A/HRC/34/55 not resolve the issues raised by excessive demand. International Social Service, a federation of non-governmental organizations, has long argued for “a reversal in the flow of files” to ensure that intercountry adoptions are processed in the best interests of the child. Such a reversal would mean that adoption applications should only be sent to the authorities of a country of origin in response to a request made for prospective adoptive parents appropriate for a specific child in need of adoption.75 Preventing rapid increases in adoptions from a country of origin 79. Central authorities in receiving countries have sometimes strengthened efforts to conclude adoptions from countries of origin that are not parties to the 1993 Hague Convention, where regulations and procedures may be less strict. That approach involves major increases in intercountry adoptions from the countries concerned until it is deemed necessary to take measures to address the illicit practices that stem from it.76 3. Accountability of perpetrators and redress for victims 80. Illegal adoptions are rarely investigated and perpetrators are rarely prosecuted, in part because there is a lack of comprehensive legislation criminalizing such illicit practices as illegal adoptions. Many of the illegal acts involved in illegal adoptions are criminalized individually as minor offences (e.g. falsification of documents) and sanctions rarely reflect the gravity of the crime. Moreover, illegal adoptions are usually not investigated ex officio but require ex parte complaints.77 Criminal investigation and prosecution strategies targeted at criminal structures involved in the sale of and trafficking in children and illegal adoptions are also absent. Consequently, few individuals and criminal networks are ever prosecuted for illicit activities in connection with adoptions, which results in impunity. 81. The various parties involved in illegal adoptions are reluctant to report or denounce suspected illegalities because of the possible implications. The birth parents are the notable exception, at least those whose children have been abducted or placed for adoption without their informed consent; unfortunately, they are the least likely to file a complaint, as many of them fear the consequences or lack the appropriate knowledge and access to remedies. Most adoptive parents do not know with certainty whether the adoption process involved illicit or criminal practices,78 although they may come to suspect as much during or after the adoption process. The responses of prospective or adoptive parents to such suspicions will depend on a number of factors, including the extent to which they feel they were directly implicated and their assessment of the likely consequences of notifying the competent authorities. Complaints filed and collaboration extended by adoptive parents increase the chances of success of criminal investigations and prosecutions. 82. A good practice related to the proactive detection of illegal acts and illicit practices in receiving countries is the protocol for responding to allegations of child trafficking in intercountry adoption, which was designed by the Government of Australia to respond to concerns of adoptive parents and adoptees regarding abduction, sale and trafficking in intercountry adoptions.79 75 76 77 78 79 18 Ibid. David M. Smolin, “Child laundering and the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption: the future and past of intercountry adoption”, University of Louisville Law Review, vol. 48, No. 3 (2010), p. 471. David M. Smolin, foreword to Brian H. Stuy, “Open secret: cash and coercion in China’s international adoption program”, Cumberland Law Review, vol. 44, No. 3 (2014), p. 359. See PowerPoint presentation at https://works.bepress.com/david_smolin/12. See https://www.ag.gov.au/FamiliesAndMarriage/IntercountryAdoption/ Documents/Protocolforrespondingtoallegationsofchildtraffickinginintercountryadoption.pdf.