c) Ensure that the child concerned by inter-country adoption enjoys safeguards and
standards equivalent to those existing in the case of national adoption;
d) Take all appropriate measures to ensure that, in inter-country adoption, the placement
does not result in improper financial gain for those involved in it;
e) Promote, where appropriate, the objectives of the present article by concluding bilateral
or multilateral arrangements or agreements, and endeavour, within this framework, to
ensure that the placement of the child in another country is carried out by competent
authorities or organs.
155.
The Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry
Adoption, adhered to by Guatemala on November 26, 2002, aims "to establish safeguards to ensure that
intercountry adoptions take place in the best interests of the child and with respect for his or her
fundamental rights as recognized by international law.”269. Articles 4 and 5 of said treaty provide for the
following:
4. An adoption within the scope of the Convention shall take place only if the competent
authorities of the State of origin:
a) have established that the child is adoptable;
b) have determined, after possibilities for placement of the child within the State of origin
have been given due consideration, that an intercountry adoption is in the child's best
interests;
c) have ensured that
i. the persons, institutions and authorities whose consent is necessary for adoption, have
been counselled as may be necessary and duly informed of the effects of their consent, in
particular whether or not an adoption will result in the termination of the legal relationship
between the child and his or her family of origin,
ii. such persons, institutions and authorities have given their consent freely, in the required
legal form, and expressed or evidenced in writing,
iii. the consents have not been induced by payment or compensation of any kind and have
not been withdrawn, and
iv. the consent of the mother, where required, has been given only after the birth of the
child; and
d) have ensured, having regard to the age and degree of maturity of the child, that
i. he or she has been counselled and duly informed of the effects of the adoption and of his
or her consent to the adoption, where such consent is required,
ii. consideration has been given to the child's wishes and opinions,
iii. the child's consent to the adoption, where such consent is required, has been given
freely, in the required legal form, and expressed or evidenced in writing, and
iv. such consent has not been induced by payment or compensation of any kind.
5. An adoption within the scope of the Convention shall take place only if the competent
authorities of the receiving State:
a) have determined that the prospective adoptive parents are eligible and suited to adopt;
b) have ensured that the prospective adoptive parents have been counselled as may be
necessary; and
c) have determined that the child is or will be authorized to enter and reside permanently
in that State.
156.
As for the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, it has pointed out that states
must observe the following provisions in connection with intercountry adoptions:
269
Article 1.
32