy kept under control by his advisor Oles Gorodetsky.
