Haiti - earthquake - "orphan" arrests

Parents reclaim children taken by US group

Article published on the 2010-02-02 Latest update 2010-02-02 17:04 TU

Haitian children Gesner, 13, (L) carries his sister Gloria, 1, next to his brother Gabriel, 3, (R), three of 33 children involved in an illicit adoption scheme, as they sit inside the NGO "SOS Children's village" in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday.
(Photo: Reuters)

Some of the 33 infants and children labeled as "orphans" are now being reunited with their parents, a US-based aid group said Tuesday. Ten members of a separate US group called New Life Children's Refuge attempted to bring the 33 children, aged two months to 14 years, across the Haitian border to the Dominican Republic last weekend. The ten are currently in custody and may be charged with child-trafficking.

"The parents are now coming to the village to reclaim their children," Heather Paul, the CEO of SOS Children's Villages USA, told a US television show. The children are being held at a SOS Children's Village in Haiti. She said that some of the youngsters said they had living parents.

"One of the girls, 10 years old, said that her mother went to the bus to say goodbye, so we have to clarify the whole situation," said Georg Willet, a spokesman for SOS Children Village in Haiti.

In the aftermath of the 12 January earthquake that killed an estimated 170,000 people in Haiti, authorities in Port-au-Prince have been concerned that some Haitian children might have fallen prey to human traffickers.

Paul said that the children were in poor physical condition while in the care of the Baptist group. "They weren't well-dressed, they were dehydrated. They needed medical assistance," she said.

"I think this is proof positive for all those people around the world who would like to adopt Haitian children, that we must wait on the right registration," she said.

Meanwhile, the ten members of New Life Children's Refuge are being held in Haiti and could be charged with kidnapping, child-trafficking and criminal conspiracy, according to Haitian Interim Prosecutor Mazar Fortil. Two Haitians are also being held. 

They were to be arraigned on Monday, but their court appearance was postponed due to the lack of a Creole-English translator.

Their trial may be transferred to courts in the United States, but Fortil said it was "too early to tell".

The US government said it would comply with what the Haitian authorities deemed appropriate to try the case.

"Once we know the facts we'll determine what the appropriate course is, but the judgement is really up to the Haitian government," said State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley.

Meanwhile, Laura Silsby, the head of the Idaho-based New Life Children's Refuge, said that the group only had good intentions.

"We came here literally to just help the children," she said. "We wanted to help those who lost parents in the quake or who were abandoned," she added.

Paul said the case showed the need for more stringent guidelines for adoptions from Haiti. "I don't know all the facts, but if they were good intentions, they're certainly gone awry," she said.

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