Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Human rights experts from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner expressed concern about the possible link between Guatemala's attorney general, Consuelo Porras, and alleged illegal adoptions of disappeared Indigenous children.
According to investigators, led by Special Rapporteur Margaret Satterthwaite, the adoptions would have occurred between 1968 and 1996 during Guatemala's armed conflict -- a period marked by human rights violations that particularly affected Indigenous communities.
The allegations refer particularly to 1982, when Porras headed the Elisa Martínez Temporary Home and allegedly acted as the "legal guardian" of minors who were later placed in irregular international adoptions.
"We are particularly concerned that a prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation has not been carried out into the alleged involvement of certain state authorities in these processes and that the mothers affected by these illegal adoptions have apparently received neither recognition nor adequate reparations," the U.N. experts said in a statement.
The Elisa Martínez Home operated as a center under the Directorate of Child and Family Welfare with the authority to oversee national and international adoptions.
