Democratic Republic of Congo is set to allow some 150 children adopted by foreign parents, mostly Americans, to leave the country after spending more than two years in legal limbo, the interior ministry said on Monday.
In 2013, Congo imposed a moratorium on exit visas to children adopted by foreign parents, citing fears that the children could be abused or trafficked. The government has also voiced concerns about adoptions by gay couples.
According to the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, Congo became favoured international adoption destination in recent years because it has more than 4 million orphaned children
The U.S. Department of State said that Between 2010 and 2013, U.S. adoptions from Congo rose 645 percent.
According to Reuters, Interior ministry spokesman Claude Pero Luwara said an inter-ministerial commission had approved the exit visas. In November, the commission signed off on exit visas for about 70 children adopted by European, Canadian and American families.
Congo’s government has come under intense pressure from those countries’ governments to lift the suspension.
A Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation conducted in October found that the ban had spurred a black market in child smuggling, with more than 80 adopted Congolese children illegally transported out of the country and to the United
