SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON SALE OF CHILDREN, CHILD PROSTITUTION AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY TO VISIT GUATEMALA

HR/99/69
16 July 1999




The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Ofelia Calcetas-Santos, will visit Guatemala from 19 to 30 July at the invitation of the Government.

Ms. Calcetas Santos, appointed Special Rapporteur by the Commission on Human Rights in 1994, says she intends to use the visit to establish facts and make recommendations to the Government concerning the many international adoptions of Guatemalan children. She has become concerned, she adds, about the nature of these adoptions after receiving numerous allegations of unscrupulous tactics used during the adoption process, as well as of large amounts of money paid by potential adoptive parents -- mainly from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and France -- to third parties who act as brokers.

During the visit, the Special Rapporteur will meet with governmental and non-governmental officials working in the areas of child protection and foreign affairs, as well as with private individuals, in order to get an accurate picture of the situation of international adoptions of Guatemalan children.

During previous missions to the Czech Republic, the United States, Kenya, Mexico and Laos, the Special Rapporteur has focused mainly on the commercial sexual exploitation of children.