Trafficking fears as Haiti children go missing

United Nations officials say children have gone missing from hospitals in Haiti since the devastating January 12 earthquake, raising fears of trafficking for adoption abroad.
“We have documented around 15 cases of children disappearing from hospitals and not with their own family at the time,” said UNICEF advisor Jean Luc Legrand.
“UNICEF has been working in Haiti for many years and we knew the problem with the trade of children in Haiti that existed already beforehand.
“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.
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”.
(ABC online)

Source:nation.lk/