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The number of children from Africa being adopted by foreign nationals from other continents has risen dramatically, a report has said.
In the past eight years, international adoptions increased by almost 400%, the African Child Policy Forum has found.
The majority of so-called orphans adopted from Africa have at least one living parent and many children are trafficked or sold by their parents, the child expert group says.
More than two thirds of the total in 2009 and 2010 were adopted from Ethiopia, which now sends more children abroad for adoption than any other country, apart from China.
International adoption is also popular in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Mali, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Uganda, and Burkina Faso, the ACPF report says.
The report warned that many countries on the continent do not have strong enough laws and policies to stem illicit activities including child trafficking.
Only 13 African countries have ratified the Hague Convention, which provides various safeguards to try to ensure children are not adopted illegally.
