The first International Conference on Inter-Country Adoption kicked off in Kathmandu on Sunday.

Minister for Women, Children and Social welfare, Urmila Aryal, and Minister of State for Labour and Transport Management, Ramesh Lakhak (second and third from left ) at the opening ceremony of the first International Conference on Inter-country Adoption in Kathmandu on Sunday, Mar 11 07. nepalnews.com/rh

Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Urmila Aryal inaugurated the three-day conference. 150 delegates from 15 countries including the USA, Norway, Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland and United Kingdom are participating in the conference that will discuss ways to protect the rights of adopted children and regulate in-country and inter-country adoption process.

The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare Ministry, Child NGO Federation Nepal, Central Child Welfare Board and the Nepal Children’s Organization are jointly organising the conference.

The adoption conference is being held amid growing concern about the illegal activities of agencies working for children in Nepal in the name of facilitating adoption, especially inter-country adoption.

The UNICEF in a statement on Saturday called upon the participants of the conference to consider seriously the rights of the child and advocate for child adoption mechanisms that are strictly in line with the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) and The Hague Convention.

The UNIICEF also stated that adoption in poor countries was turning into an industry due to slack legal mechanisms, lack of education and economic opportunities.