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Haiti Ratifies the Hague Convention

America World has confirmed that Haiti ratified the Hague Convention on Monday, June 11, 2012.  A joint meeting was held on Monday afternoon between the Senate and the House of Deputies in Haiti.  We received the following press release from the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

“I am pleased to inform you that Mr. Guillaume (Lawyer – Project Manager, IBESR) and UNICEF have confirmed that the Haitian Parliament approved the Decree for the ratification of the Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption yesterday, Monday 11 June 2012. However, for the ratification to take effect at an international level and to consider Haiti as a State Party to the Convention, Haiti must deposit its instrument of ratification before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (the depository). The date of entry into force of the Convention will be the first day of the month following the expiration of three months after the deposit the instrument of ratification.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour has been designated as the Central Authority.

UNICEF informed the Permanent Bureau that the President of the National Assembly promised the inclusion of the approval of the Draft law on Adoptions into the legislative agenda in the following two weeks. The new challenge will be to ensure that the new Draft law is in accordance with the 1993 Hague Convention.â€

*While we do not yet know the implications the ratification of the Hague Convention will have on the future of adoptions from Haiti, we are not discouraged by this news.  We will continue to press on and walk beside our families through this journey.  It is important that we all keep our eyes on the Lord and rest in the knowledge that God is in control.  We are comforted in the fact that the Director of the IBESR is actively restructuring the adoption processes and pray that positive results are forthcoming. We will keep you informed as more information becomes available.

For more information, please contact Michelle Reed, Haiti Family Coordinator at Michelle.Reed@awaa.org

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