Kidnapped children rescued from traffickers in Haiti

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP): Nearly 50 Haitian children aged between two and seven, whom traffickers planned to sell for adoption, have been rescued and returned to their homes, a United Nations agency said Friday.

The International Organisation for Migration said the 47 children from the impoverished Grande Anse region had been "given away" by their parents to traffickers who had promised to help them and taken to a "rogue" adoption centre in Port-au-Prince.

"After learning that they had been misled by the traffickers and of the inhumane conditions in which their children were being kept at the centre, parents approached a local NGO ... to denounce the owner of the centre and to ask for the return of their children," IOM official Jemini Pandya said.

With the help of other non-governmental organisations, the parents filed a complaint against the owner of the centre in 2006 and campaigned for the return of their children, Pandya said.

The Haitian government, the Pan American Development Foundation, the UN children's fund UNICEF, local NGOs and the IOM collaborated to enable the rescue and return of the children.

Pandya said that according to the government Institute for Social Well-Being and Research (IBERS), whose functions include the approval of adoptions, many bogus centres are involved in the trafficking of children for international adoptions.

"However, a lack of resources means the government agency is currently unable to investigate all centres and to close down all those involved in child trafficking."

"In addition to sheltering the children post-rescue and in helping to return them back home, IOM will provide them with medical and psychological assistance," Pandya added.

"The educational fees of school-aged children will also be paid for one year while parents will be given micro-grants and training to set up small businesses to ease financial worries during the initial period of return."