Russia may ban foreign adoptions entirely

Deputies of the State Duma will soon review a bill that would completely ban adoptions of Russian children by citizens of other countries. At this time this ban applies only to the United States according to the "Law of Dima Yakovlev" that came into effect on January 1^st.

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The law has caused a great debate. More precisely, the debate was about the section banning adoptions of Russian children by Americans. On January 13^th in Moscow and other cities rallies of non-system opposition against the "Law of Dima Yakovlev" and for the dissolution of the Duma will be held.

Meanwhile, the bill providing for a complete ban on adoptions of Russian children by citizens of other countries has been prepared (it is an amendment to the Family Code). An exception is made only for Italy and France, with which Russia has signed appropriate agreements.

In an interview with "Pravda.Ru" a sponsor of the bill, the State Duma deputy Yevgeny Fyodorov, said that "the export of children to other countries will not be allowed." 

He emphasized that "the ban on foreign adoptions exists in most advanced civilized countries - European countries, Canada and Australia. "This is a normal situation where no one thinks it is appropriate to support export of children, human trafficking, etc. Humanity answered this question 150 years ago, ending the war against slavery in the United States," said Yevgeny Fyodorov.

According to him, the bill has been discussed for over a year, and was reviewed by expert panels of the parliamentary faction "United Russia" five times. "We have had an extensive correspondence with the Ministry of Education that opposed the adoption of this law, which prevented us from promoting it further. The situation has improved significantly when part of the ideas that have been incorporated into it were implemented in the "Law of Dima Yakovlev," said the deputy.

Yevgeny Fyodorov explained the need for the legislation with the fact that "in principle, it is wrong to sell children and people in general." "Unfortunately, in the 1990s we entered into a series of agreements that do not allow Russia not to export its children, we have to wrap up the process at least in stages. First stage is the law related to the U.S. Second stage would allow to only deal with the countries that are parties to respective agreements. The third stage is ending the agreements when it is legally possible. As a result of these actions, all export of children from the Russian Federation would be stopped," said Yevgeny Fyodorov.

The deputy said that the bill contained another provision. Those Russian regions in which the adoption process is well established may make a decision to ban the export of children from their territory.

There are no firm dates of adoption of the bill as of this moment. According to Fyedorov, it will be brought for consideration of the State Duma in a week or two.

Oleg Artyukov

Pravda.Ru 

Read the original in Russian