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Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) — Slashing red tape or ignoring ordinarily required paperwork, officials in the United States and the Netherlands have cleared the way for scores of Haitian orphans to leave their earthquake-ravaged homeland, according to officials from the two countries.
All of the children had adoptions pending with prospective parents in the two countries before Tuesday’s 7.0-magnitude quake, and government officials said paperwork was expedited or put on hold to make transfers happen on an emergency basis.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has chartered a plane to pick up about 100 children, according to spokesman Aad Meijer. The children arrived today, see report and photo’s.
President Préval gave his personal approval for the flight of the orphans for adoption. (NRC)
Dutch Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin over the weekend granted the children entry into the country, although their paperwork, including travel and adoption documents, was incomplete, Justice Ministry spokesman Patrick Mikkelsen told CNN.
300 children have pending adoption cases with American families. Six children arrived in Florida Sunday night, met by their adoptive parents with hugs and tears of happiness.
Haiti quake creates thousands of new orphans
Haiti is home to about 380,000 orphans, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, and that number is expected to grow in the wake of Tuesday’s earthquake. And those who lived in orphanages before may be homeless now, as reports of destroyed orphanages have come throughout the quake zone.
Some children who lost parents in the quake or were separated from parents are being relocated to the Dominican Republic, a child advocacy group Kids Alive International said.
(RNW) – The Netherlands is in the grip of a showbiz frenzy as broadcasters unite for a day of action to raise funds for those affected by the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
All of the Netherlands’ popular radio and tv stations have become one for a day, in order to broadcast a 24-hour appeal for aid to the stricken people of Haiti. Setting aside their deep-grained rivalry, public and commercial broadcasters have teamed up to beam a national fund-raising programme around the country. A similar event took place after the 2004 tsunami disaster.
Around the clock
The national radio station for-a-day began broadcasting early in the morning, and TV channels will take over in the evening. Taking its name from the joint bank account number of the country’s aid agencies, Radio 555 programmes are hosted by popular deejays and sponsored by major companies. Major artists are performing live in the shows free of charge, sometimes saying they won’t play a single note before another substantial donation for Haiti has come in. Representatives of big companies are playfully humiliated on-air to pressure them into donating more, while individuals who give a modest 10 euros are greeted with applause and fanfares.
The studio call centre taking donations is manned by celebrities and prominent members of society like Development Aid Minister Bert Koenders. Mr Koenders has promised that the government will double the amount collected when the action ends on Thursday. [The donations amounted to €41,724,126 as of midnight today, more will be collected in the next few days. In terms of donations per capita, The United States need to raise $2 billion.]
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
