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Lost Kids of Baghdad
Aired May 28, 2003 - 13:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to talk more about this, Charles MacCormack. He's president of Save the Children, an organization that is highly involved in what's taking place in Iraq right now. We thank you so much for being with us, Charles.
Let's get to the point and talk about this relationship between groups like yours, humanitarian efforts, and the military. Is it working well, this relationship?
CHARLES MACCORMACK, PRESIDENT SAVE THE CHILDREN: We very much depend on the military to provide security. Nothing else can happen here in Iraq without security. We work very well with the American troops on this issue. So we hope that the military will continue to beef up on the security side, while they let organizations like Save the Children deal with health and education.
PHILLIPS: Charles, tell me what you're doing to push organizations, like ORHA (ph), and military-type plans, to go forward and get these kids back in orphanages, get these orphanages up and running, in addition to other problems, like the health ministry and the youth ministry.
MACCORMACK: Well, the key issues are certainly -- as I say, security, because without that, families will not send their children to clinics, they will not send their daughters to school. So we're very happy that ORHA and the U.S. officials here are stepping up the security that's available for us to do our work.
PHILLIPS: When you talk about doing your work, tell me about what you're doing right now. What is your main concern when dealing with these children?
MACCORMACK: Well, the real concerns are, first, that they literally have clean water. In Basra, where we're doing a great deal of work, virtually all the water is polluted, which leads to diarrhea and respiratory infections, which is deadly for children.
PHILLIPS: I definitely want to address the situation of adoption in Iraq. I was pretty surprised about this, the U.S. department -- or the State Department were putting out a sheet about international adoption in Iraq, saying there is no adoption under Iraqi law that in general, saying adoptions are private, civil legal matters, governed by the laws of the nation where the child resides. Explain this to all of us, I know there has been lots of inquiry, or a lot of inquiry, into adopting children from Iraq. Could this change?
MACCORMACK: Well, at Save the Children, over 70 years of experience has taught us that, in general, it is much better for children to stay with their relatives, their families, in their own communities. And so when we find displaced children, we look for their relatives, and we look to place them in communities they're familiar with.
PHILLIPS: And, finally, I imagine it's difficult to determine if these children are even orphans or not right now with just how chaotic things are. Is that a challenge?
MACCORMACK: In general, there are not a huge number of orphans. There are almost always relatives, aunts and uncles and so on, so we have a major program to reunite children with their relatives.
PHILLIPS: Charles MacCormack, president of Save the Children. We know folks can get involved, not only by the Red Cross, but also with your organization. We thank you for your time.
MACCORMACK: Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 28, 2003 - 13:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to talk more about this, Charles MacCormack. He's president of Save the Children, an organization that is highly involved in what's taking place in Iraq right now. We thank you so much for being with us, Charles.
Let's get to the point and talk about this relationship between groups like yours, humanitarian efforts, and the military. Is it working well, this relationship?
CHARLES MACCORMACK, PRESIDENT SAVE THE CHILDREN: We very much depend on the military to provide security. Nothing else can happen here in Iraq without security. We work very well with the American troops on this issue. So we hope that the military will continue to beef up on the security side, while they let organizations like Save the Children deal with health and education.
PHILLIPS: Charles, tell me what you're doing to push organizations, like ORHA (ph), and military-type plans, to go forward and get these kids back in orphanages, get these orphanages up and running, in addition to other problems, like the health ministry and the youth ministry.
MACCORMACK: Well, the key issues are certainly -- as I say, security, because without that, families will not send their children to clinics, they will not send their daughters to school. So we're very happy that ORHA and the U.S. officials here are stepping up the security that's available for us to do our work.
PHILLIPS: When you talk about doing your work, tell me about what you're doing right now. What is your main concern when dealing with these children?
MACCORMACK: Well, the real concerns are, first, that they literally have clean water. In Basra, where we're doing a great deal of work, virtually all the water is polluted, which leads to diarrhea and respiratory infections, which is deadly for children.
PHILLIPS: I definitely want to address the situation of adoption in Iraq. I was pretty surprised about this, the U.S. department -- or the State Department were putting out a sheet about international adoption in Iraq, saying there is no adoption under Iraqi law that in general, saying adoptions are private, civil legal matters, governed by the laws of the nation where the child resides. Explain this to all of us, I know there has been lots of inquiry, or a lot of inquiry, into adopting children from Iraq. Could this change?
MACCORMACK: Well, at Save the Children, over 70 years of experience has taught us that, in general, it is much better for children to stay with their relatives, their families, in their own communities. And so when we find displaced children, we look for their relatives, and we look to place them in communities they're familiar with.
PHILLIPS: And, finally, I imagine it's difficult to determine if these children are even orphans or not right now with just how chaotic things are. Is that a challenge?
MACCORMACK: In general, there are not a huge number of orphans. There are almost always relatives, aunts and uncles and so on, so we have a major program to reunite children with their relatives.
PHILLIPS: Charles MacCormack, president of Save the Children. We know folks can get involved, not only by the Red Cross, but also with your organization. We thank you for your time.
MACCORMACK: Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
