The cases of 'stolen children' in Spain and Ireland : curtailing the most suitable legal framework on the fight for 'real' identities

Abstract

As the public acknowledgment and understanding increases due to the vast number of `stolen children´ cases exposed in today´s realm, new methodologies must be developed to effectively proportionate them a specific legal status in which the violations of their basic human rights will be elaborately accounted, and promote a very large scale integration on the International and National spheres. Babies and children who were `taken-away´ from their biological mothers and given up for `illegal´ adoption, are the main protagonists on the situations occurred in Spain and Ireland in the last decades. These `stolen children´ will bring the question of those` stolen lives´, the reasons why those offences where perpetrated and the influence of social, cultural and religious dogmas within them. The protection on the children´s human rights should be a primarily focus point in the International and National laws and the right to an identity should be protected as vital for the own recognition of the individual. Are those cases victimless? With the help of this thesis, hopefully more people might be aware of the size of the problem and the necessity for a further development to assess the issue and to find solutions to achieve the necessary Truth, Justice and Reparation of those stolen lives. Key words : `stolen children´, `development´, `human rights´, `law´, `stolen lives´