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Abstract

Crises such as wars demand urgent humanitarian responses, including evacuating children to safer territories. Although these initiatives aim to prioritize the child’s best interests, evidence indicates that evacuated children are vulnerable to exploitation, separation, and illegal adoption. The evacuation and return of children represent a complex issue requiring investigation and a review of policies designed to protect unaccompanied refugee minors crossing borders without legal guardians. This thesis critically explores the evacuation of 46 children from the Children’s Home Ljubica Ivezic in Sarajevo to Italy during the Bosnian War (1992–1995). Informed by institutional ethnography, this thesis examines the decision-making processes during the 1992 evacuation and investigates how state actors, institutions, and social agents navigated the complexities of child evacuation. Focusing on their interactions and coordination, this thesis offers insights into how institutional responses to crises are organized and how they impact vulnerable children and their families. It outlines the sequence of events that led to the children’s non-return and subsequent international adoption in Italy, analyzing the institutional discourses that facilitated the evacuation. Political, social, and economic factors contributed to the displacement of Bosnian children. There were no mechanisms in place to support reunification between parents or legal guardians and their children after they were evacuated abroad. Parents who placed their children under Voluntary Care Agreements expected their return once circumstances improved and never consented to evacuation or adoption. A combination of legal errors, humanitarian mismanagement, political tensions, and power imbalances between Bosnia and Italy transformed a temporary evacuation into a permanent separation and resulted in illegal adoptions. Although urgent measures for child protection were required, Italy’s unilateral actions and the complexity of Bosnia’s post-war governance under the Dayton Peace Agreement disregarded parents’ and children’s rights and obstructed reunification efforts. From a humanitarian standpoint, this thesis highlights the moral dilemmas associated with child evacuations during crises, underscoring the necessity for temporary solutions, transparent legal agreements between sending and receiving countries, and international oversight to prevent exploitation and ensure the protection of children’s rights.