All 30 Children Are Alive: Former NSS Director Arthur Vanetsyan on Adoption Revelations

The National Security Service of Armenia has made a significant announcement, revealing numerous cases of child adoptions that grossly violate Armenian legislation by foreign citizens. The newspaper "Zhoghovurd" spoke with former NSS director Arthur Vanetsyan, who asserted that there is no mention of child organ trafficking.

According to the NSS, two citizens of Armenia, using their connections at a republican maternity hospital, organized the adoptions of over 30 Armenian children by citizens of the Italian Republic who were in care.

In the interview with "Zhoghovurd," Arthur Vanetsyan provided details. He emphasized that the issue is not about the illegal removal of children from Armenia but rather about uncovering purely corrupt phenomena during the adoption process. "According to our legislation, the adoption of healthy children by foreign citizens is prohibited; the priority for adopting healthy children is given to Armenian citizens. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, with relevant officials, applied corrupt schemes, presenting children with minor health issues as those with severe health problems. This resulted in them bypassing the queue of Armenian citizens waiting to adopt and going directly to the administration of the orphanage, where a foreign citizen applied and adopted the child," Vanetsyan explained.

The former NSS director wanted to address the most critical issue: "It has been circulated that it is possible these children may later be used for organ trafficking, etc. In reality, there are relevant departments within the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs that monitor the fates of children adopted abroad. Arthur Vanetsyan assures that there is no statement regarding organ trafficking. The matter concerns the exposure of corrupt practices in the adoption process, meaning all 30 children are alive, all are in very good condition, and no one’s life or health is in danger. If there is such information, I am not aware and we need to make inquiries at both the NSS and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. To my knowledge and based on what I saw in the statement, this pertains only to corrupt phenomena during the adoption process, nothing more," concluded the former NSS director.

For more details, see today’s edition of the newspaper.