Region | Iraq
Child traffickers 'targeting Iraq'
The disappearance of several children in Iraq recently has raised fears among Baghdad officials as to the existence of child trafficking networks inside and outside the country.
- By Basil AdasCorrespondent
- Published: 23:40 February 25, 2008
Baghdad: The disappearance of several children in Iraq recently has raised fears among Baghdad officials as to the existence of child trafficking networks inside and outside the country.
While no official statistics on the missing Iraqi children are available, Tariq Al Ta'e, chairman of the Iraqi Human Rights Justice Centre in Baghdad revealed that his centre had 16 cases of missing children reported by their families.
"The missing children are aged between three to five years, three of them were found dead and there are suspicions others may have been taken outside of Iraq's borders in what is known as child trafficking sponsored by foreign organisations which is exploiting the unstable Iraqi situation," Al Ta'e told Gulf News.
Iraqi parliament sources told Gulf News, families were afraid to report missing children because there have been incidents of children being sold by families for money. The families of missing children prefer not to be condemned by society, the sources added.
Social time bombs
Ala'a Al Jibouri, a journalist and anti-violence child activist, told Gulf News: "I met a woman in Baghdad who had sold her two children for two million Iraqi dinars due to the extreme living situation."
She admitted to it but refused to report her story in the media. I believe she sold her children to a rich woman. I also met another woman who wanted to buy a child for $10,000 [Dh36,726]."
Al Jibouri added: "I think trading Iraqi children is done by this method, I mean Iraqi women purchasing children because of their living conditions and then they are taken outside of Iraq."
Dozens of young beggars are in the Iraqi capital and they are considered a target for child trafficking gangs and for terrorist groups that seek to recruit children.
"The current Iraqi Government made tragic errors especially addressing the security file by military and security solutions," Walid Al Attar, an Iraqi social scientist, told Gulf News.
"The method of security for decision-makers in Iraq is fragmented and incomplete because it does not seek to address social phenomena associated with violence, such as begging, poverty and unemployment," said Al Attar.
"I think there are dozens of 'social time bombs' in society. Dozens of mentally disabled roam Baghdad's streets, the Iraqi government is now paying attention to them especially after they were used by Al Qaida to implement terrorist attacks. Now the government is recognising disabled centres."
Human rights organisation officials in Iraq said that security check points focus on terrorism and Al Qaida and ignore other security phenomena such as passport and personal identity forgery gangs and these are the main factors encouraging child trafficking gangs to move freely in Iraq.
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