Kids and Slavery/On the Rise
A rather disturbing article appeared on MSNBC.com (Newsweek) in the Nov. 17th issue. It stated, “Globalization, post-Soviet poverty, and the European Union’s newly porous borders have made child trafficking the world’s fastest-growing branch of organized crime.” Stories of children being sold into prostitution/slavery aren’t uncommon and the problem seems to be growing. The United Nations estimated that worldwide the number of children trafficked was at 1.2 million. The European Union (EU) also mentioned that 120,000 women and children were affected. This article specifically focused on Europe.Mentioned were illegal adoptions with gang involvement, girls in Eastern Europe forced into the sex-industry as well as boys as male prostitutes or involved in petty crimes, and Chinese kids working in sweatshops. West Africa kids were being sneaked into Europe to work as servants, but more disgustingly these kids are being used as sacrifices for tribes and their rituals. I knew that happened in early civilizations with the Aztec cultures, but c’mon this is 2006!
Europe’s broken legal system seems to be a big problem. “Laws on trafficking and migration vary enormously among The EU’s 15 member countries.” There will be 10 new members joining the union like Hungary where it was stated that women and children are at great risk. The United States has pressured Greece with sanctions if it didn’t improve, so Greece has set up a program to help victims. Europe is trying to develop a counter trafficking program but sounds very lax and mentioned that “success is a relative short term.” I thought this comment hit the nail on the head: “If a government can say, ‘We’ve raided 150 brothels and pulled out 300 women without passports,’ they can show a concrete, measurable response to the problem,”
Once again traffickers will prey on children in poverty, those with a lack of knowledge and education, and those where the legal systems won’t matter any way. With the poor economy in West Africa, “Families that don’t have anything are the most vulnerable.”
http://msnbc.com/id/3403542/
posted by Anonymous @ 11/14/2006 04:22:00 PM
1 Comments:
One thing first: the link to the MSNBC story doesn't work (typical Microsoft product...).
It is sad that this sort of thing can get through the legal cracks in one of the most developed parts of the world. Granted, anything can get through the cracks in small amounts (drugs, illegal immigration, etc.), but to find a way through the combined EU system is impressive, but only slightly. The disparity within the EU causes it to be more cumbersome and ineffective in areas due to the copious amounts of bureaucracy it supports. That blurb about the human sacrifices was the most distrubing bit of news. One would think after around 5,000 years, the news that the sun or the seasons don't run on sacrifice. Even in the deepest, remote jungle of Africa, surely they've caught on that they're killing in vain. One of the obvious fixes is to educated and equalize poverty. But since the world is leaning more and more towards a capitalist economy (in which there are always winners and losers) it won't happen in this century. Or the next. Cracking down harder on the problem could help at first, but people get crafty; if you could see some of the escape attempts from East Berlin, you'd be amazed at the ingenuity people are capable of. Sadly, I highly doubt this problem will ever cease, fueled by the ever expanding gap between the rich and educated, and the poor and, well, less-educated.
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