Sending Countries
Guatemala
Guatemala has been one of the first countries to investigate intercountry adoptions and uncover an extensive network of illegal practices. In 2010, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), in collaboration with UNICEF, published the results of an investigation evaluating both domestic and intercountry adoptions. The inquiry covered cases from 2007, the year the Adoption Law went into effect, through the early adoptions regulated under the new law. The CICIG examined a range of alleged criminal activities and identified several mechanisms used by illegal networks to engage to traffic children for intercountry adoptions. These networks included individuals who kidnapped or purchased children from their families. Moreover, the investigation discovered that children were given fake identity papers. Multiple state officials were found to be involved in these irregularities and weak control systems were identified.
The report showed that the structures involved in illegal adoptions continued to benefit from the actions of public entities responsible for children protection. It concluded that, in Guatemala, intercountry adoption became a lucrative business, in which criminal trafficking networks resorted to coercion, deception and abduction to obtain children, which were then declared adoptable with false identities.[1] Data for the investigation came from public sources, including adoption records, criminal case files and interviews. The study focused on 3,342 adoption proceedings, both domestic and international, and found that 60% contained procedural flaws. The inquiry found that because of the number and severity of these irregularities, “irregular adoptions would not have been possible without the participation and acquiescence of State authorities”.[2] The CICIG concluded that international adoption had become “a lucrative activity” and a “mechanism for obtaining children for those who want them.” The report was delivered to President Álvaro Colom in December 2010 and urged further reforms.[3]
In 2024, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo took a significant step toward seeking justice for children adopted illegally from Guatemala, issuing a public apology for illegal adoptions carried out between 1977 and 2008. The apology was delivered in response to the case of Osmín Tobar Ramírez.[4] In his speech, the President referred to the importance of recognising past mistakes and condemning the involvement of the state in such actions to ensure they are never repeated.[5]
In 2018, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of the parents of Osmín Tobar Ramírez and Jeffrey Arias Ramírez, following years of efforts by the family to find their children and obtain justice in Guatemala.[6] The Court found that Guatemala had violated the family’s rights. In 1997, the brothers, who were respectively seven and eight, were taken from their family by the Guatemalan state and put in an orphanage to be illegally adopted abroad. The Court ordered the Guatemalan government to publicly apologise to the family and set up a commission tasked with locating the children who were sold as part of the illegal adoption scheme. Prior to taking their case to the international court, the family had tried to obtain justice in Guatemala, but their attempts were not welcomed by the national courts.[7]
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[1] Elvira Loibl and David M. Smolin (eds), Facing the Past: Policies and Good Practices for Responses to Illegal Intercountry Adoptions (Eleven 2024), p. 294.
[2] Elvira Loibl and David M. Smolin (eds), Facing the Past: Policies and Good Practices for Responses to Illegal Intercountry Adoptions (Eleven 2024), p. 294.
[3] CICIG, ‘Informe: “Actores involucrados en el proceso de adopciones en Guatemala’ (Press Release, 1 December 2010) <https://www.cicig.org/cicig/informes_cicig/informe-actores-involucrados-en-el-proceso-de-adopciones-en-guatemala/> accessed 16 November 2025.
[4] Jeff Abbot, ‘Guatemalan Government Apologizes to Victims of Illegal Adoptions’ (The Progressive Magazine, 22 July 2024) <https://progressive.org/latest/guatemalan-government-apologizes-to-victims-of-illegal-adoptions-abbott-20240722/> accessed 16 November 2025.
[5] Lynelle Long, ‘A formal apology for an illegal intercountry adoption’ (International Adoptee Voices, 21 August 2024) <https://intercountryadopteevoices.com/2024/08/21/a-formal-apology-for-an-illegal-intercountry-adoption/> accessed 16 November 2025.
[6] Inter-American Court of Human Rights, case of Ramírez Escobar et al. v. Guatemala (Judgement) (9 March 2018) <https://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/casos/articulos/seriec_351_ing.pdf> accessed 16 November 2025
[7] Jeff Abbot, ‘Guatemalan Government Apologizes to Victims of Illegal Adoptions’ (The Progressive Magazine, 22 July 2024) <https://progressive.org/latest/guatemalan-government-apologizes-to-victims-of-illegal-adoptions-abbott-20240722/> accessed 16 November 2025.
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Report on Players Involved in the Illegal Adoption Process in Guatemala since the Entry into Force of the Adoption Law (2010)
Official English report: https://intercountryadopteevoices.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/INFOR-TEMA_DOC05_20101201_EN.pdf