Child harvesting
Child harvesting or baby harvesting refers to the systematic sale of
Markets
Child harvesting typically refers to situations where children are sold for adoption but may also refer to situations in which children are trafficked to provide
Infants who are trafficked are often eventually forced to work in
Human trafficking is widespread in west Africa, where children are bought from their families to work in plantations, mines, and factories or as domestic help.[citation needed]
Others are sold into prostitution and less commonly they are tortured or sacrificed in black magic rituals.[9] Human trafficking, including selling children, is prohibited under Nigerian law, but almost 10 years ago a UNESCO report on human trafficking in Nigeria identified the business as the country’s third-most common crime behind financial fraud and drug trafficking, and the situation certainly has not improved. At least 10 children are reportedly sold every day across the country.[citation needed]
Sources
Pregnant women may face economic or social duress, or, less commonly, outright coercion to give up their newborns.[10] There are rare reports of women who are not yet pregnant being impregnated to produce infants for sale.[11]
Baby farms have been reported in India,[12] Nigeria,[13] Guatemala,[14] Thailand[15] and Egypt.[16]
Nigeria
Child harvesting in Nigeria is a subset of
The majority of the women whose children are sold are young unmarried women from lower-income households who are scared of social stigmatization as a result of an unwanted teenage pregnancy. Some of the young girls come to the baby factory after searching for abortion clinics, though others have been kidnapped.
The first publicly reported case of a baby factory was published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (
Methods
Baby factories
Poor mothers in Kenya have also used illegal street clinics to deliver babies to be adopted by richer women for payment.[24] These are sometimes known as "baby factories".
While they can be voluntary, women can also be kidnapped to be forced into a baby factory. Baby factories in Nigeria have coerced or abducted women to be raped in order to sell their babies for adoption.[25][26]
Kidnapping rings
Organized rings in
Prevention
Tackling baby factories will involve a multifaceted approach that includes advocacy and enacting of legislation barring baby factories and infant trafficking and harsh consequences for their patrons. Also, programs to educate young girls on preventing unwanted pregnancies are needed. Methods of improving awareness and acceptability of adoption and reducing the administrative and legal bottlenecks associated with this option for infertile couples should be explored to diminish the importance of baby factories.[27]
See also
- Child labour
- Child laundering
- Child-selling
- Child trafficking
- Commercial sexual exploitation of children
- Human trafficking in Nigeria
- Trafficking of children
- List of international adoption scandals
- Surrogacy
- Assisted reproductive technology
- Adoption
References
- ^ Daily News, June 2, 2011
- ^ a b c Nigerian 'baby factory' raided, 32 teenage girls freed, AFP, Jun 1, 2011
- ABC Online. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
- ^ "International Baby Harvesting and Adoption-Abduction". adoption-articles.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-24. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
- ^ Press, Berkeley Electronic. "SelectedWorks – David M. Smolin". works.bepress.com.
- ^ a b Nigeria 'baby farm' girls rescued by Abia state police, BBC, June 1, 2011
- ^ a b Nigerian baby factory raided Archived 2016-05-27 at the Wayback Machine, News24, October 16, 2011
- ^ a b Nigerian 'baby farm' raided – 32 pregnant girls rescued, The Guardian, June 2, 2011
- ^ "Child harvesting/ Baby factories". June 2013.
- The Huffington Post, February 24, 2011
- ^ Tuckman, Jo (13 March 2007). "£700 for a child? Guatemalan 'baby factory' deals in misery and hope". The Guardian. p. 25.
- ^ "India: Cops bust 'baby farm' where you can buy an infant for $1,400 – Crime – Dunya News".
- ^ Smith, David (2 June 2011). "Nigerian 'baby farm' raided – 32 pregnant girls rescued". The Guardian.
- ^ Tuckman, Jo (14 March 2007). "£700 for a child? Guatemalan 'baby factory' deals in misery and hope". The Guardian.
- ^ "Thai Police Free 14 Women From Illegal Baby-Breeding Farm In Bangkok". Huffington Post. 24 February 2011.
- ^ "Egypt Police Bust Baby Trafficking Ring". news.com.au.
- ^ Eseadi, C., Ikechukwu-Ilomuanya, A. B., Achagh, W., & Ogbuabor, S. E. (2015). Prevalence of baby factory in Nigeria: An emergent form of child abuse, trafficking and molestation of women. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research Methods, 2(1), 1–12.
- ^ a b c d e Makinde OA, Olaleye O, Makinde OO, Huntley SS, Brown B. (July 2015). Baby Factories in Nigeria: Starting the Discussion Toward a National Prevention Policy. Trauma Violence Abuse [Internet]. (cited July 24, 2015)
- Fox News, November 15, 2008
- ^ 32 teens freed in Nigeria "baby factory" raid, CBS News, June 2, 2011
- ^ Police Arrest 30 Pregnant Teenagers, Proprietor At Anambra Motherless Home, 247ureports, October 15, 2011
- ^ Police arrest 30 pregnant teenagers, others at motherless babies home Archived 2013-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, October 16, 2011
- ^ 17 pregnant teenagers arrested in Anambra baby factory, The Nation, October 15, 2011
- ^ a b "The baby stealers". BBC News. 15 November 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
- ^ "Nigeria 'baby factory' raided in Lagos". BBC News. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
- ^ "Nigerian's battle to keep her baby". BBC News. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
- S2CID 9985947.
External links
- Baby factories: How pregnancies, deliveries are framed at Vanguard
- Video: The Nigerian Connection II (18:15–23:10) of Al Jazeera
- Baby factories in Nigeria: Starting the discussion toward a national prevention policy in Trauma, Violence and Abuse Journal, July 2015.
- Baby factories taint surrogacy in Nigeria in Reproductive Biomedicine Online Journal, October, 2015
- Infant Trafficking and Baby Factories: A New Tale of Child Abuse in Nigeria in Child Abuse Review Journal, November 2015