Eight adopted Belgians, originally from South Korea, are lodging a judicial complaint against the Belgian state, now that a South Korean truth commission has confirmed the scope of malpractices involving adoptions from the country. A complaint has also been filed against 2 non-profit organisations that were involved in adoptions from South Korea.
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South Korean adoptees file complaint against Belgian state as malpractices come to light
Colin Clapson
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Yung Fierens was illegally adopted from South Korea: ‘It’s incomprehensible that it takes so long for something to happen,’ she says.
‘We have long been asking the federal government to conduct a thorough investigation into illegal adoptions, including those from South Korea. But it is taking a very long time for us to be heard,’ Yung Fierens says. She is president of the adoption advocacy group CAFE (Critical Adoptees Front Europe) and was herself illegally adopted from South Korea when she was 9 months old.
Confirmation by the South Korean truth commission that human rights were violated in adoptions from the country has moved the eight adopted Belgians to act now.
Federal investigation demanded
By filing a complaint, the 8 adoptees want to force the Belgian government to investigate its own role regarding problematic adoptions.
‘The government knew about malpractices. Official records show that it had several contacts with the South Korean government on this matter, to denounce malpractices. But it did nothing to stop international trafficking of children from South Korea,’ their lawyer Walter Damen told daily De Standaard.
‘At the Flemish level, the previous well-being minister Hilde Crevits asked inter-country adoptees who suspect fraud to report it, but no proper investigation has yet started,’ Fierens says. ‘They are still looking at how they are going to investigate it and whether they can investigate it at all.’
A complaint has also been filed against 2 Belgian non-profit organisations that helped support adoptions from South Korea: Terre des Hommes and Enfants du Monde. The complaint includes charges of forgery, human trafficking, criminal organisation and child abduction.