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Madonna adoption illegal?
15/05/2008 17:19 - (SA)
Caroline Drees
Lilongwe - Malawi's High Court delayed on
Thursday its ruling on whether US pop diva Madonna may adopt a
two-year-old Malawian boy, to allow it to review a new human
rights report which says the move would be illegal.
The adoption has been controversial, with critics accusing
the government of skirting laws that ban non-residents from
adopting children in Malawi, which has been ravaged by an Aids
epidemic leaving more than one million orphans.
Malawi's government and toddler David Banda's father - his
only surviving parent - have endorsed the adoption, and a local
rights group that had opposed the case said earlier this week it
was no longer interested in pursuing the matter.
But the new, non-binding report by the Human Rights
Commission (HRC), which is set up by the government, could
complicate the case.
"What we want is ... consideration of certain procedures
that conform with international conventions on child rights and
what our law says, otherwise, as it stands, everything is
illegal and the person who wants to adopt the child does not
qualify until the judge finds solutions to it," HRC Chairperson
Dorothy Nyasulu told Reuters.
Madonna's lawyer told reporters he was still confident his
client's adoption bid would be successful.
"I'm confident that the adoption will go through because my
client has met all the requirements and the government is
satisfied that she qualifies," Alan Chinula said.
Non-resident
The HRC's report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters,
said the law made clear a person had to be in Malawi for at
least 18 months to qualify as a resident.
Madonna has not spent
that long in the southern African nation.
It also pointed to provisions in the international
Convention on the Rights of the Child which say due regard
should be paid to the child's ethnic, religious, cultural and
linguistic background.
Malawi is in the process of amending its adoption laws to
allow non-residents adoption rights. Parliament must still
approve the amendments.
An exact date for next week's final ruling was not
announced.
Madonna could not attend the court session on Thursday
because she was too busy with other engagements, her lawyer
said.
Madonna began adoption proceedings for David in 2006 and the
boy has been living with her and her film director husband Guy
Ritchie in their London home since then.
She took David when he
was 13 months old after his father had placed him in an
orphanage following the death of his wife.
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South Africa
