Whether you're considering international adoption, in the process, or have already adopted, global issues of adoption may be ... should be ... of even greater interest and concern than for the regular man-on-the-street without direct connections.

Our children do not appear out of a vacuum, but become available for adoption through circumstances that vary widely, but often have similar themes. Poverty, war, disease, starvation, upheaval, death ... all make their dark mark and destroy lives and hopes and dreams and options. How organizations funded by tax dollars, donations and resources address ... or don't address ... the big issues of our world and our time should be a closely followed topic.

Starting with the biggest fish in the pond where international children's rights swim, The Hague Convention on the Rights of the Child. Long, detailed and written in the language of governments, NGOs and the UN, you can find the entire document here.

For a list of NGO alternative reports submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, an arm of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, click here, where you will also find a list of reports considered by the Committee.

You can also look up international treaties on issues relating to children by country, region, topic or date here.

Here's a look at children at risk in the Baltic Sea Region those with Bulgarian or Romanian children will find compelling.

Interested in the situation children are finding themselves in in areas of current armed conflict? You can read updates on present circumstances in many countries ... Afghanistan, Colombia, Congo, Iraq, Sri Lanka, and more ... here.

And if you want to learn more about the 1 in 6 of the world's children that must work for their living, here's the International Labor Organization's page of recent figures.

Here's up-to-date information on children living or working on the streets, and here you can find detailed and specific information on child trafficking.

For information about the HIV/AIDS pandemic and its devastating impact on children, click here.

Fans of Monty Python may appreciate this announcement about an up-coming session of the Human Rights Council. I love the opening paragraph:

In June 2006, the Human Rights Council replaced the Commission on Human Rights as the main UN body in charge of monitoring and protecting fundamental rights and freedoms.

Aside from the "Are you the People's Front of Judea", "F-off! We're the Judean People's Front", flavor of the whole thing, the meeting scheduled for the 11th of June carries high expectations.

Because it's a UN gig, however, it reads like a practice in keeping people looking busy. Check it out.

And if you want to participate, you can visit a 'Call to Action' site that positions itself as, "An International call for action to end violence against children", but suggests this can be done by establishing a "Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children".

I suppose you can guess how effective I'm thinking that will be. Sigh ...

There are other related petitions here.

Read away, learn all you can, and do what feels right.