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Fate of adoption deal with Catalonia unclear

and | Publication date 10 June 2016 | 06:59 ICT

Children identified as eligible for international adoption are kept occupied with activities at a government centre in Phnom Penh.
Children identified as eligible for international adoption are kept occupied with activities at a government centre in Phnom Penh. Scott Rotzoll

Fate of adoption deal with Catalonia unclear

The Cambodian government signed a new adoption agreement with the Catalan regional government in Spain, though Spanish officials at the national level yesterday would not say whether the deal would stand.

The Cambodian government and the Catalan government already had an adoption agreement in place from 2006 to 2008, resulting in four adoptions, according to a Tuesday release from the Ministry of Social Affairs.

That was before the Kingdom placed a ban on inter-country adoptions following a string of allegations of human trafficking. The ban was lifted in 2013.

The Catalan government maintains that it has the power to adopt international treaties, but an official with Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid said officials didn’t “have full knowledge of the text actually signed”, and therefore could not comment on the fate of the agreement. Catalonia has recently been pushing for independence.

Neither officials at the Spanish Embassy in Bangkok nor the Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs could be reached yesterday.

Contact authors: Sen David and Yesenia Amaro

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