The Fifth International Policy Conference on the African Child was held 29-30 May 2012 at the United Nations Conference Center Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The conference brought together about 500 participants from a wide variety of backgrounds and countries around the world. The overall goal of the Fifth IPC was to further the discussion on intercountry adoption and to contribute to the improvement of national laws, policies, systems and procedures relating to intercountry adoption.
The main objectives of the conference included:
- Raising awareness on the practice of intercountry adoption in relation to the protection of African children in need of alternative care.
- Providing a platform for sharing information and experiences on intercountry adoption.
- Promoting legal and policy action on intercountry adoption consistent with the best interests of the child.
- Adopting a Pan-African Framework and Guidelines on intercountry adoption.
Further discussions surrounded the topics of:
- African governments ratifying the requisite international legal instruments governing intercountry adoption
- Making support and resources more available for countries of origin that wish to ratify the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption
- Raising awareness as to what adoption entails and that intercountry adoption should be a measure of last resort.
As a result of the event, the conference adopted the Addis Ababa Communiqué on Intercountry Adoption, which calls for a reversal of the current trend of resorting to intercountry adoption as a primary solution for African children in need of alternative care. The conference also adopted the Guidelines for Action on Intercountry Adoption of Children in Africa which aims at facilitating and supporting the efforts of African states to take all appropriate legal, administrative measures to ensure that all persons and organizations involved in the adoption of a child act in conformity with applicable international legal instruments.
The full Conference Report is available here
The African Child Policy Forum also produced the following documents as outputs of the conference:
- Addis Ababa Communiqué on Intercountry Adoption
- Guidelines for Action on Intercountry Adoption of Children in Africa
- Proceedings Report–Intercountry Adoption: Alternatives and Controversies
The following two publications were prepared as background documents to inform the discussions and debates during the conference, and were distributed to participants at the conference:
