Monday, June 18th 2001: Interview with Baroness Emma Nicholson, European Parliament's rapporteur for Romania

Stefan Candea

"Police Are Investigating Illegal Adoption Cases"

In an interview European Parliament's rapporteur for Romania Baroness Emma Nicholson granted exclusively to Evenimentul Zilei, she says the Romanian authorities have taken note of her signals about the traffic in children.

[Candea] What are your sources of information in Romania about abandoned children?

[Nicholson] I have worked for over 15 years for a well-known child protection organization in 47 countries. Prior to that, I had worked 10 years in the field of information. While in my free time I worked as a volunteer, also in the field of child protection. Hence, my major source of information is my own experience. When I visit an orphanage and I see an undernourished, quiet, weak, and pale child... I know very well that something is not in order. Then I start asking questions and the questions prompt answers that I weigh carefully to find out the truth. I do not need any other external sources.

[Candea] When did you start asking questions about the situation of children in Romania, about the adoption system?

[Nicholson] I got interested in the situation of children in Romania in 1990. I had not had an opportunity to visit your country before the [1989] revolution.

[Candea] When did you start noticing positive reactions emerging to your protests?

[Nicholson] In the first years after the revolution I was extremely disappointed, I could not see any progress. I remember that I talked even with President Iliescu at that time. We succeeded in bringing a child from Romania to London who needed very expensive surgery to survive. When President Iliescu came to London on his first official visit and visited the Romanian child, I discussed with him the situation of children in Romania right at that child's bedside.

[Candea] Did you tell Prime Minister Nastase the name of those involved in illegal adoptions?

[Nicholson] I cannot comment on my private talks with the Romanian officials. However, I can tell you that every time I receive information in this respect, I turn to authorized bodies - in this case the police - and I expect the system to work. If it does not work, I am the first one to protest.

[Candea] Have you noticed the system working in Romania?

[Nicholson] The system has many flaws (...) [ellipses as published]. So far, authorities have failed in the area of child protection (...) It was wrong from the very beginning to believe that,
for a child, any adoptive family is better than the family that cannot afford to keep him. This is wrong. How will a child manage to go on after losing overnight his language, friends, neighbors, country, and relations and is sent far away, thousands of kilometers from all this? It is much worse than losing one's identity. The child loses absolutely everything. And when this happens for money, it is one of the most terrible crimes. The basest thing is to sell a child. The law passed in 1996/67 institutionalized this sale. That law was devastating. It meant that, to all the horrors of the Ceausescu system, Romania also added half a decade of selling children.

[Candea] What was the Romanian authorities' response to your remarks?

[Nicholson] Three weeks ago, I had an excellent meeting with Romanian Interior Minister Ioan Rus. He set up a special team of the Ministry of Interior that will investigate all child abuse cases, trafficking in children, or the illegal sale of children. This is a very important move. I draw the minister's attention to a concrete case, which is currently being investigated by this team and the results of this investigation are expected in the shortest time possible.

[Candea] Hence, the fact that the Nastase government stopped international adoptions for the moment is your victory?

[Nicholson] No new adoption applications have been accepted since last December and the Nastase government stated that no other application will be accepted for at least one year. Hence, we are making progress. However, the field that has to be reformed is so vast and so profound: the judiciary system, police, and the directorates in charge of child protection. The next steps are very important indeed.

[Candea] What is your opinion about the way the Romanian press reflected the problem of adoptions?

[Nicholson] I am very concerned about all those pages that have been paid for and were written to order. It is one step back to the communist times. Those who wrote such commissioned pages should not call themselves journalists, they should not have a journalist license. Their behavior is completely unprofessional, un-European, and extremely harmful for Romania.