Plan of Action for Children and Adolescents for 2004-2015,” to raise awareness of the childhood issues and vulnerabilities that create the conditions for irregular, for-profit adoptions.32 42. The Adoption Law was enacted in 2007.33 That law created the National Adoption Board as a central authority in compliance with the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. The law also gives preference to national adoption over intercountry adoption, and prohibits persons, institutions, and authorities involved in the adoption process from obtaining improper benefits. 43. With regard to adoption proceedings, the Adoption Law states that: The family court judge will receive the adoption request from the interested parties and, once it is verified that the administrative adoption proceeding complies with the requirements of this law and the Hague Convention, the judge shall approve and uphold the national or intercountry adoption without further proceedings. (…)34 44. In view of these measures, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child presented its concluding remarks on the situation in Guatemala in June 2007.35 The Committee stated that Guatemala “continues to cause several serious concerns with respect to intercountry adoption.”36 It identified the following shortcomings: (i) the continued inadequacy of national laws regulating adoption practices; (ii) irregular practices based on financial interest that persist in the management of Guatemalan child adoptions, especially since notaries are involved in an increasing number of cases of intercountry adoptions; and (iii) crimes committed in Guatemala involving child-selling for purposes of adoption, which generally go unpunished because the authorities are to a large extent complicit.37 45. In addition, in 2010 the CICIG indicated that there is still evidence to show that at least 60% of those cases of adoption processed prior to the enactment of the Adoption Law contain potential irregularities in their files.38 For its part, in 2012 the Guatemalan Coalition for the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Guatemala asserted that the shortcomings in the effective controls and oversight of adoptions still persist in Guatemala.39 The Coalition maintained that the State has not taken measures to investigate and punish individuals, including State agents, who have been involved in irregular adoption procedures.40 32 Government Order No. 333-2004, October 19, 2004. 33 Adoption Law, by Decree Law No. 77-2007. 34 Adoption Law, by Decree Law No. 77-2007. Article 49. Committee on the Rights of the Child, Examination of the Reports Presented by the States Party in accordance with Paragraph 1 of Article 12 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, Concluding remarks. Guatemala. July 6, 2007. 35 36 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Examination of the Reports Presented by the States Party in accordance with Paragraph 1 of Article 12 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, Concluding remarks. Guatemala. July 6, 2007. 37 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Examination of the Reports Presented by the States Party in accordance with Paragraph 1 of Article 12 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, Concluding remarks. Guatemala. July 6, 2007. 38 International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), United Nations, “Report on Players Involved in the Illegal Adoption Process in Guatemala since the Entry into Force of the Adoption Law (Decree 77-2007),” December 1, 2010. Available in: http://www.cicig.org/uploads/documents/informes/INFOR-TEMA_DOC05_20101201_ES.pdf 39 Guatemalan Coalition for the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Guatemala. Report of October 2012. Available in: http://www.gobernacionsuchitepequez.gob.gt/cms/svet/CajadeHerramientasVET/Derechos%20de%20Ninez%20y%20Adolescencia/ UPR%20GUATEMALA%20report%20-%20espa%23U00f1ol.doc 40 Guatemalan Coalition for the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Guatemala. Report of October 2012. Available in: http://www.gobernacionsuchitepequez.gob.gt/cms/svet/CajadeHerramientasVET/Derechos%20de%20Ninez%20y%20Adolescencia/ UPR%20GUATEMALA%20report%20-%20espa%23U00f1ol.doc 8