The trafficking of children is a reality, as
recent television footage from Kyrgyzstan has shown.
A nurse in a
hospital in the town of Bishkek was filmed selling a baby boy for little more
than 460 euros.
The undercover police officers, taking the infant, say
she offered them the choice of a girl or a boy.
The nurse is filmed
toasting the sale with champagne, but hers is a short-lived triumph, as she is
arrested soon after.
The United Nations body, Unicef says more than a
million children each year are victims of child trafficking around the
world.
In Great Britain alone, eight to ten thousand arrive from Africa
and are subjected to abuse and exploitation.
Police suspect there are
many such deals in Kyrgyzstan, where eight out of ten children live in extreme
poverty, that is they live in households where people earn little more than a
euro a day.
A spokesman from the Health Ministry said: "We plan to
investigate all maternity facilities in Bishkek as well as other medical
departments. We have also started an investigation of maternity wards outside
Bishkek. We want to nip such outrageous cases in the bud."
Unicef says
the majority of children sold are consigned to a terrible fate.
Many are
victims of sexual abuse or are forced into prostitution, menial work bordering
on slavery, drug trafficking and
begging.