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Children are going missing from hospitals in Haiti, raising fears that the youngsters are being trafficked for adoption abroad in the wake of the January 12 earthquake, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.
"We have documented let's say around 15 cases of children disappearing from hospitals and not with their own family at the time," said UNICEF adviser Jean Luc Legrand.
"UNICEF has been working in Haiti for many years and we knew the problem with the trade of children in Haiti which existed before, and unfortunately many of these trade networks have links with the international adoption 'market'," Legrand said.
"We have documented let's say around 15 cases of children disappearing from hospitals and not with their own family at the time," said UNICEF adviser Jean Luc Legrand.
"UNICEF has been working in Haiti for many years and we knew the problem with the trade of children in Haiti which existed before, and unfortunately many of these trade networks have links with the international adoption 'market'," Legrand said.
"Unfortunately, many of these trade networks have links with the international adoption market."
The agency said it had warned countries during the past week not to step up adoptions from Haiti in the immediate wake of the quake.
However several are fast-tracking adoption procedures already under way, including Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States.
Mr Legrand said the situation was similar to the aftermath of the tsunami in Asia five years ago.
Trafficking networks were springing into action immediately after the disaster and taking advantage of the weakness of local authorities and relief coordination "to kidnap children and get them out of the country".
Originally posted by Dock9
reply to post by December_Rain
If true, let's hope the children will be provided a better life
And let's pray they're being adopted by people who will value them
and are not disappearing into the (SPIT !! ) child-sex trade
Originally posted by December_Rain
..... the traffickers can just send kids to China as laborers, or illicit sex trade etc. if it get's hard for them to let people adopt.