Added: 10/26/2007 |
The Inhuman Business Of Child LaunderingChild laundering, or child trafficking, is the practice of illegally using children for exploitative purposes like labor, prostitution, and adoption etc. The children that are trafficked in or out of a country mostly come from poor and backward families who may willingly give them over for laundering in the hope of earning money or providing a better place to the child. However, most of these children end up in neglect, abuse, and torture at the hands of their recipients.
The exact number of children that are currently the victim of trafficking is not known; the estimated number lies in millions. Some sources estimate the number of trafficked children around 1.2 million every year. Most of the children that become victims to child laundering come from poor or backward rural areas and underdeveloped or developing countries. They are transported illegally to the urban areas in the same country or trafficked abroad to more well off countries. Children of both genders are trafficked illegally, though the purpose of laundering may vary for different genders.
Child laundering is not committed solely through abduction or coercion of children but also, in many cases, children or their elder family members approach recruiting agents in the hope of making some income out of the child’s prospective work. By giving their children over for labor or adoption, poor families hope that their children will be brought up in better conditions and taken better care of by the recipients. This prospect is used by recruiters to entice parents/elders into offering their children for trafficking. However, the children suffer horribly from the exploitation of their recipients. Both physical and psychological tortures are inflicted on the laundered children and they suffer from poor health, inhuman treatment, and unbearable loads of work.
The trafficking of girls is frequently for the purpose of sexual exploitation. This problem is not only moral but also carries the risk of sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS. Teenage pregnancy and permanent reproductive damage may also endanger the life or reproductive health of young girls who are sold via trafficking. Boys, on the other hand, may be smuggled abroad for serving labor or certain other purposes besides adoption and slavery. One example is those of young boys from poor countries of South Asia who are trafficked to countries in the Arabian Gulf for becoming camel jockeys. They are strapped onto the camels with ropes and watched by thousands of spectators as the camels are led into the race. Some of these boys suffer serious injuries in case of falling off the camels, aside from the fear and humiliation which all of them experience.
Many international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are working against the inhuman business of child laundering. Governments usually attempt to stop child trafficking by means of legislature and helping non-governmental bodies that are trying to stop trafficking of children. Creating awareness against the base practice of child laundering lies at the heart of major coping strategies against this problem.
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