Criminals may be trafficking orphans

[emad]

Police begin investigation

John Aglionby in Jakarta, Jonathan Steele in Colombo and Brian Whitaker
Wednesday January 5, 2005
The Guardian

Fears are growing for children orphaned in the tsunami disaster after a senior UN official warned of credible reports that criminal gangs in Indonesia are offering them for adoption or exploitation.
Carol Bellamy, executive director of Unicef, said yesterday that organised syndicates were exploiting the crisis in Aceh province. "They have been using sophisticated technology such as SMS messages to people throughout this region offering children for adoption," she said, citing reports from Unicef's partner agencies in Indonesia.

She continued: "Whether it is adoption or exploitation purposes or sex trafficking, these are criminal elements so it is very important not to let them get a foothold."

A colleague in Kuala Lumpur received an unsolicited mobile phone text message that offered to sell children according to buyers' wishes, Unicef spokesman John Budd told Reuters.

"Three hundred orphans aged three to 10 years from Aceh for adoption. All paperwork will be taken care of. No fee. Please state age and sex of child required," the message read.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tsunami/story/0,15671,1383489,00.html

[joeybee12]

1. I've said it before--disaster brings out the best in people, and it brings

out the worst.

This is just too awful for words.

[lib_1138]

5. This is the worst of the worst nt

[Pert_UK]

2. I'm a liberal and I believe in laws and due process.....

and I dislike the death penalty intensely, but a part of me says, "Would the world REALLY be a worse place if we just took child-traffickers who are profiting from this tragedy and shot them in the back of the head?"

It's hard to comprehend how somebody can stoop so low as to abuse children who have suffered so much already. What kind of a world is this?

If I were to be cynical, I'd say that this has only surfaced as a major issue after a young Western boy who survived the tsunami was taken from a hospital and hasn't been seen since......

[Bat Boy]

3. How very Dickensian....

[ignu]

4. ahah!

so now bill frist's travel plans make sense.