ChildAbduction

** Child Abduction: Innocence and Lives Lost in Statistics **

 Proof: Child abduction is a serious crime where criminals or “sick minded” pedophiles decide to purchase or kidnap children for various purposes which destroy the child mentally and physically. Children, who are fortunate enough to escape, often suffer from severe mental harm which will haunt them for the rest of their lives. The unfortunate ones who cannot manage to escape will have to continue living in hell. Child abduction is a serious crime that is increasing at an alarming rate around the globe. The global economic crisis is responsible for fueling child abduction throughout the world, where people are desperately seeking new ways to survive and discover different opportunities to gain profit. (Woods) “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” (Gandhi) Children as young as twelve are sold into prostitution or to pedophiles as their sex slave. (France) These cases usually flourish in poor nations where there is an inadequate police force to maintain the stability in the region. The criminals that are involved in these activities are often involved in a large organization where they would traffic women, children and various illegal items into other countries to obtain profit. These organizations often remain incognito to law enforcers or various government agencies and they are often well funded and supported by corrupted government officials which put many children at risk. Children that are abducted are mainly sold in black markets. If pedophiles purchase a child, the money would enter the black market therefore supporting criminals in other illegal activities they perform. Criminals often traffic victims to other countries where they will be difficult for law enforcers or their parents to find them. According to Christopher Beam about eight hundred thousand children disappear every year and these numbers are not reliable because they only account for the children who are reported to the National Criminal Information Database and the ones that are not reported remain a mystery. Statistics have shown that 80% of child abductions are performed by acquaintances and 50% are from family members, and the majority of these kidnappings are sexually motivated. (Deluca) Former prostitute Somaly Mam was sold into prostitution when she was 12 and endured almost a decade of horrific rape and torture. Fortunately she was able to escape from the help of an aid woman from France. She described that period of her life “I was dead; I had no affection for anyone”. (Jolie) She was a unique woman unlike others, while most people would spend the rest of their lives recovering from the horrific experience they’ve been through. Somaly went back to Cambodia to confront the system that is destroying little girls. She created a nonprofit organization called  AFESIP (Acting for Women in Distressing Circumstances) that forms coalitions with law enforcements to raid brothels that are believed to held women and children that are taken away from their home. (Jolie) Perhaps the world would be a much better place without any greed in our human nature and everyone would just help each other out when they are in need, this would ultimately take away the purpose of weapons and we could all enjoy and cherish our lives happily with no worries or anxieties. “If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.” (Ghandi)

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("Stop Child")

Causes: 

When people hear of child abductions, they often do not give thought to why the children were abducted because they are so overwhelmed with the simple fact that a child has been taken. Child abduction is a developing and serious case all over the world. There are several reasons that are usually unsought of. These include demand for male heir, ransom , and labor. The world wants to know why people would need someone’s innocent child for such unimaginable punishment. In China, there is a traditional preference for male heirs and a one child policy due to a high population which lead to an abundance of child abductions(Macartney,). It is typical that young or infant boy be taken so the boy can grow up with the family, then being fooled into thinking the family is biologically his. Female infants are also taken, but usually not at such a high demand as the male. They are used the majority of the time as labor slaves or brides for unwedded sons(Macartney). Men are typically the more successful leading to the higher pay which can manage families. Another cause of child abduction that includes money is the simple situation of ransom, where someone is held for the exchange of a certain amount of money. The abduction of children for ransom has been recently increasing, although in the past it was not a “popular” criminal act. This is an act of desperation for those who extremely lack in wealth. Those who abduct for ransom seek the kids of those who are rich to secure that they get a large amount of money. In Nigeria, the 11 year old son of a state legislator and a member of the state house of assembly was taken for ransom(Nigerian). The kidnappers demanded a total amount of 20 million naira, equivalent to $157,500(Nigerian). When people look at a vegetation field, they don’t always think of who could have worked on it. In reality, poor children are forced to work on those fields day by day. It is just another form of slavery because they are working for nothing. These adolescents have been sold to accomplish labor that is not right for them. The environments they are working in are not safe which have led to many deaths. In a Chinese school, 42 people , the majority being third and fourth graders , were killed in an explosion(Grau). The young children were in the process of making fireworks when the mishaps took place. Whether or not they were sold to make fireworks, this shows that children should not be used for labor. No one can completely stop the need of children for labor, ransom , or a male heir. The world needs to know why children are being abducted so their own kids can be protected and safer than they are now. Can anyone understand what the people that are committing these acts of “evil punishment” towards kids are thinking ? These inhumane men or women need to do things the right way, instead of using little kids to do it for them.



Effects:
The definition of ‘child abduction’ is a rather broad definition whether in law or just simple knowledge. The legal definition of abduction is “the unlawful carrying away of a wife or female child or ward for the purpose of marriage or sexual intercourse” Its synonyms are: kidnapping, rape, seizure, theft. (Dictionary.com) while the definition of child trafficking refers to “any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration." (globalmarch.org). In simple terms, both of these subjects is “an international crisis of taking away a child from their family and stripping their rights for one’s gain. This can happen anywhere, anytime, and to anyone.” The only difference between the two is money. This distinction doesn’t last long as most children are abducted for trafficking purposes. Both of these situations are internationally connected with one another and both need to be put to a stop to save the children of the next generation. Children trafficked as sex slaves is the world's second largest criminal enterprise, according to the state department (Bewely). 300,000 children in the United States are at risk every year for commercial sexual exploitation. Adding to these chilling statistics are US Justice Department reports estimating 14,500-17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year. Americans are among several wealthy countries, which fuel the demand for children trapped in the commercial sex trade. ("Child Sex"). Exploited children in the sex industry generally are required to service their customers on an average of 3 - 7 customers per day. Some girls on high demand have to sometimes service even more 10 customers per day. Sex practices engaged in were likely unprotected sex. Studies show that the higher the number of unprotected sexual intercourse acts, the more risk of HIV infection and reproductive health morbidity. Trafficked victims are no exception. (seameo.org) The majority of these victims are forced into the commercial sex trade. In third world countries the situation is far dire, it is estimated that one-third of the prostitutes in Cambodia are children. The epidemic has increase as technology has become a major trafficking tool, with internet [foray] used to advertise and to make prostitution assignations. Offenders use chat rooms, message boards, and specialized websites to obtain information about where vulnerable young victims can be found. The most vulnerable girls are those considered “throw-away” or runaway youth from dysfunctional families. They are at risk of becoming prey to pimps who lure them with the promise of love and security, only to expose them to a world of cruelty and violence.” (Cardenas) Internationally, The US State Department reports worldwide 600,000 – 800,000 people are bought and sold across international borders each year; UNICEF estimates 2.5 million children are sexually exploited in a multibillion dollar commercial sex industry. ("Child Trafficking"). The United States taken proactive measures and has implemented laws that prohibit sex with minors in other countries and has greatly increased government efforts to combat this problem. Under the Protect Act of 2003, United States citizens or residents who engage in sexual activity abroad with a child under 18 can face 30 years in a U.S. prison. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is now actively investigating American sex tourists abroad and making arrests. ("Child Sex"). While sexual exploitation of children is a horrendous act, child trafficking also entailed child abducted to fight as militias and rebel child soldiers. Mary, a 16-year-old demobilized child soldier, was forced to join an armed rebel group in central Africa. She remembers: "I feel so bad about the things that I did. It disturbs me so much that I inflicted death on other people. I still dream about the boy from my village whom I killed. I see him in my dreams, and he is talking to me, saying I killed him for nothing, and I am crying." For many years the issue of child trafficking had receive little or no attention. The result was a great interest in the law enforcement community to attack the issue not just locally but nationally and internationally. On September 23, 2003, President George W. Bush addressed the United Nations General Assembly on the issue of child sex trade “There's a special evil in the abuse and exploitation of the most innocent and vulnerable. The victims of sex trade see little of life before they see the very worst of life, an underground of brutality and lonely fear.”("U.S.") “Though many complain, the power of shame has stirred many to action and sparked unprecedented reforms. Defeating human trafficking is a great moral calling and we will never subjugate it to the narrow demands of the day."(Condoleezza Rice. ashanet.org) With greater focus on the child sex trade, the US Congress with the approval of the President and law enforcement enacted laws to punish those who participate in the selling of children for exploitation. It passed laws making it illegal to “for any person to knowingly transport a child or adult in interstate or foreign commerce intending that the person become a prostitute or take part in any sexual activity”("U.S.") The amounts of money invested by donors to stop human trafficking since 2001 have been substantial. No global figure is available for the amounts given as international aid or for the amounts given by private donors. The government of just one country, the United States reported that between2001 and 2007; it allocated US$528 million to efforts to combat global trafficking (i.e., human trafficking outside of the US). In 2007, the United Arab Emirates reportedly made a donation to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to start the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN GIFT), In addition, funding for broad initiatives, such as stopping child labor or promoting (Janiero. Childtrafficking.org) At ths every moment thousands and millions of children's lives are at stake for the worst turn of events. If we dont stop this now while we can, who will in the future?



Solutions:

The world reaches new heights in communication, as the globalized community watches transcontinental crime grow to an extensive and alarming crisis. The majority victims for child trafficking are women and children from around the world but most prominently from Africa and Asia. Some estimates have as many as 1.2 million children being trafficked every year. There is a demand for trafficked children as cheap labor or for sexual exploitation. Children and their families are often unaware of the dangers of trafficking, believing that better employment and lives exists in other countries.(“Child Protection”) <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">For some it is a strange concept that children as young at one and two are being exploited for sex, sold into slavery, and some just taken because someone wants a child in such cases in China. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;"> “UNICEF estimates that 1,000 to 1,500 Guatemalan babies and children are trafficked each year for adoption by couples in North America and Europe.” (“Child Protection”) Some parents are also willingly give their daughter or son away to pay financial difficulties or the parent believes the child will have a better life if they are taken elsewhere. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">It is our responsibility as a global citizen to not only be aware of these crimes but help prevent anymore from happening. Ernie Allen from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children recommends, “It is more important than ever for parents to empower their kids,” and this advice should be home solutions practiced worldwide to prevent child abduction. (Koc h) The first steps all parents should take to help prevent their child from being a victim in the series of human trafficking involves fighting back. When strangers approach the child should yell, scream, run, bite, and whatever they can to get away. A few tips to protect your children are to know and screen all adults who have access to and contact with your child, update your child’s ID photos, identify places to resort to help if they walk to school, make sure your child is fully supervised going and returning from school and go with a friend, tell children to run away from danger not toward it, and if followed by a vehicle to run in the opposite direction. Children are still vulnerable and do not receive fair treatment from society as a whole. (Koch) Solutions to help global child abduction should follow the example of the Child Rights Foundation Program on Child Trafficking. This project was created as partnership with the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports in which it focuses on three main issues including child rights awareness; promoting positive discipline in schools; and promoting child participation in schools. Generally the reason is to strengthen capacity of teachers on the above issues and again to empower children. Members within a club meet monthly to address children’s issues and rights. (“Child Rights”) According to the Captive Daughters Organization it is best for any area struggling with child abduction for students to sign a petition, write to their representatives, and host an informational gathering. (“Captive Daughters”) <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;"> For too many girls, especially in poor and developing countries, the critical adolescent years are shaped by harmful memories that are oftentimes irreversible and irreparable, and then as women they are often further subjected to violence, poverty and severe health problems as a result of these harmful experiences in adolescence. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">Girls mainly from Asia and Eastern Europe as young as 13 years old are trafficked as mail-order brides. Powerless and isolated young girls and women in most cases are facing a great risk of violence. (“Child Protection”) <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">The Adolescent Girls’ Legal Defense Fund was created to support and publicize strategically selected legal cases, diversified to represent the most common and significant human rights abuses of adolescent girls. (“Equality Now”) The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) has one hundred and eighty eight member countries making it the largest in the world as a resource to locate internationally abducted children. However, each INTERPOL <span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">National Central Bureaus (NCBs) must follow the rules of its host country and therefore are bound to its laws. This leads to a variation of INTERPOL’s rules and powers concerning international child abduction cases which vary from different countries. INTERPOL has three notices involving international family abduction. The first notice seeks to locate missing, lost or trafficked persons, predominantly minors. The second notice tries to “arrest a subject based on a felony arrest warrant where extradition will be requested,” for example an abductor parent could be charged but not the child. (Alanen) The third notice “seeks information for a subject who committed a criminal offense, and to trace and locate a subject where extradition may be sought” for example an eye witness. (Alanen) The United States is an excellent source to retrieve missing children abroad because it has been reported, “the United States Military has intervened on behalf of left behind parents in the US when the taking parent was on active military duty stationed abroad.” (Alanen) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">The International Labour Convention says that in order to prevent child labor, which is an effect of child trafficking that, “a <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">great extent [of child trafficking] is caused by poverty and that the long-term solution lies in sustained economic growth leading to social progress, in particular poverty alleviation.” (“Worst”) <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">What is happening to these children is truly an injustice as their lives are thrown away. Children taken from their homes who are abused, raped, and sold into slavery live on each and every second they can. Time is running out, for the endangered lives of children worldwide. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">It is critical that researchers evaluate the efficacy of every available abduction- prevention program because child abduction is a serious problem and must be stopped.

media type="custom" key="5422151" align="left" width="180" height="180" ("Stop Human") <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">"If only for a moment, one person could view the world through another's eyes that would be a pivotal moment in life. To understand how they feel, and why they feel, would enable everyone to accept that each and every one of us is different and we've all got different thoughts and feelings on everything. There would be no more hatred, but love and compassion for our fellow human beings, no matter what our differing beliefs. No more war, no more death and destruction, just peace." (Comment by Sharla Jones in CNN article)

<span style="color: #808080; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">CITATIONS:

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