KENYA: Chaos-Custody, This is how Duniya won over the bureaucracy

per Avvenire

The kafala system, whose main objective is to protect abandoned children in various Islamic countries, is recognized in every nation except Italy. The saga of the Bianchini, stuck in Nairobi because of an institutional mess.

Chaos-custody, this is how Duniya won over the bureaucracy

The visa obtained by suing the Minister of Foreign Affairs

"We are so tired but we finally have the visa." These are the first words of Rahma Nur Mohamud, wife of Paolo Bianchini, both Italian citizens residing in Pomezia, near Rome. Finally Duniya, a Somali child of 9 months who they took in foster care from the battered capital Mogadishu last November 23, will arrive in Italy on Monday.
On July 21, the Regional Administrative Tribunal (TAR) of Lazio ruled against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Italy in Nairobi, Kenya, who considered the request "inconsistent with the principles of public policy stated by the Italian institute of family through the law of May 4, 1983, No.184". The little girl was in fact assigned according to the kafala system, whose main objective is to protect children in various Islamic countries. But Italy is the only European country that hasn’t yet legally recognized such system.
The bureaucratic saga with the consulate begins in February, when the couple remains stuck in Nairobi together with Duniya. The husband is a goldsmith, while the wife has been an elementary school teacher for more than twenty years. The two had showed several times to the consulate and the Foreign Ministry the terms of a judgment by the High Court related to the criteria of custody of Duniya. That ruling states that "no person shall be denied the entry permit into national territory, for family reunification, which is required in the interests of non-EU citizen minor entrusted by measure of kafala to an Italian citizen residing in Italy." Italy, however, has not yet approved a draft law on the ratification of the Hague Convention made ​​in 1996. The draft bill No. 1589 presented in Parliament last September is only recently passed to the Senate. In addition, although the Commission for International Adoptions (CAI) and the Regional Agency for International Adoptions (ARAI) of Piedmont confirmed to the couple the possibility to adopt in Somalia, only after the Somali judgment approving Duniya’s custody the two organizations have raised the issue about possible obstacles. A bureaucratic mess that Bianchini had to solve alone by going to the embassy and invoking the Transparency Act 241/90, which guarantees the right to inspect the documents concerning his case.
In the certificate signed on March 28 by the Deputy Ambassador, Marco Silvi, in addition to the non-legal value of the kafala, has been pointed out that there was no mention of "the duration of the custody and the duties of the foster care adult in relation to the child." Reasons that, according to the TAR, "aren’t of no particular significance." Following the refusal of the visa, the couple filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy. Moreover, the visa denied was, paradoxically, for tourism, and not related to the recognition of the kafala: that’s why the case was presented before the TAR and not before the civil court.
For about a month the couple has been waiting for a positive judgment, and once arrived, the consulate was still stalling on other bureaucratic reasons. Last Friday, always closer to despair, Bianchini, Mohamud and Duniya have decided to stay in the embassy until they were issued the visa that, after long discussions and even an intervention on the phone by a Foreign Ministry’s officer, was finally approved.
"There are many children stuck in the country of origin waiting to be reunited with those who can love them and take care of them in Italy. – explains Mrs. Mohamud with tears in her eyes – We fought a hard battle that went beyond our Duniya. And now we hope that our fight will help others."

 

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Matteo Fraschini Koffi - Giornalista Freelance