Stolen children

The courts have so far failed to match the courage and determination shown by families and individuals in trying to trace children taken from their mothers under false circumstances during the latter half of the Franco dictatorship and into the first years of democracy. One mother, who was told 40 years ago that her baby had died, has been able to trace her child thanks to DNA testing. Another mother has found her child, who was taken from her by nuns after he was born, and given without her consent to a family on the basis that he would be "better off" there.

These are just a few cases that are part of what is clearly a much larger problem dating back decades that involves the deliberate falsification of documents, kidnapping, threats and abuse of power by officials in the Church, medical profession and legal system The Attorney General's Office must now launch an investigation, identify those found guilty of wrongdoing, and, if they are still alive, bring them before the courts. Since the initial 261 cases presented to the Attorney General's Office, a further 482 have so far been discovered. Women who were told more than four decades ago that their babies had died are now learning that they were lied to.

The recommendation by the Attorney General's Office that illegal adoptions be investigated by regional courts, with a judge assigned to oversee coordination, is the correct one. At the same time it is important to remember that the trafficking of children through the Catholic Church during the later years of the Franco regime cannot be compared to the systematic and brutal removal of children from Republican prisoners in the post-Civil War years, which has been amply documented by Judge Baltasar Garzón as part of his investigations into other crimes committed by the Franco regime - an inquiry that was halted following legal action against him for exceeding his authority in this regard.

The reasons for the theft of children in the two cases may differ - ideological and punitive in one, and the result of a misguided sense of charity in the other - but there is continuity in terms of the organizations and individuals involved. The victims were also essentially the same: young, vulnerable people who could be controlled, tricked, and manipulated. This is a scandal that, leaving aside the crimes involved, is quite simply a colossal breach of human rights and dignity. What's more, this is not something that occurred that long ago. It is very much part of the present, and society and the law should be concerned.