4 ANALYSIS & FEATURE MONDAY MAY 18, 2009

Are adopted children invisible commodities?

In a globalizing world, it should matter less where children are brought up, and more how
By Chris Williams

Madonna’s efforts to adopt

another child from Malawi fill
the international press, and the
familiar songs about the rights
and wrongs of adoption are sung
again. But what about Koreans
adopted abroad, and adoption
from elsewhere in East Asia?
In her book, “Ten Thousand
Sorrows,” Elizabeth Kim tells
how, in a Korean village in the
1950s, she and her mother were
made to live in a separate hut,
because she was fathered by an
American solider. Because of
this, she saw her mother being
hanged by male relatives, and Chris Williams
was sent to a fundamentalist ● Chris Williams is based at
Christian orphanage, which the Center for International
was more like a prison. Then Education and Research,
she was adopted by a Calvinist University of Birmingham,
pastor in America who would United Kingdom, and has
tape record her screams as he also held posts at the univer-
beat her. She was then married sities of London, Bristol,
off to another pastor who Cambridge, Cairo and the
jumped on her stomach when United Nations.
she was pregnant, put her in
● He is author of the books
the dog kennel to sleep, and
made her watch while he had “Invisible Victims: Crime and
sex with other women. “Honor Abuse Against People with
killings,” abuse of girls and Disabilities” (1995), and
women, and forced marriages “Leadership Accountability in
are not just horrors of the a Globalizing World” (2006),
Muslim world. Palgrave Macmillan, London.
One expert, Tobias Hubinette, ● He can be reached at
traces international adoption [email protected]
from Korea back to 1860, when
famine and poverty had caused
children to be sent to Russia
and Manchuria. He estimates
that there were 148,394 over-
seas adoptions between 1953
and 2001. He believes that
“adoption is too often used to get
rid of ‘impure’ and costly chil-
dren whether stigmatized by il-
legitimacy (‘sasaenga’), by dis-
ability (‘changae’a’) or by race
(‘honhyeola’).” Adoptees were
seen by Park In-sun as an as-
pect of Korean economic devel- Many were not orphans, and chances of getting a visa to a 1990s for the Joseph Rowntree es across Asia. The pictures did Even if imperfect, orphanages now across most of East Asia.
opment, as “goodwill ambas- many suffered serious sexual Western country. Canadian Foundation, there were many not show that the doors were and adoption may be better It is likely that many of the
sadors” or “victims in a pursuit and other abuse in religious or- Immigration Acts had barred cases of assault, abduction and open. than the other options for un- children who stayed in East
of greater national economic phanages, where the main aim “mentally handicapped” people rape by care staff. One patient I also saw a state-of-the-art wanted children. In 2007, the Asian orphanages had excel-
prosperity.” seemed to be to increase the and those with epilepsy, and had died as a result of being tied disability hospital in Beijing, U.S. State Trafficking in lent care, and are now enjoying
In the 1950s, numerous colonial stock of compliant mentioned “prohibited classes” to a toilet by nurses while they funded and supported by Japan, Persons Report talked of the thriving economy. And
Korean children were adopted white Christian laborers. who could become a burden on had lunch. which was better equipped than 10,000-20,000 people, mainly some did not. Many adopted
through religious organizations The export and institutional- social welfare or health services. In 1997, Human Rights anything I had seen outside women and children, who have abroad will have had a wonder-
in the United States, Australia, ization of surplus children has a A decade ago, the American Watch also expressed concern China. It even included a spe- been “‘trafficked primarily from ful life. But some may have suf-
and Europe. They were not all long tradition in Europe. In his media carried horror stories about the children in Hong cially adapted swimming pool. Anhui, Henan, Hunan, fered abuse and neglect similar
war orphans. Some were “GI ba- book “Republic” 2,400 years ago, about Chinese orphanages, and Kong’s refugee camps, which Elsewhere, staff at a small Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou to that which East Asia was ac-
bies,” from Korean women and Greek philosopher Plato recom- a report from Human Rights were holding the so-called workshop for young people with Provinces to prosperous cused of.
non-Korean soldiers. The Korea mended that orphans, together Watch, talked of “cruelty, abuse, Vietnamese “boat people.” (They psychiatric problems grumbled provinces along PRC’s east coast Fate can make a vulnerable
Herald has often discussed sub- with criminals and their chil- and malign neglect,” that affect- were, more accurately, refugees that the patients were paid for sexual exploitation.” It also child into a valuable global
sequent trends under headlines dren, and widows, were to be ed 15 million orphans. A piece in from U.S. intervention.) It did nearly as much as the staff, but mentions forced marriages, and commodity, slave, emotional
such as, “IMF economic pinch sent to the “colonies.” In 19th the Washington Post in 1996, not mention that, because of the felt that this demonstrated international trafficking for prize, or pawn in the rhetoric of
increases number of abandoned century Italy, around 43 percent “China’s orphanages and conditions in which children China’s belief that all people prostitution. But it does not international politics. The
children” in 1999, and “Korea of the children of Florence were death,” made parallels with the were held in these camps, had equal value. mention that many clients are German philosopher, Kant,
still main source of adoptions in put into orphanages. There is no Nazi concentration camps. A re- Britain could not sign up fully to Current websites perpetuate European and American, made the distinction between
America” in 2001. North East Asian city, however poor, port from Macau, “The Caged the U.N. Convention on the negative stories, and publicize tourists. value in terms of the “price” of
Korean orphans, and the that is abandoning its children Kids,” showed children appar- Rights of the Child. agencies that arrange for the The agency, Americans adopt- what can be “replaced by some-
“Kosian” children fathered by to that extent. ently kept like zoo animals. The Sino-British Fellowship adoption of East Asian babies. ing orphans presents a more thing else as its equivalent”,
guest workers from elsewhere Korea is not unique. Causal Like other western critiques Trust assisted me to visit China Adoptable babies are in short balanced view — “There have and what is “above all price”
in Asia, provide new aspects. factors are global and media re- of the East, the description of or- at this time. My tour was care- supply in Eestern countries. been some negative reports in and “has no equivalent”, which
Since 2004, the International ports are not always what they phanages veiled double stan- fully managed, but I became East Asian infants are seen as the popular media about bad has “dignity.” Dignity is not a
Korean Adoptees Association seem. dards. In 1966, Burton Blatt aware how the Western press in need of rescue, and attrac- conditions in Chinese orphan- commodity.
has worked to mitigate the re- In 1997, the international had exposed the grossly inhu- photographers had set up their tive. Yet despite this, children ages. These reports have been In a globalizing world, it
sultant problems, but also to op- press reported how parents in mane conditions within images of apparent neglect and with disabilities are rarely ac- greatly exaggerated. While life should matter less where chil-
timize the benefits. Hong Kong, who had disabled American institutions in his abuse in East Asia. One famous cepted. Viviana Zelizer explains in an orphanage in a developing dren are brought up, and more,
The U.N. Children’s Rights children and were planning to book “Christmas in Purgatory.” picture, showing an “orphaned how we commoditize children in country can be quite harsh, and how. In the words of an Ella
commission questioned Korean migrate, were putting their chil- His photographs showed naked, girl” tied in a chair, was actual- her insightful book, “Pricing the while some orphanages do a bet- Fitzgerald song, which predates
officials about the reasons for dren into orphanages on the pained children and adults, sit- ly of a traditional bamboo baby Priceless Child: The Changing ter job than others, overall or- Madonna, “It ain’t what you do,
international adoption from a mainland. But there was no ting it their own excrement, or seat. But the picture was taken Social Value of Children.” The phanages in China are ade- but the way that you do it.” To
country with the 12th largest mention that some of these “or- warehoused in beds with no from an angle that made the moral and emotional rewards of quate places staffed by caring have dignity and be happy, chil-
economy in the world, in 2003. phans” were created because of space between them. They were chair look like an implement of adopting a child are high, as people. ... We believe that care dren do not need to be valuable,
But they might also have asked the immigration laws of truly reminiscent of a concen- torture. Other pictures showing can be the financial rewards for for children without families is just ordinary. And people who
why Britain was still exporting Western countries. Parents be- tration camp. When I did re- “caged children” had been taken the agencies and travel compa- better in China than in any oth- adopt, or professionals who pro-
its surplus children to Canada lieved that having a disabled search about the abuse of dis- through barred windows that nies that make the arrange- er developing country.” vide care, don’t need to be a
and Australia in the 1970s. child would reduce their abled people in Britain in the are common in shops and hous- ments. The same is probably true Madonna to do it.

Emerging economies face

acute disaster risks: U.N.
GENEVA (Reuters) — bility and global security,” U.N. India are most vulnerable to
Natural disasters threaten to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deadly landslides.
trigger widespread damage and said, introducing the 200-page China and India are most at
distress in emerging economies, report launched in Bahrain. risk from deaths in earth-
many of which are already on The Geneva-based ISDR es- quakes, followed by Indonesia,
the brink because of the global timated that the share of the El Salvador, Guatemala and the
recession, a United Nations global economy at direct risk Democratic Republic of Congo.
body said on Sunday. from floods has doubled since Sub-Saharan African countries
There are 1 billion people liv- 1990, and that 28 percent more were cited as having the most
ing in hazard-prone slums and people are now vulnerable to people and crops exposed to
shantytowns in developing losing their homes, incomes risks from drought.
countries, many of which over- and lives than two decades The poorest communities in
looked safety standards in re- ago. developing countries are at
cent years of red-hot growth, ac- “Most flood risk is concentrat- highest risk from disasters and
cording to the International ed in Asian countries,” it said, are rarely covered by insurance.
Strategy for Disaster Reduc- estimating that three quarters The ISDR estimated that 1.7 Thousands of people pack the road to the devastated town of Beichuan last Tuesday, one year after it was destroyed by an earthquake.
tion. of those at risk of dying in floods million people have been killed AFP-Yonhap News
Crammed settlements with around the world are concen- in 23 “mega disasters” since
poor drainage systems are mak- trated in Bangladesh, India and 1975, and said that major pact of rising oceans on Dhaka, more exposed to devastation. It accused local officials ic growth are more at risk from
ing floods more frequent and se- China. storms and weather-related Mumbai and Shanghai, large For example, the report said worldwide of turning a blind eye disaster because governance
vere in many cities, particularly Thailand and Indonesia also emergencies are expected to in- parts of which are only 1 to 5 while Japan and the Philippines to poorly built homes, schools and construction standards
in Asia, where the ISDR said big face substantial threats from crease as a result of global meters above sea level. have virtually the same expo- and other buildings, and said have lagged and corruption is
swathes of commercial assets floods, the report said. warming. The ISDR stressed it is not sure to tropical cyclones, they governments in Africa, Asia and still rife,” it said.
and infrastructure are also ex- Bangladesh was listed as facing “Many urban areas will also just geography that makes im- kill 17 times more people in the Latin America routinely ignore “Even in high income coun-
posed to storms and earth- the highest mortality risk from experience stress through water poverished pockets of the world Philippines. Cyclones of the slums in low-lying and land- tries, problems persist as can be
quakes. cyclones, along with China, and energy shortages, heat and most vulnerable to disasters, same strength also typically slide-prone areas. seen from last month’s earth-
“Disaster risk is rising in an India, the Philippines, cold waves and more prevalent saying that weak governance damage 20 times more of “Some low and middle-income quake in Italy which destroyed
alarming way, threatening de- Myanmar and Madagascar, disease vectors,” it said, raising has made both people and Madagascar’s gross domestic countries which have experi- a number of buildings con-
velopment gains, economic sta- while Ethiopia, Indonesia and particular concern about the im- economies in poorer countries product than Japan’s. enced recent and rapid econom- structed in modern times.”