LILONGWE, Malawi (AP) - Malawi's High Court said Monday it will rule in one week's time whether a coalition of Malawian human rights and child advocacy groups should help decide whether pop star Madonna is fit to adopt a motherless Malawian toddler.
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(AP Photo/Shavawn Rissman)In this undated file photo originally provided by Madonna's publicist Liz Rosenberg, Madonna is shown in Britain with her daughter Lourdes, 9, left, son Rocco, 6, right and David Banda, 13-months, who she plans to adopt with her husband director Guy Ritchie. Two senior Malawian officials visiting Edinburgh, Scotland, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006, have praised Madonna for adopting a child from their country - and scolded those who have criticized the pop star.
Justice Andrew Nyirenda adjourned the case after hearing arguments from a 67-member coalition that includes the state-run Malawi Human Rights Commission and maintains that the adoption proceedings have been irregular. His ruling was likely to have far-reaching consequences in a country where, largely due to AIDS, an estimated 2 million children have lost one or both parents and hundreds are adopted by foreigners every year.
Madonna has said she met all the country's requirements. And David Banda's father, who put the toddler in an orphanage shortly after his wife died of childbirth complications, has said the human rights group's lawsuit threatens his son's future. But child advocacy groups have said the lack of clarity in Malawi when it comes to foreign adoptions could be exploited by child traffickers or pedophiles.
A High Court judge granted the Grammy Award-winning singer and her British filmmaker husband, Guy Ritchie, interim custody of David on Oct. 12, pending a decision on permanent adoption after an 18-to-24 months assessment period. Malawi regulations stipulate that the assessment period be spent in Malawi, but Madonna was allowed to take the boy to her London home soon.
"Basically what we are asking the court is that we want to be joined as a party to the assessment because we have a lot of legal issues we want to raise," Justin Dzonzi, chairman of the coalition known as the Human Rights Consultative Committee, told journalists after a 1 1/2-hour closed hearing Monday.
The judge said he would rule Nov. 20 on whether to admit the coalition as a party in the adoption proceedings.
Dzonzi has said his coalition was not trying to block the adoption, but wanted to be a party to the process to make sure Malawian laws were respected. His committee has petitioned the court to make sure no Malawian laws were broken and to allow the committee to help assess Madonna's fitness as a mother.
Dzonzi said Monday that Malawi's current adoption laws are archaic and routinely flouted to allow foreigners to adopt.
"Over 1,000 Malawian children are being adopted illegally every year and yet the laws says international adoption are not permissible," said Dzonzi, who is a lawyer. "There is no system to monitor how these adopted children are being treated, wherever they are."
"We want to use the Madonna case to make sure that the rights of children in Malawi are effectively protected."
The adoption has sparked debate inside and outside Malawi. Titus Mvalo, a lawyer the human rights coalition had hired to challenge the adoption proceedings, withdrew, apparently fearing he would be seen as trying to keep Madonna from adopting David — even though coalition members have repeatedly said that is not their intention.
"I decided to withdraw because I thought that there was a high possibility of being misunderstood by society," he told reporters Monday, saying he thought it would be good for David to be adopted by Madonna.
On the eve of the hearing, the boy's father, Yohane Banda, reiterated his appeal for the human rights activists "to back off and leave my son alone."
"As David's father I consented. I see no reason why I should change my mind now," said the 32-year-old peasant who ekes a living from a modest onion and tomato garden. Continue >>
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