Playing Unborn children for sale in S Korea
Submitted by Niels on Mon, 2009-11-23 13:39.
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The illegal sale of children makes up more than half of all the cases of human trafficking around the world, according to recent estimates.
Traditionally it has involved the exploitation of children in poorer nations, but an Al Jazeera investigation has found that it is also happening in developed countries, such as South Korea.
For four months, Al Jazeera surfed community boards on popular Korean internet sites, and found an underground trade where pregnant women can sell their unborn children.
The few cases that have surfaced have alarmed the government so much that it is believed to have formed a special task force to bring human-trafficking laws up to date, Al Jazeera's Steve Chao says.
One of the challenges is how to give authorities the power to better police the murky world of the internet.
Twenty years ago the United Nations adopted the Convention of the Rights of the Child. The CRC or UNCRC, sets out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children.
As of December 2008, 193 signatories had ratified it, including every member of the UN except the US and Somalia.
The treaty restricts the involvement of children in military conflicts and prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
The UNCRC has been used as a blueprint for child protection legislation around the world.
However, the treaty's promise to protect children has not always been kept.
Onus on government
Lisa Laumann, from the Save the Children charity, says it is up to both the government and the community to protect children.
"Intergovernmental organisations like the United Nations provide the framework around which governments can come together to agree on what good practice is and how governments should behave legally on behalf of their citizens," she told Al Jazeera.
"But it's up to the governments themselves to draft that legislation, develop the systems and institutions that guarantee those rights.
"There also has to be an effort made to help communities, families and children themselves, to understand what rights mean for them and how they can support them."
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Couples using the Internet
Elsewhere in the world, couples are using the Internet and making their pitch, hoping a much desired baby will be deliver to the featured eager buyers.
See: Adoption seekers using You Tube, Facebook to find birth moms.
What's terrifying to me is how many people "fall in love" with an image seen in a sent photograph or computer screen. [I liken this to cyber-dating, knowing sexual exploitation of children begins with the sending of a beloved photo/image or two....]
What moron decides the best father for her (unborn) child is the one seen on a video, dancing with his dog? Seriously, is choosing the ideal dad for a child based on his ability to dance with a dog on a video?
The way I see it, it's not just birth parents making retarded choices, based on what's being seen/read in a featured video or found on a sweet or pretty looking page. PAP's are selling crappy lies, too, and private agencies are buying it all (and cashing in the required fees/payments) because selling children to paying customers is what keeps free enterprise great.
<frustrated sigh>
Oh, if only all in Adoptionland was as beautiful as it's advertised... if only scammers and those looking for instant gratification didn't quickly find one another on the Internet. However, I am reminded over and over again, all in Adoptionland will never be as ideal as I'd like it to be, for whatever those reasons may be. I simply shudder to think how many more people need to be deceived and screwed before the word "regulation" becomes necessary in Positive Adoption Language. [See Preying on Parents and A couple runs into horrific problems after they adopt two brothers from Russia, as two fine hair-raising examples of what's being done to those touched by not-so-positive adoption experiences.] Meanwhile, the Internet will continue to do unregulated trade because it seems that's how people want things.... unregulated.
One can only imagine how many people are being burned by those promoting themselves, and their adoption-friendly services, on the Internet. Truth be told, my heart does not cry or bleed when I learn yet another "desperate" AP loses money through an adoption scam. My worry and concern goes towards those children sold to those who fell desperately in love with an image, but later, discover they neither liked nor could handle, what was delivered.
I suggest readers read articles featuring disrupted placements -- and ask how the Internet and false advertising in adoption is helping the millions of so-called adoptable orphans in the world.