October 31, 2007

CHADIAN government officials have brought abduction and fraud charges against nine French nationals, and seven Spaniards (crew members of the plane which was chartered for the operation) for trying to illegally fly 103 children (between the ages of 1 and 10) to Europe.

The French nationals who are members of a group called Zoe’s Ark, could possibly face 5 to 20 years of jail if convicted. The group denies they were acting illegally, saying they wanted to place orphans from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur with European families. (According to the Times, some children were to be given into the care of host families who paid several thousands of euoros each.)

Chadian president, Idriss Deby has denounced their actions as a “crime against children” and is demanding stiff penalties. Giving no grounds for his suspicions, he suggested that the children may have ended up being sold to a paedophile ring or being used as sources of transplant organs.

Because of the childrens young ages, it is difficult to establish whether they are orphans. The UN however, believes that all, or most of the children have at least one living relative and they will begin trying to reunite the children with their families.

Zoe's Ark, a small charity based near Paris and set up by Eric Breteau, a former fireman, claimed to have no interest in adoption. The charity states that its aim was to save 10 000 children whose parents had died in Darfur and hand them to foster families in France and Europe.

This furore now perhaps threatens African orphans. There is a fear that Africa will close its doors to European adoptions amid the allegations of child-trafficking surrounding the scandal in Chad.

Sylvie Dufeu who runs Demisenya, an association for parents who adopt in Mali is concerned that this will now discredit adoption from Africa as a whole. Her concerns are shared across Europe, where tens of thousands of childless families are engaged on desperate searches for international adoption. Dufeu herself, has two adopted children, Manon, 7, from Mali and Margot, 6, from Togo.

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