A JOINT call for DNA testing of babies adopted from other countries has been made by an Irish adoption group and an organisation campaigning for children's rights in Central America.
The Adopted People's Association says it is "deeply troubled" by reports that child-traffickers in some countries are buying or stealing children from their original parents and that they are then put up for adoption.
Mr Bruce Harris, of Casa Alianza, best known for its campaign against the shooting of street children, told The Irish Times he was satisfied there was a trade in stolen babies in Central America, and his organisation had uncovered evidence of such a trade in Guatemala.
About 20 Guatemalan children are adopted by Irish couples every year but Mr Harris has no evidence, nor has any suggestion been made by the Adopted People's Association, that there is anything improper about any of these adoptions. Indeed, some Irish couples are known to keep in regular contact with the birth parents of their children.
Casa Alianza is a division of Covenant House in New York, which provides shelter and other services for thousands of homeless young people.
"In a September 1997 investigation undertaken by the Guatemala Solicitor General's Office and the Legal Aid Office of Casa Alianza, we found evidence of Mexican babies being stolen in Chiapas, moved across the border, a river, into Guatemala, where they were illegally given birth certificates and sent for international adoptions," Mr Harris told The Irish Times.
"Also babies have been coerced, stolen and purchased from desperate mothers in Guatemala. We have placed to date criminal accusations against more than 16 lawyers. We have an arrest warrant for one lawyer."
Asked if he knew of any Irish links to the illegal trade he said: "None have come to light, no. Some 60 per cent of the adoptions from Guatemala go to the US. The balance of the babies go principally to Europe and Israel and a few to Australia."
DNA testing of foreign adopted babies brought into Ireland "would be one more guarantee for the child about to be adopted that the person giving him/her away is really his mother".
"The DNA test should actually be realised in Ireland or by a lab acceptable to the Irish Consul, to avoid the Guatemalan lawyers just setting up their own DNA testing services."
The Adopted People's Association said it was backing the Casa Alianza call. In a statement it said that it "calls on the Irish Government to introduce compulsory DNA testing for all prospective children for adoption and their birth parents".
The US State Department, in its official country guide, has warned prospective adopters that "child-trafficking is a serious problem in Guatemala".
"Adoptive parents should thoroughly investigate the background of the prospective adoptive child to ensure that they are not unknowing accessories to any wrongdoing," it says.
In recent years there have been reports of children being stolen and put up for adoption in Brazil, Chile, the Ukraine and other countries.
According to the adoption handbook recently published by the Adoptive Parents' Association of Ireland, "it has to be said that there are a few dubious lawyers, particularly in some South American countries, who are not above being involved in child-trafficking".
Meanwhile, Mr Harris is facing a possible jail sentence in a defamation suit over the illegal adoptions issue. "One of the people we accused in September 1997 is the wife of the then President, and current Magistrate, of the Guatemalan Supreme Court," he said. Because we accused her of trafficking of influence (and we have the proof), she slapped a defamation suit against me."
"In Guatemala, defamation is a criminal case (rather than a civil case as per international law norms) and carries a three to five-year jail term. Also, truth is no defence in a defamation suit in Guatemala."