‘Surprise’ at inaction on illegal adoptions

A UN body said last year it was "surprised" that the issue of illegal adoptions and vaccine trials in mother and baby homes had not been dealt with.

In an email to the Adoption Rights Alliance last September, Jean Claude Vignoli, programme director of the Universal Periodic Review, a mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council, praised the group’s submission to Ireland’s fourth periodic report to the UN Committee on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“I took a look at your report, and I am quite surprised no state did raise your issues; your report was of high quality, very well drafted,” said Mr Vignoli. “Did you lobby the states in order to encourage them to make recommendations according to adoptions issues?”