Lubomyr Husar Criticizes Deputies for Postponing Ratification of Hague Adoption Convention
At this week's session, for the eighth time the deputies will decide whether to ratify the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. The convention is aimed at streamlining the mechanism for intercountry adoption, which is often the last hope of older and sick children joining a family.
When the council voted for the convention, members were divided into several groups. The party Svoboda and the Communists voted against the document. The rest voted for this convention, knowing that it is an important document. The president's party abstained from voting, although the president introduced this convention to the parliament.
Representatives of the alliance Ukraine Without Orphans spoke with Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, former head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, about orphans, orphanages, nd and intercountry adoption. The cardinal’s thoughts were published on LB.ua.
Cardinal Lubomyr Husar sharply criticized the fact that the deputies still do not support the Hague Adoption Convention:
"I would take a whip and give them all a good beating, then maybe they would start to think straight. I think that people who to vote on such important matters should first of all and above all love people because this is the most important. They should try to find the best way to properly look after the children, without hindering their development. I think it is, so to speak, politicking, when some, in my opinion, false, unclear principles begin to regulate the affairs relating to the good of individual people, especially those who are vulnerable. Every child is vulnerable, but those poor children who are deprived of parental care and protection are particularly vulnerable. So I think that everyone who will vote on it in any manner – for, against, abstain – needs to think about this issue conscientiously, not – it's a bad word in this sense – politically.”
The deputies themselves defend their actions by saying that it is difficult to control children adopted abroad.
To this the cardinal replied: “If we talk about responsible – deputies – then their actions are evidence of indifference toward children, suffering children. When talking about the content of the convention, we must be aware that the best situation of course is when a child has a father and mother who are care for him. There are many cases where a child is left without parental care for different reasons – when a child loses one or both parents, the inability of parents to ensure the child's upbringing. Adoption is a very good outcome, because there are people who are really willing to accept the child as their own... I personally know at least one or two cases of adoption outside Ukraine, when a sick child was adopted, taken in. And now, even though the child will grow outside its normal national environment, the child will have everything needed for normal development: care, schools, preparation for mature life. One doesn’t have to regard this as the ideal outcome, but it is quite possible.”
Cardinal Lubomyr also drew attention to the poor state of orphanages for children in Ukraine: “There is evidence from various people that the state of orphanages is bad, that there is a lot of abuse, theft, that children are not provide with what the state assigns to them, that children starve, suffer. In short, this issue is very relevant. So I think that to postpone this, as was already done many times, is on the one hand an expression of indifference, and on the other hand, I'm sorry that I have to say it, a kind of cruelty. It is a failure to understand the situation.”
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) calls on Ukraine to speed up the ratification of the Hague Adoption Convention to strengthen the protection of adopted children and further reform the system, which provides care for them. This was reported by UNICEF Representative in Ukraine Yukie Mokuo.
