Child harvesting

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This article is about the systematic sale of human children. For the practice of accepting custody of an infant or child in exchange for payment, see baby farming.

Child harvesting or baby harvesting refers to the systematic sale of human children, typically for adoption by families in the developed world, but sometimes for other purposes, including trafficking. The term covers a wide variety of situations and degrees of economic, social, and physical coercion. Child harvesting programs or the locations at which they take place are sometimes referred to as baby factories or baby farms.

Sources[edit]

Baby farms have been reported in Nigeria.[1]

Nigeria[edit]

Child harvesting in Nigeria is a subset of human trafficking. It often takes place in structures disguised as maternity homes, orphanages, clinics and small scale factories[2] where pregnant girls live and deliver babies in return for monetary compensation. The trend is precipitated by various factors including a social premium placed on child bearing and social stigmas around infertility and teenage pregnancy. A black market for newly born babies has developed in parts of the country to provide infants to wealthy families who prefer cheaper clandestine methods as a substitute for surrogacy, in vitro fertilization, assisted reproductive technology, or adoption through social services.[3]

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.[3] Most of the discovered baby factories are found in Southern Nigeria with high incidence in Ondo, Ogun, Imo, Akwa Ibom Abia and Anambra.[3]

The first publicly reported case of a baby factory was published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 2006.[3] In 2008, a network of baby factories claiming to be orphanages, was revealed in Enugu, Enugu State (Nigeria), by police raids.[4][5][6] In 2011, Nigerian police raided two more hospitals, thereby dismantling two baby factories: in June, thirty-two pregnant women were found in Aba, Abia, in a hospital of The Cross Foundation;[7][8][9] in October, seventeen pregnant women (thirty according to some sources[10][11]) were found in Ihiala, Anambra, in a hospital of the Iheanyi Ezuma Foundation.[12][13] Five more baby factories were discovered in 2013, and eight more were discovered in 2015.[3] Infertile women are noted to be major patrons of these baby factories due to the stigmatization of childless couples in Southern Nigeria and issues around cultural acceptability of surrogacy and adoption. These practices have contributed to the growth in the industry which results in physical, psychological, and sexual violence to the victims.[citation needed]

Methods[edit]

See also: Child laundering

After a child is obtained through differing methods mentioned below, the identity of the child or the parent or both are altered in a process known as child laundering.

Baby factories[edit]

Women have gotten pregnant with the intention of selling their babies. The facilities where the babies are delivered and then sold are known as "Baby factories" or "Baby breeding farms". This is often drive by poverty. In some cases there is an overlap with commercial surrogacy where the male partner buying the baby to be adopted provides the sperm as well.[14] Illegal street clinics have occurred in Kenya.[15] A company called Baby101 had a baby factory in Thailand busted by police in 2011.[14]

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.[16][17]

Kidnapping[edit]

Organized rings in Nairobi are known to abduct the children of homeless mothers. This is usually while the families are sleeping on the street but also through gaining the trust of the mother.[15] In 1990s, it was rumored that child snatchers commonly roamed the country in Guatemala, which has lax laws regulating adoption.[18] In the 1980s, staff in some hospitals in Sri Lanka were involved in rackets of kidnapping newborns for international adoptions. They informed the biological mothers that the newborns had died and paid other women to act as the real mothers.[19] The state can also be involved in such schemes. During the One Child Policy in China, when women were only allowed to have one child, local governments would often allow the woman to give birth and then they would take the baby away. Child traffickers, often paid by the government, would sell the children to orphanages that would arrange international adoptions worth tens of thousands of dollars, turning a profit for the government.[20]

Matching unwanted children[edit]

Women who have an unwanted pregnancy have been approached, often by healthcare professionals, to instead deliver the baby to be sold to those looking for a child to adopt. Police broke such a scheme in Gwailor in India in 2016.[21] Police broke such a scheme in Egypt in 2012.[22]

Markets[edit]

Adoption[edit]

Child harvesting is particularly associated with and prevalent in some international adoption markets.[23][24][25] Stigmatization of childless couples and teenage pregnancy[3] have been cited as driving factors. Difficulties in adoption, such as cultural acceptance as well as its legality and administrative difficulty, is also viewed as a factor driving child harvesting.[22][26]

Forced labor[edit]

See also: Prostitution of children

Child harvesting may also be involved in situations in which children are trafficked to provide slave labor.[9][4] This could include in plantations, mines, factories, as domestic workers, or as sex workers.[9][4]

Ritual sacrifices[edit]

There have been a very few allegations of some child harvesting programs that provide infants to be tortured or sacrificed in black magic or witchcraft rituals.[7][12][8][27]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Smith, David (2 June 2011). "Nigerian 'baby farm' raided – 32 pregnant girls rescued". The Guardian.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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)
  4. ^ a b c Nigerian 'baby factory' raided, 32 teenage girls freed, AFP, Jun 1, 2011
  5. ^ Police Raids Reveal Alleged Network of 'Baby Farms', Fox News, November 15, 2008
  6. ^ 32 teens freed in Nigeria "baby factory" raid, CBS News, June 2, 2011
  7. ^ a b Nigeria 'baby farm' girls rescued by Abia state police, BBC, June 1, 2011
  8. ^ a b Nigerian 'baby farm' raided – 32 pregnant girls rescued, The Guardian, June 2, 2011
  9. ^ a b c Police in Nigeria free 32 pregnant teens from 'baby factory;' newborns sold into labor, sex markets, Daily News, June 2, 2011
  10. ^ Police Arrest 30 Pregnant Teenagers, Proprietor At Anambra Motherless Home, 247ureports, October 15, 2011
  11. ^ Police arrest 30 pregnant teenagers, others at motherless babies home Archived 2013-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, October 16, 2011
  12. ^ a b Nigerian baby factory raided Archived 2016-05-27 at the Wayback Machine, News24, October 16, 2011
  13. ^ 17 pregnant teenagers arrested in Anambra baby factory, The Nation, October 15, 2011
  14. ^ a b Thai Police Free 14 Women From Illegal Baby-Breeding Farm In Bangkok, The Huffington Post, February 24, 2011
  15. ^ a b "The baby stealers". BBC News. 15 November 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  16. ^ "Nigeria 'baby factory' raided in Lagos". BBC News. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  17. ^ "Nigerian's battle to keep her baby". BBC News. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  18. ^ Tuckman, Jo (13 March 2007). "£700 for a child? Guatemalan 'baby factory' deals in misery and hope". The Guardian. p. 25.
  19. ^ "'There were a lot of baby farms': Sri Lanka to act over adoption racket claims". The Guardian. 20 September 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  20. ^ "'One Child Nation' Exposes the Tragic Consequences of Chinese Population Control". Reason TV. 2019-08-16. Archived from the original on 2021-10-29.
  21. ^ "India: Cops bust 'baby farm' where you can buy an infant for $1,400 – Crime – Dunya News".
  22. ^ a b "Egypt Police Bust Baby Trafficking Ring". news.com.au.
  23. ^ Geoghegan, Andrew (2009-09-15). "Fly Away Children". ABC Online. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  24. ^ "International Baby Harvesting and Adoption-Abduction". adoption-articles.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-24. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
  25. ^ Press, Berkeley Electronic. "SelectedWorks – David M. Smolin". works.bepress.com.
  26. ^ Makinde, Olusesan Ayodeji; Olaleye, Olalekan; Makinde, Olufunmbi Olukemi; Huntley, Svetlana S.; Brown, Brandon (July 24, 2015). "Child harvesting". Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. 18 (1): 98–105. doi:10.1177/1524838015591588. PMID 26209095. S2CID 9985947.
  27. ^ "Child harvesting/ Baby factories". June 2013.

External links[edit]

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