Concern over child trafficking

The Committee on the Rights of the Child said yesterday Guinea needed to “seriously oversee” the process of adoption of children from Guinea to other countries to help prevent illegal child trafficking. The 10-member committee of human rights experts made its preliminary observations after reviewing how Guinea was implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a UN press release said. The government should not leave adoption cases “only to diplomatic channels”, the committee added. During the debate, held in Geneva, the Guinean delegation said lack of resources had hampered government efforts to properly control some institutions sheltering children. The committee also recommended that Guinea improve its education system, prohibit corporal punishment and review current national legislation to bring it in line with the child’s rights treaty. (For more information, please see http://www.unhchr.ch)