The Right to Preserve One’s Identity and the Right to Mourn : International Adoption in Korea and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Min,, E. K. (2021). The Right to Preserve One’s Identity and the Right to Mourn : International Adoption in Korea and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Feminism and Korean Literature, (53), 10-41, https://doi.org/10.15686/fkl.2021..53.10

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Abstract

This essay examines the history of international adoption in Korea in light of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and argues that international adoption should be considered in light of the adopted child’s “right to preserve his or her identity” (as articulated in Articles 7 and 8 of the UNCRC) as well as the child’s right to mourn the loss of that identity. The UNCRC is an important document not only because it identifies the state as bearing political responsibility for the well-being of the child but also because it recognizes that the identity of the child needs special protection. Article 7 of the UNCRC defines “identity” as “including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law”. The life histories of Deann Borshay Liem, Adam Crapser, and Kara Bos exemplify the loss of identity involved in international adoption. Instancing their cases as specific examples of the loss of name, nationality, and family relations, the essay argues that, despite the legal advances enabled by the UNCRC (1989) as well as the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption (1993), Korean-born adoptees continue to suffer from the traumatic loss of identity. Further, it argues the need to acknowledge their loss by recognizing their right to mourn their original identity and family relations. Recognizing the vulnerability of the child as including the vulnerability of his or her identity enables us to connect it to the vulnerability of the unmarried birth mothers who, like the children they are giving away, are unable to claim their social identities and are deprived of their right to mourn their losses.

keywords: 해외입양, 한국, 아동권리선언(1924, 1959), 유엔아동권리협약(1989), 헤이그국제아동입양협약(1993), 아동, 권리, 정체성, 이름, 국적, 가족, 취약성, 애도, 미혼모, 젠더, 정의, International Adoption, Korea, Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1924, 1959), UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption (1993), child, right, identity, name, nationality, family, vulnerability, mourning, unwed birth mothers, gender, justice

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Article Contents

No.53

The Right to Preserve One’s Identity and the Right to Mourn : International Adoption in Korea and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Abstract

Reference

Feminism and Korean Literature