The government of the Netherlands instigated an independent commission in April 2019 to look into international abuses after legal procedures showed that the Dutch government had been involved in illegal adoption from Brazil, and pointed to the possibility of more such cases.
The report issued by the state commission in February 2021, said it had found systematic wrongdoing, including pressuring poor women to give up their babies, falsifying documents, engaging in fraud and corruption, and, in effect, buying and selling children. In cases from Brazil, the Dutch government was aware of misdeeds in adoptions and the role of Dutch diplomats stationed in Brazil therein, but did nothing about them and allowed them to continue. The report also concluded that the role of Dutch diplomats was deliberately left out of the 1984 report of the Dutch police investigation into illegal intercountry adoptions from Brazil.

For the full report, click here.

For the summary of the report, click here.

For the Speech by Minister Dekker upon receipt of the report (DUTCH ONLY), click here.