China: Trafficking Updated
“Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan are searching for the parents of 11 infants rescued from a baby trafficking ring.
Police in the province’s capital, Kunming, released pictures of the babies to local media on Thursday with the hope of tracing their families.
But they also said that many of the infants may have been sold to the ring by their parents.
Police have arrested 32 people accused of being involved in the trafficking.
Many of the alleged traffickers were related to each other while the rest were close friends or came from the same town in Yunnan, they said, according to local media reports.
They said the ring had sold 21 children in total, some to buyers in other provinces such as Shandong, Fujian and Henan.
Police said their suspicions were first aroused in August last year when officers came across a middle-aged couple with non-local accents preparing to board a train at Kunming with an infant who appeared to be only a few weeks old.
After questioning, the couple admitted to buying the baby from traffickers.
Police later uncovered a network buying babies from remote villages and transporting them to willing buyers.
The babies’ families were allegedly paid up to 10,000 yuan (£1,033, $1,633), and the infants were in turn sold for at least 10 times that sum, up to 140,000 yuan.
The rescued children, who are around eight months old, are currently being taken care of in a nursery. One with congenital glaucoma has been treated and is recovering, said police.
Child trafficking has been a persistent problem in China. Critics say the country’s one-child policy and lax adoption laws have fuelled demand.
In 2012, Chinese authorities made one of their biggest sweeps and broke up two major child trafficking gangs, arresting more than 800 suspects across the country and freeing 181 children.”
China police trace families of trafficked babies [BBC 11/7/14 ]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update:“These babies rescued from human traffickers have been put up for adoption after being neglected by their parents.
The 11 children, including six boys and five girls, were part of a group of 21 saved from traffickers by officials in Kaiyuan in south-western China’s Yunnan Province.
Only 10 of the group of 21 were re-united with their original parents.
Now, four months later, local officials have decided to offer them to foster parents in the hope of giving them a normal life.
Child trafficking has been a long-standing problem in China, which critics say is created by the country’s sinister one-child policy.
The strict laws limit many families to one child, and with boys being favoured as heirs to the family name, many female babies are sold, aborted or abandoned.
Poverty fuels the trade, while illicit profits tempts traffickers, resulting in a thriving market for babies and toddlers.
n this particular case, police arrested 32 people accused of involvement in the trafficking.
They said their suspicions were first aroused in August last year when officers spotted a middle-aged couple with non-local accents preparing to board a train at Kunming, the largest city in the Yunnan Province, with an infant who appeared to be only a few weeks old.
After questioning, the couple admitted to buying the baby from traffickers.
Police later uncovered a network buying babies from remote villages and transporting them to willing buyers.
The babies’ families were allegedly paid up to 10,000 yuan (£1,033), and the infants were in turn sold for at least 10 times that sum, up to 140,000 yuan (£14,505).
It is unlikely the babies will struggle to find an adopted home given the huge demand for babies in the country.
So far, 100 families have applied for a child – which is almost 10 couples for every baby.
Despite this, China has trumpeted the success of an intensified crackdown on the kidnapping and sale of children recently.
In 2011, police said they had rescued more than 13,000 abducted children and 23,000 women over the past two years or so.
A year later, Chinese authorities made one of their biggest sweeps and broke up two major child trafficking gangs, arresting more than 800 suspects across the country and freeing 181 children. ”
The Chinese babies rescued from human trafficking: How the one child policy is fuelling a sinister trade
[Daily Mail 12/4/14 by Thomas Burrows]
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