Press release

KYIV, 6 November 2008 - Helping Ukrainian authorities improve the system for international adoption of Ukrainian children is the purpose of an OSCE-organized meeting that starts in Kyiv today.

The two-day meeting, organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine and the Family, Youth and Sports Ministry, aims to support the Ukrainian authorities' efforts to bring the country's adoption mechanism into line with international standards.

According to the Ukrainian Family, Youth and Sports Ministry, more than 100,000 children in the country are either orphans or otherwise deprived of parental care. Of those, more than a third are eligible for adoption. Although the Ukrainian government prefers domestic adoptions and placement in family-type care to look after such children, the number of international adoptions remains high.

"A recent assessment of the adoption system in Ukraine demonstrated that there is still a significant amount of inter-country adoptions carried out without compliance with internationally-accepted standards," said Ambassador Lubomir Kopaj, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine. "This meeting will help Ukrainian authorities improve the adoption system and promote the development of a transparent adoption system that protects the best interests of the children and prevents any possible malpractices or other violations, including trafficking in children."

Experts from receiving states and states of origin, as well as from the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on International Law, will present international best practices at the meeting and discuss with Ukrainian authorities how they can establish an effective mechanism for international adoptions.