apropriación (de niños)

English translation: (child) abduction [theft]

14:32 Dec 8, 2019
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Government / Politics / Argentine dictatorship (1976-83)
Spanish term or phrase: apropriación (de niños)
I'm looking for a term that means abducting a child, falsifying birth certificates or adoption papers, and passing the children off as your own, as occurred with children abducted with their parents (or born to an illegally detained mother) in Argentina during the dictatorship.

The literaly translation, "child appropriation," refers to how children learn. I can find no relevant hits that would indicate it is the correct translation.

"Child identity theft" refers to stealing a child's social security number and then taking out loans/credit cards/etc. under his/her name.

Here is an explanation of the term in Spanish. Thanks!

La apropiación de menores fue una práctica sistemática de terrorismo de Estado que consistió en el secuestro, desaparición y ocultamiento de la identidad de hijos de detenidos-desaparecidos, muchas veces mediante partos clandestinos y adopciones ilegales.
Wendy Gosselin
Argentina
Local time: 08:30
English translation:(child) abduction [theft]
Explanation:
Argentinian abducted babies during the dictatorship are usually referred to as "stolen babies" / "stolen children".

Argentina 'stolen child' abducted in 1978 found
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-34111342


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Note added at 1 hr (2019-12-08 16:30:25 GMT)
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You are basically right; neither snatching nor even kidnapping actually convey what happended to Argentinian families. The most common type of child abduction (theft, stealing, snatching, kidnapping) refers to that of actual kid's parents taking a kid away, illegally. That is not the case here.

El equivalente utilizado en inglés para apropiación de menores (cuando no se cae en una equívoca traducción literal como appropriation) es de hecho cualquiera de las planteadas. Supongo que dado lo excepcional del caso no hay término específico. En todo caso, child abduction implica, casi necesariamente, una identidad a todos los efectos, y en muchos casos una historia nueva que el niño es forzadoba creer. Parece natural, no obstante, que dado que los casos de abduction de menores ajenos al propio entorno familiar es relativamente escaso, la lectura habitual del término no incluya obligatoriamente todos estos elementos, si bien creo que es equivalente ajustado en inglés. Fíjate que las acusaciones de apropiación se dirigen en primera instancia contra quien "roba" al niño y que quien se lo queda es de hecho, en el caso argentino, tratado con mayor indulgencia.

General Videla, who was the figurehead of the Argentinean military dictatorship, has been granted amnesty against his conviction for hundreds of cases of torture, kidnapping and disappearances committed by the regime; but it may be the crimes against the children which finally bring him down. He's now facing five counts of child abduction and his case is convulsing the nation. The missing children are the final, and perhaps the most testing, moral dilemma of the junta years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/15...
Selected response from:

Chema Nieto Castañón
Spain
Local time: 12:30
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +4(child) abduction [theft]
Chema Nieto Castañón
4 +1theft
patinba
Summary of reference entries provided
Child theft
neilmac
Abducted/stolen, but also "appropriation of children"
Sara Fairen

Discussion entries: 6





  

Answers


10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
theft


Explanation:
Federico Delgado, federal prosecutor, called the theft of children "one of the darkest episodes in Argentina's history" as the case began in Buenos Aires. About 500 babies were stolen from their mothers during the dictatorship, according to the campaign group Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo.Feb 28, 2011
Argentine military dictators on trial over baby kidnappings ...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk › news › worldnews › southamerica › argentina

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Note added at 1 hr (2019-12-08 15:53:52 GMT)
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It is "identity theft of children" that give you all those hits. "Identity theft " is thankfully more common than plain theft, hence more hits, but
child theft or abduction is the term to be used in this case.

Child abduction - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Child_abduction
Child abduction or child theft is the unauthorized removal of a minor (a child under the age of legal adulthood) from the custody of the child's natural parents or legally appointed guardians.

patinba
Argentina
Local time: 08:30
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 272
Notes to answerer
Asker: Maybe there is nothing better but if you google "theft of children", the first page of hits are all related to stealing a child's tax ID.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: Abduction is fine too.
37 mins
  -> Certainly. Thanks!

neutral  AllegroTrans: I think this term is generally reserved for the stealing of goods and I have never seen it applied to children; "child stealing" would somehow sound better
6 hrs
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13 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
(child) abduction [theft]


Explanation:
Argentinian abducted babies during the dictatorship are usually referred to as "stolen babies" / "stolen children".

Argentina 'stolen child' abducted in 1978 found
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-34111342


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2019-12-08 16:30:25 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

You are basically right; neither snatching nor even kidnapping actually convey what happended to Argentinian families. The most common type of child abduction (theft, stealing, snatching, kidnapping) refers to that of actual kid's parents taking a kid away, illegally. That is not the case here.

El equivalente utilizado en inglés para apropiación de menores (cuando no se cae en una equívoca traducción literal como appropriation) es de hecho cualquiera de las planteadas. Supongo que dado lo excepcional del caso no hay término específico. En todo caso, child abduction implica, casi necesariamente, una identidad a todos los efectos, y en muchos casos una historia nueva que el niño es forzadoba creer. Parece natural, no obstante, que dado que los casos de abduction de menores ajenos al propio entorno familiar es relativamente escaso, la lectura habitual del término no incluya obligatoriamente todos estos elementos, si bien creo que es equivalente ajustado en inglés. Fíjate que las acusaciones de apropiación se dirigen en primera instancia contra quien "roba" al niño y que quien se lo queda es de hecho, en el caso argentino, tratado con mayor indulgencia.

General Videla, who was the figurehead of the Argentinean military dictatorship, has been granted amnesty against his conviction for hundreds of cases of torture, kidnapping and disappearances committed by the regime; but it may be the crimes against the children which finally bring him down. He's now facing five counts of child abduction and his case is convulsing the nation. The missing children are the final, and perhaps the most testing, moral dilemma of the junta years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/15...

Chema Nieto Castañón
Spain
Local time: 12:30
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 16
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
Notes to answerer
Asker: But "child abduction" is simply taking a child from their parents whereas "apropriación" involves renaming them and leading them to believe they're someone else.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Adrian MM.: - and less idiomatic than 'child-napping'.
45 mins
  -> ;) thanks

agree  AllegroTrans: Yes and please see my discussion entry
6 hrs
  -> Thanks Allegro. And yes, "apropiación de menores" is not a legal term but the expression used to refer to all the actions involved from taking the child away from the parents to the fraudulent adoption of the child by a foster family

neutral  Yvonne Gallagher: Surprised AT agreeing here as I agree with him in Dbox about all the separate crimes "abducting a child, falsifying birth certificates or adoption papers, and passing the children off as your own". I think it needs "abduction" + other terms, not "theft"
10 hrs
  -> I fully understand your point. I believe "apropiación" was actually coined to refer to the Argentinian case. "Child appropiation" does not seem to work though as it has its own specific meaning with nothing to do with abduction. A different term maybe?

agree  neilmac: I don't see any solid reason to disagree with the Wikipedia entry in this case.
18 hrs
  -> Thanks also for the link, neilmac

agree  Georgina Grigioni
1 day 3 hrs
  -> Gracias, Georgina
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Reference comments


18 hrs
Reference: Child theft

Reference information:
The Wikipedia page on this seems to pretty much cover all angles:

"Child abduction or child theft is the unauthorized removal of a minor (a child under the age of legal adulthood) from the custody of the child's natural parents or legally appointed guardians."

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Note added at 18 hrs (2019-12-09 08:48:17 GMT)
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https://allafrica.com/stories/201910230598.html


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abduction
    https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/5-held-for-spreading-rumours-of-child-theft-1592450-2019-08-28
neilmac
Spain
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 200
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23 hrs
Reference: Abducted/stolen, but also "appropriation of children"

Reference information:
There are interesting references here. The author uses both “abducted” and “stolen” as equivalent for the Spanish “robado”.
http://shelf1.library.cmu.edu/HSS/2013/a1491880.pdf
In Argentina, a country with which these abuses are often compared, these are known as the disappeared children. According to this historical precedent and other similar cases, some might also consider the Spanish children to be disappeared, kidnapped, or trafficked. I refer to these children instead as “abducted” or “stolen”, staying closely to the term currently circulating in Spain: “robado.”


However, “appropriation of children” seems to be used in academic contexts too.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43854562?seq=1
From 1976 until 1983, the military junta ruling Argentina prosecuted a "Dirty War" aimed at [...] The appropriation of children was a way to punish those who dared to oppose the regime [...]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4524830/
The Argentinian military dictatorship of 1976–1983 engaged in a savage repression and egregious violations of human rights, including forced disappearance, torture, assassination and appropriation of children of the disappeared with suppression of their identity.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1462352060070307...
Disappeared children in Argentina: genocidal logic and illegal appropriation

Sara Fairen
United Kingdom
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 8
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