During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy accepted thousands of Bosnian children.
Parents in Sarajevo say goodbye to
their children, leaving on a bus convoy for Croatia, then to Italy by
ferry. Two babies on this exact bus were killed by snipers as it raced
out of the city.
While this guaranteed the safety of these infants, todlers, and
children it wasn't without some controversy. The legal time period
which Bosnian parents were given to reclaim their children from Italy
passed before the war ended and hundreds of children - whose parents
were still alive and well - were given up for adoption.
Initially Italy refused to release the records of these adoptions and
even when they did, the process was stalled because several of the
first children identified chose to remain with their adoptive families
in Italy. Still other parents pressed on for answers, especially the
parents whose children were infants when they were sent away.
"Where are the children, and who sold them to the goddamn Catholics!?"
one woman screamed at a United Nations press conference in Sarajevo, a
seminar that had nothing to do with this issue. The soundbite became
the soundbite to represent the conflict.
Now new charges have been launched and Italy is cooperating fully, much
to the pleasure of these parents. Flowers piled up throughout the day
in front of the Italian embassy in Sarajevo, here's the story:
ITALIAN PRESIDENT RESPONDS TO UZEIR KAHVIC
SARAJEVO,
November 29 (FENA) Uzeir Kahvic, the father of Sedina Kahvic, who was
in 1992 evacuated by convoy from the Childrens Home Bjelave to Italy,
where she was adopted, on Tuesday expressed gratitude to Italian
President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who accepted his plea for help, and was
especially touched by the humanity and understanding expressed by
President Ciampi, given that Kahvic received a response to his plea in
only four days.
In line with the Italian protocol, the response to Kahvic was sent by
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The letter says that the Court for
Minors in Milan had sent to this ministry a series of requests for
hearing the biological parents, which was to be forwarded to the
Italian Embassy in Sarajevo, for the purpose of hearing the parents and
issuing decisions on returning children to their fatherland or
proclaiming a state of abandon in cooperation with BiH authorities.
Regarding the special case of the minor you are informing us about,
the Court for Minors in Milan had previously sent a request to the BiH
Ministry of Foreign Affairs for hearing her father and mother before
proclaiming the state of adoption, is said in the letter.
This document can be regarded as an official stand of the Italian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Uzeir Kahvic thanked the Italian President
because thanks to his letter, after ten years of the search for his
daughter, Kahvic has finally learned the truth about the guilty party
for the legal separation from his daughter.
After submitting criminal charges against persons responsible for
trafficking in children and abuse of office in BiH before the BiH
Prosecutors Office, Uzeir Kahvic also raised charges against Justice
Ilaria Simi of the Court for Minors in Milan before the Milan
Prosecutors Office.