General Secretariat

On October 16th, 2015, ISS Canada held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in their office building. The AGM was an opportunity for the board, staff, members and volunteers to gather and share good news from ISS Canada and the ISS Network. The members nominated 2 new board members to the board of directors: Joanne Bezzubetz (Ottawa) and Michaela Bily (Alberta). The AGM was followed by 2 days of hard work by the board members as they challenge themselves with the exercise of a full Strategic Plan.

"There is undoubtly an increased need for protection and support for children and their families, there is a need for greater recognition-by all of us-of existing protection measures, including those from different cultures such as Kafala" said Jean Ayoub, ISS Secretary General in his welcoming remarks today at the Cross-Border Child Protection Conference co-organised with the Hague Conference Permanent Bureau. The 1996 Hague Convention as an instrument providing a solid framework for addressing such difficulties, specifically in terms of access to the judicial system, is at the heart of this three-day meeting attended by Child Protection authorities, judges, social workers, mediators, lawyers, psychologists, and international organisations from around the globe.

The ISS' added value with its recognised capacity to provide easily accessible services for individuals and/or other entities based on an established social work and legal expertise in complex transnational situations through a multidisciplinary and mediation (-based approach) was highlighted by some of the speakers such as Vice-President Mairead Mc Guiness MEP (European Parliament) in her video message presented today. video link

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As part of the activities of the Geneva Working Group on Children without Parental Care, ISS with co-sponsors Permanent Missions of Kenya, Portugal, Uruguay and Viet Nam as well as ATD 4th World, Better Care Network, CELCIS, Family for Every Child, For Our Children Foundation, Hope and Homes for Children, International Federation of Social Workers, IFCO, RELAF, Save the Children, SOS Children’s Villages International and UNICEF held an important side event. Professor Benyam Dawit Mezmur, CRC Committee Chairperson led the discussions providing an international overview, followed by panelists each representing a specific region showcasing promising practices on different family vulnerable environments. The side event was well attended by over 40 participants from different Missions including USA, Canada, Sweden, Uruguay, Viet Nam, Ireland, Portugal and Panama as well as others. In addition, many people have commented about the high quality of interventions from the floor, personal and heartwarming from the Vietnamese Ambassador, excellent for reminding the audience about the existing HRC resolution on investing in children from Uruguay and very practical in terms of what is occurring in Portugal. Whilst our time was short in terms of discussions, we believe that the main message was disseminated as reflected by Professor Mezmur’s concluding remark, it is "not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do."

For more information: see mini publication of main presentations in English, French and Spanish

some pictures

On September 17th, ISS-USA celebrated 90 years of providing cross border social work on Capitol Hill. Mary Mentaberry, Chair of the Board and Bob Miles, board member, kicked off the event by premiering ISS-USA's new video. More than 100 guests were in attendance, including El Salvador, and Honduras Ambassadors acting as honorary chairs.
ISS-USA presented Senator Barbara A. Mikulski with the Ruth Larned Award for her outstanding leadership in support of children and families; Congressman Elijah E. Cummings with the Fred Warburg Award for his commitment to community engagement and partnership; and Ambassador Susan A. Jacobs with the Lifetime Advocate Award for her ongoing support of ISS-USA and dedication to the field of child and family protection.

As part of ISS project 'A better future is possible', ISS General Secretariat was invited by local child protection authorities of Timisoara and Caras Severin to carry out a needs assessment mission in their institutions caring for children with disabilities.
The goal of the mission was to understand the institutional care framework for children with disabilities and propose actions to promote their access to family based-care. Thanks to ISS Romania Branch's (Generatie Tanara Romania-GTR) excellent preparation in organising the visits, the ISS team was warmly welcomed by the institutions' staff. A wrap-up session with the concerned authorities concluded the mission and gave the opportunity to ISS to propose recommendations in the framework of the project. The recommended actions focus mainly on strengthening and improving the existing foster care services and reinforcing long term life plans for the children through a regular, systematic and comprehensive assessment of the situation of the child and a well-proven multidisciplinary approach. Moreover, the need to support care givers in their daily care activities was highlighted. A detailed report will be shared with the authorities and next steps such as identifying the pool of national trainers and the training curriculum will be jointly discussed.

Article 6 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
1. States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life.
2. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.

The ISS Cross-Border Child Protection Conference will discuss the protection of vulnerable refugee children on October 22nd in Geneva.

In June, ISS participated in the 9th European Forum on the rights of the Child in Brussels. ISS role and capacity as an international organisation, providing assistance for transnational cooperation to child protection authorities within the EU and with third countries, was clearly highlighted in one of the key Forum discussion papers presented by the Fundamental Rights Agency Mapping of child protection systems.

ISS was also a panel member and intervened in one of the sessions on "Effective procedures" in child protection in an international context. Participants appreciated ISS expertise related to international child protection cases in a cross-border setting relating to custody and child abuse, amongst others. Core activities related to cross-border family conflicts (parental responsibility, custody), child protection services, migration, and inter-country adoption (search for origins and birth families) were also presented. During this session, ISS pointed to gaps in the current Brussels IIa Regulation. These issues will also be discussed at the next ISS Cross Border Child Protection - International Conference taking place in Geneva between 21-23 October 2015.

ISS will continue playing an essential part in this international initiative strengthening child protection systems across the world.

Held every five years since the inception of the 1993 Hague Convention, sixty-six States parties were in attendance, as well as seven International Organizations, thirty-three NGOs and twenty observers. A unique opportunity for adoption experts in countries of origin and receiving countries, to discuss better co-operation, persisting challenges such as costs and illicit practices, as well as an improved protection of the child.

ISS was represented by a Delegation from its General Secretariat, displaying its expertise through various documents published on the Permanent Bureau website. ISS intervened on children with special needs, the use of new technologies in search of origins. Moreover, ISS had the opportunity to chair a session on openness in adoption.
Most of the ISS interventions were based on the Manifesto on Ethical Intercountry Adoption, formally launched during this meeting.

The ISS/IRC is pleased to share the official launch of its Manifesto for Ethical Intercountry Adoption which, based on the guiding principles of the HC-1993, intends to promote ethical practices in order to protect the children better as well as anyone involved, and to ensure that intercountry adoption is a protection measure that is used only in the child's best interests.
The Manifesto is available in English, French and Spanish, downloadable in Flip book versions as follows: