In Guatemala, state archive research indicates hundreds and possibly thousands of children have been abducted and sold for adoption abroad. The incidents took place during the country's 36 years of civil war.

In 1996, when the civil war came to an end, Guatemala was the second most important source after China of children for adoption in the United States and Europe. President Alvaro Colom opened the state archives to the public last year.

The records reveal the widespread practice of soldiers and police officers killing people and taking their children to state orphanages. Other children were forcibly removed from their parents. Stories were then fabricated about how the children had been found before they were sold for adoption abroad accompanied by fake papers.

Researchers have so far only studied the period from 1977 to 1989, when at least 333 children appear to have been abducted and sold. It is thought that many more cases will be revealed as the whole of the civil war period is studied.

photo: Child in Ixcán, Guatemala (flickr/Nixon Lima)