HANOI -- After the scandals of the late 1990s in which some Vietnamese children adopted by foreign couples were found to be victims of human trafficking and corruption, Vietnam has

rewritten the rules to clean up the trade. Previously foreigners seeking to adopt in Vietnam had to run the gauntlet of corrupt officials and unscrupulous adoption agencies, whose methods of procuring babies included cash payments to their

natural parents. However, under a July 2002 decree that came into effect in January this year, only foreign nationals whose governments have signed a bilateral convention with Vietnam can adopt Vietnamese

children. To date, France is the only country to have concluded such an adoption agreement in February 2000 with the Southeast Asian country, but other countries, including the United States, Italy,

Sweden and Denmark, are currently in the discussion phase. The reasons behind France's lead in the issue lies in the figures: French families adopted around half of all Vietnamese

children given new homes by foreigners during the 1990s. However, Paris suspended adoptions from its former colony in April 1999 after a host of "disturbing" revelations were thrown by the French Parliament, including babies being abducted, lured or

bought from their Vietnamese parents. "The French went to Vietnam and did their 'shopping'. But on return they had to validate the adoption at a French court and were unable to produce the documents required or the ones they had were

obviously fake," said one specialist of the issue. Last year some 90 Vietnamese children were adopted by French

families and 1,400 requests are currently being studied. The new legislation prioritizes the interests of the children and permits the rejection of adoption requests if there are fears over the fate of the adoptees with their new families, particularly

from sexual exploitation or child labor. "The convention with France is a model of its kind," Vietnamese

Justice Minister Uong Chu Luu said recently. "French and Vietnamese laws prohibit direct payments for adoptions because there is a risk of children being trafficked, as adoption has humanitarian purposes." Some experts believe there is a long way to go before the industry is completely cleaned up, and lament Vietnam's failure to ratify the 1993 Hague convention on child protection, which lays

down the international norms for cross-border adoptions.

Others however believe Vietnam is on the right track. "Vietnam is just not ready yet for it (the convention), its justice system is not strong enough. But Vietnamese legislation does

mirror the Hague convention," said one Western diplomat. "There are so many people out here who want to make money out of adoption that we can't prevent all corruption. But the Vietnamese demonstrate they are taking the problem very seriously." Adoption remains an extremely sensitive subject in Vietnamese government circles, but these last years police dismantled several

networks whose "stocks" contained as many as 200 children. (AFP)