Enfants à vendre

Children up for sale (The Sunday Times, 23 août 2009)

La traite d'enfants est en augmentation, avec des adoptions illégales, les transactions commerciales impliquant des enfants, et le recrutement d'enfants pour le travail est répandu.

In the maternity ward of the Mahamodera hospital, Galle, a 22-year-old mother is sobbing uncontrollably, a four-day-old infant in her arms. The mother has been abandoned by her husband, and her own mother has refused to give shelter to mother and child. Fearing she will not be able to support the baby, the mother had agreed to give away her child and is now facing police action.

Earlier, the young mother had been approached by a woman, accompanied by two hospital employees, with an an offer of Rs. 1,000 and a promise to take good care of the child. The mother agreed, realising that this would be the best arrangement for the child. On hearing that her daughter had sold her baby, the young mother’s mother informed the police.

Meanwhile, in Chilaw, two drunken men were arrested while arguing in the street over the sale of an 18-month baby. The men, one from Gampaha and the other from Negombo, were caught in the act of trying to sell the baby for Rs. 10,000.

These are just two instances in a string of cases of child trafficking reported to the police over the past few days.

“The big problem with child labour and child trafficking is that it is hidden and invisible, although the problem is widespread,” says Jagath Wellawatte, chairman of the National Child Protection Authority. “The National Child Protection Authority is cracking down hard on persons involved in child trafficking. We are aware of a rapid increase in the number of illegal adoptions, sale of children, and recruitment of child labour.”

In 2007, a total of 324 cases of violations of children’s rights were reported. The number more than doubled in 2008 to 760 cases. Between January and March this year 255 such cases have been reported.

According to Mr. Wellawatte, the reported cases represented only a fraction of the number of suspected child rights violations occurring around the country.

“Most of the illegal adoptions take place in nursing homes and the maternity wards of hospitals,” he said. “And most of the adoptions take place with the connivance of hospital employees. Single unmarried mothers are prime targets. They are approached as soon as they get admitted to hospital.”

Mr. Wellawatte said the National Child Protection Authority and other child help organisations are asking the management of hospitals and nursing homes to be extra alert and watchful of employees suspected of engaging in child smuggling and child switching.

He said the majority of the willing or unwilling victims of child smuggling were mothers 25 years and under. Those highest on the list of mothers who gave away their infants were overseas-based domestic helpers who had come to Sri Lanka to have their babies; young women living away from home, especially those employed in the trade zones, and sex workers.

“Most of the child traffickers get away, while the mothers end up behind bars. If we can bust the child trafficking racket, the number of such cases will definitely drop,” he said.

Mr. Wellawatte observed that Sri Lanka was lacking in rehabilitation centres for mothers who were victims of child trafficking. He also said that parents who wanted to put their children up for adoption had to join a long waiting list. “The legal adoption process can take up to two or three years,” he said. “It should be a much more speedy process than that.”

According to Mr. Wellawatte, children adopted from low-income backgrounds often ended up as child labour, with the direct involvement of middlemen or child brokers.

“We are aware that certain houses in urban areas have child labourers as young as eight years and even younger. Most of these children are from the estates. Some of them do not even have birth certificates. Some get a monthly pay of about Rs. 2,000, while others get nothing.”

Mr. Wellawatte believes there are about 40,000 children being used for labour in Sri Lanka.
He said many children from the North, especially Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi, have been sold illegally to families in European countries, and that these children were first taken to Singapore and Malaysia. “There was a case of 10 boys who had been smuggled out of the country but we were not able to trace the traffickers,” he said.

Young girls from the Eastern province, especially Trincomalee and Batticaloa, were sent to Middle East countries as housemaids with forged documents prepared by child brokers.

The National Child Protection Authority and other child welfare organisations, assisted by the police and volunteers, are investigating leads to those engaged in child trafficking.

Malaysian police arrest 23 people in illegal adoption syndicate

Traduction de l'article Malaysian police arrest 23 people in illegal adoption syndicate paru dans Asia-Pacific News, 25 mai 2008

La police malaise arrête 23 personnes impliquées dans une organisation criminelle d'adoptions illégales.

Kuala Lumpur - La police malaise a arrêté 23 personnes, dont trois Singapouriens, impliquées dans une organisation criminelle de ventes de bébés dans au sud de l'état de Johor, indique le procès-verbal du dimanche.

La police rapporte que le chef de file est un gynécologue qui exploitait une clinique privée, de même que son personnel, ses contrebandiers et un fonctionnaire du Département Nationale d'inscription qui fournissait de faux documents d'identité pour les bébés.

Les autorités d'état et fédérales ont également arrêté quatre couples sans enfants qui avaient acheté des bébés de l'organisation, rapporte le quotidien News Straits Times.

Les bébés âgés de sept mois à un an ont été remis au département des affaires sociales de l'État et seront envoyés à l'hôpital afin de prélever et analyser des échantillons d'ADN.

"La police a également saisi un ordinateur et un portable, plusieurs documents, téléphones cellulaires et 4199 ringgit (1242 dollars) en argent comptant" selon les dires d'Awal Amer, chef d'état des enquêtes criminelles.

Il a dit que 14 des 23 suspects sont des femmes. La police tentait également de découvrir si l'organisation avait vendu des bébés aux couples à Singapour.

Amer dit que les suspects seront détenus jusqu'à lundi et seront enquêtés pour falsification d'enregistrement des naissances et pour transfert illégal de possession, de garde ou contrôle d'un enfant.

Autre article:

Malaysian police rescue 4 babies after busting child-trafficking ring (Today's Zaman, 25 mai 2008)

Du Liban à la Malaisie, le commerce d'enfants est devenu une entreprise florissante. Chaque jour, dans différentes parties de l'Asie, des milliers d'enfants sont achetés et vendus avec une expertise professionnelle, plus généralement associée à un marché ou une bourse.Selon l'humeur des acheteurs et les conditions économiques, le prix de bébés proposés à la vente fluctue énormément. Mais le désir des couples sans enfants en Amérique du Nord et en Europe d'avoir une famille, ajoutée à la pénurie de bébés disponibles pour l'adoption dans ces pays, signifie que le marché pour les enfants du Tiers-Monde est florissant. Suite dans The Third-World Baby Racket (Newday via PPL, 13 avril 1987),