PHNOM PENH, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will resume international adoption next year after a four-year suspension due to concerns over child trafficking, a senior official said Wednesday.
"Cambodia is set to resume adoption sometime in 2014 so that foreigners who are interested in adopting Cambodian children will be able to submit their requests next year," Nim Thoth, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Social Affairs, told reporters after a national consultation on adoption.
Cambodia banned foreign adoption of Cambodian children in 2009 in order to better regulate the adoption process.
The country passed the law on Inter-Country Adoption on Dec. 3, 2009. The law makes clear that the government is cracking down on child trafficking, and it bans profit making in adoption, provides harsher penalties for lawbreakers, and also requires adoptions to be handled only by authorized and trained officials.
The Southeast Asian nation originally planned to resume inter- country adoption early this year, but was postponed in order to allow the authorities to prepare the necessary regulatory frameworks, and train relevant stakeholders.
"Essential safeguards to ensure the proper case management of adoptions needs to be in place before the resumption of adoptions," said Anselmo Reyes, Representative of the Hague Conference Asia Pacific Regional Office. "This resumption should take place gradually in order to guarantee the proper and orderly implementation of the 2009 Law and the 1993 Hague Convention."
Cambodia ratified the Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption in 2007.
Nim Thoth said more than 3,000 Cambodian children had been adopted by mostly American, Italian, French and British nationals.