Organ Harvesting of Trafficking Victims.

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Trafficking for the purpose of 'removal of organs' is identified as trafficking under the UN Trafficking Protocol definition.

This research defines trafficking in organs as under the UN Trafficking Protocol. Hence, trafficking for organs occurs where a third party recruits, transports, transfers, harbours or receives a person, using threats (or use) of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of authority or a position of vulnerability for the purpose of removing that persons organ/s. Where children are concerned, there is no need for deception or coercion, the mere fact of organ removal facilitated by a third party is sufficient. 'Organ' trafficking, is mainly trafficking of kidneys because removal of virtually all other organs⁶ requires the 'donor' to be killed, which is very rare. Strictly speaking, we are talking about removal of organs rather than removal of human tissues such as blood and corneas.

The WHO’s Guiding Principles on human organ transplantation (1991) state that the commercialization of human organs is ‘a violation of human rights and human dignity’. The Guiding Principles stated several key principles relevant to organ trafficking

Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (2000) to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
this protocol states that the sale of children for the purpose of transferring their organs for profit should be a criminal offence.

Some Facts:

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The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately 50,000 kidney transplants take place every year.¹⁹ of these, an absolute minimum of 15,000 transplants are from live donors.

Some media reports have cited examples of street children in Latin America and children from impoverished families in Eastern Europe being kidnapped or sold and subsequently murdered for their organs

Media reports have also connected the illegal adoption trade to trafficking in organs,

There are reported cases of children being trafficked within and from Africa for their organs to be used in rituals. 

The organization Organs Watch estimates that 'thousands of illegal transplants occur every year bought by patients from the Persian Gulf states, Japan, Italy, Israel, the U.S. and Canada supplied by "donor" nations, including India,

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A study in Chennai, India interviewing 305 kidney sellers in the State of Tamil Nadu found that the amounts promised to kidney vendors (by both brokers and clinics) were an average of one third more than what they were actually paid

The COE's Rapporteur on organ trafficking, Gaby Vermot-Mangold stated that of the known cases of kidney sales in Moldova, nearly all sellers received less money than originally agreed

Vivekanand Jha of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research also states that the 'fact' that kidney donors or sellers do not receive the money promised is common knowledge

According to most estimates upwards of 20 thousand dollars can be made off of a kidney, nearly twice that for a healthy heart. This is the most instantaneously profitable of all the heinous crimes perpetrated on victims of human trafficking,

A high profile organ trafficking case in the year 2000 involved a Russian woman selling her grandson to "westerners" for 90 thousand dollars

In India in 2007 19 women were found dead in an Indian slum apparently the victims of the organ trade

It is estimated that there are 10 thousand victims of organ theft in China alone each year

Trafficking in organs is a crime that occurs in three broad categories.

Firstly, there are cases where traffickers force or deceive the victims into giving up an organ.

Secondly, there are cases where victims formally or informally agree to sell an organ and are cheated because they are not paid for the organ or are paid less than the promised price.

Thirdly, vulnerable persons are treated for an ailment, which may or may not exist and thereupon organs are removed without the victim's knowledge

The vulnerable categories of persons include migrants, especially migrant workers, homeless persons, illiterate persons, etc. It is known that trafficking for organ trade could occur with persons of any age. Organs which are commonly traded are kidneys, liver and the like; any organ which can be removed and used, could be the subject of such illegal trade. 

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The traffic in human beings is flourishing. The global business involving “human goods” has now reached dimensions comparable to those of the illicit trades in drugs and weapons. As if the poor and destitute don't already have enough daily oppression from all sides there is another facet to the evils of human trafficking that is slowly coming to light.

In the poorest corners of India, the skeletal bodies of street beggars reach forward with outstretched hands. Sunken faces and mouths open, searching for relief from the sweltering hell of their unfortunate existence. Speech is heard but only one word is understood – help.

Thence TAPAS (Trafficking Analysis and Prevention Aiding System) is one of the effective E-Tools that tracks the victims in order to protect and link the help between the government, police, and the organizations and also strengthens the services for the innocent victims.

1. References:

1.    Ref: http://www.ungift.org/knowledgehub/en/about/trafficking-for-organ-trade.html

Child beggers – a curse or inevitability

Trafficked children used as beggers:

Kids are as innocent as flowers and as shinning as glowing stars. They all are same whether they live a relaxing and comfort life or sleep on footpaths. It’s really painful to see small kids begging with their little hands in front of this cruel world, a world for which these kids are just beggars and nothing else.

Hunger force those children to beg by touching hands and shirts even they face scolding’s from people. Many of them are deliberately maimed. Arms and legs are forcibly amputated, others are cruelly blinded. The gangs also pour acid on to children’s bodies leaving them with suppurating wounds. The more they are tortured or tormented the more sympathy they gain when they beg. They are trained to approach certain kinds of people and use certain mannerisms, to extract even more money. There are many child beggars who are not mutilated, but those with the worst injuries make the most money, earning up to ten times the amount that millions in India survive on each day. In one of the incidents a boat with two little children, One of the kids had a live snake around her neck is begging.

The young child, a victim of trafficking for the purpose of begging. but trafficking for begging on the streets is a more recent trend. Children of poor, often rural, families are being captured at the borders, or parents are deceived into thinking their children will receive opportunities in the cities.

Mafia gangs bring children for “Begging” in urban cities. A child beggar of aged between five and ten collects the maximum. With a burn scar or decapitation they can earn more. As they grow older their earnings decrease. As a consequence they graduate to be big -time traders involved in drug peddling, pick pocketing, robbery and prostitution. A child beggar will only be paid 10% of his earnings of Rs.300 to 500 a day. If he fails to meet the target fixed by the contractor he is punished brutally. The girls by the time they reach 13 years switch over to prostitution.

Begging is used as a profession by antisocial elements forcing children in begging. Begging is prohibited in some cities of India by local governments.

Impact of begging on Children:

If a child does not make their target that day they are beaten and tortured.

Child beggars are addicted to solvents, alcohol and charras (powerful Afghan hashish often laced with opium).  This helps the children to forget where they are, but it also helps the gangmasters to keep them under control.

The children who are the most vulnerable to gang masters are Dalits due to their poverty regardedless in society. But whether they are kidnapped or sold into beggary, it is too high a price to pay.

Some Facts:

Human trafficking is modern slavery. Although India has the second largest child population in the world, there is no single unified separate legislation to deal with all the offences against children.

It is high time India introduced an all encompassing common act to safeguard the rights of a child. It has been 25 years since the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 came into force and some of the facts as stated:-

There are an estimated 300,000 child beggars in India, although some organizations claim it is as many as a million. Every year, 44,000 children fall into the clutches of the gangs.

The beggar mafia make more than £20 million a year

There are an estimated 300,000 child beggars in India, the vast majority are Dalits.

Riyadh police rounded up 109 beggars in the capital city during the past week as part of an intensive campaign against beggary, authorities announced on Friday.

A survey conducted by UNICEF in 2007 found that up to half of child beggars in the Kingdom entered the country with their parents.

It is reported that Saudi authorities arrest each month around 3,500 Yemeni children who are smuggled into the country to work or beg.

3500 Yemeni child beggars arrested monthly in Saudi Arabia

How can we help:

How can we prevent the innocent children from this trapof trafficking and using them for begging ?

A million dollar question with no specific solution. Some Instanances:

The Delhi government has started a new initiative to rescue child beggars. Dial 1098 next time you see a child begging and you could help rescue him or her.

"Earlier a child beggar was a criminal. Now, a child beggar is a child in need of help. The perspective has changed completely," says Chairperson Child Welfare Committee, Dr Bharti Sharma.

On getting a call, the Beggar Squad will come and pick up the child and take him to the Child Welfare Committee. The child is then counseled and in some cases sent into rehabilitation.

On January 25, 2011, Yu Jianrong, a famous human rights activist and sociologist, launched a Sina microblog in which he called on Chinese netizens to wield their camera lenses, expose child beggars and upload the pictures to the blog, a cause he believed can save the mistreated children and help battle such crimes.

BEIJING - An online campaign to publish photos of child beggars is assisting authorities to crack down on gangs that kidnap children and to help reunite kidnapped children with their families. The Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday that the public can dial 110, a police hotline, if they suspect children are being organized or forced to beg on the streets. "Addressing child trafficking and organized begging by minors needs the joint efforts of all sectors of society," said Chen Shiqu, head of the anti-trafficking office under the ministry.

‘Generation Yuvaa' an organisation they floated in 2007,  has opened an outlet at Green House in Marripalem. About 1,500 members of the youth group contribute Rs.8,000 per annum to support each child beggar to wean away from the evil. Naresh and his friends Rakesh and Solomon actively running the movement can be contacted over phone: 9985266229 or get details at www.genyuvaa.com.

All sections of the society need to work together to stop misuse and abuse of children. Stakeholders to tackle these issues include,  National Governmental agencies, NGOs,People’s forums, Corporate entities, Individual social service activists. TAPAS (Trafficking Analysis & Prevention Aiding System) is an effort led in this direction to work and strengthen the wings of the stakeholders and network of people in preventing the child trafficking and its impact on the innocent kids.

References:

International Labour Organisation Report 1995

Human Rights Watch 1996

Constitution of India

World Bank report 1995

Paper on child labour in India – Causes by Mitesh Badiwada

UN convention on rights of child report – 1992

Google search.

Trafficked children used as child labourers:

        Every day, children are bought, sold and transported away from their homes. The trafficking of human beings is a multi billion dollar business that appears to be growing. Our children deserve our best efforts.

“There can be no better measure of our governance than the way we treat our children, and no greater failing on our part than to allow them to be subjected to violence, abuse or exploitation . . . Parliamentarians have the power to alleviate the suffering of millions of children around the world, if only they would use it.” Jessica Lange, UNICEF Ambassador, at the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s 110th Assembly in Mexico City, 20 April 2004.

·        According to  ILO global, child labour figures for the year 2000  estimate that 1.8 million children are exploited in the commercial sex industry,7 suffering extreme physical, sexual and psychological violence and abuse by traffickers, pimps and ‘customers’. The problem of missing children almost 40 per cent of trafficking originates in AP. Over three million victims of human trafficking(in India) of which 1.2 million are children and also about 60,000 children go missing each year, of which a pathetic 30% are rescued or traced. According to a report published in 2005 ‘Trafficking in Women and Children in India', 44,476 children were reported missing in India. out of which 11,008 children continued to remain untraced. 
    
             India and adjoining countries has, by conservative estimates, three to five lakh girl children in commercial sex and organized prostitution.

 

      
       According to government statistics, there were 1.7 lakh children out of schools, while the number was 3.7 lakh according o non-government organizations.

Andhra Pradesh tops the list in removing children from school with 27 expelled children followed by West Bengal. An estimated 3,497 children, a majority of them girls, went missing last year and only 1,585 were recovered in AP. compounded by factors like illiteracy. Social systems like the Devadasi system also endorse prostitution.

      There is a tendency for the trafficking debate to gravitate into an approach against criminals on the one hand and an approach supporting human rights or protection on the other hand.

Child trafficking and Child labour, violates the human rights guaranteed to children under international law, most notably the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children’s survival and development are threatened, and their rights to education, health and protection are denied.

    Trafficking of children is a form of human trafficking. It is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receiving of children for the purpose of exploitation. 

Purposes of Child trafficking:

     There are various purposes of child trafficking such as labour exploitation, domestic work, sexual exploitation, can take many forms, including forcing a child into prostitution  other forms of sexual activity, or child pornography, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude military conscription, early marriage, Illicit adoption,sport- The use of children as jockeys in camel racing is extremely dangerous and can result in serious injury andeven death, and as or football players, or for recruitment for cults, begging, sell the organs of the children.
  
Impact of trafficking on children:

       Emotional impact: The feelings of shame, guilt and low self- esteem and are frequently stigmatized. They often feel betrayed, especially if the perpetrator was someone they had trusted. These factors as well as the experience itself, can cause nightmares, sleeplessness, feelings of hopelessness and depression. Some children who have been trafficked turn to substance abuse to numb their psychic pain, and others have attempted suicide.

      Physical impact: The Children trafficked into the sex industry are susceptible to contracting sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. The dangerous and mistaken belief in some countries that sex with a virgin can cure HIV/AIDS has led to even higher demand for young girls. Domestic workers, street children, child labourers and children in detention are vulnerable to rape and sexual exploitation.

      Social impact: The Children who are trafficked typically suffer adverse effects to their social and educational development, they fail to develop their potential. they are victims of physical and emotional violence and abuse, the effects may be life-threatening and long term.

Factors that make children vulnerable

     There are many factors that make victimization include poverty, inequality of women and girls, Low school enrolment children who are not in school can easily fall prey to traffickers. The estimated global number of children not attending school is 121 million; children without caregivers, lack of birth registration children who are not registered are more susceptible to trafficking. It is estimated that 41 per cent of the children born in 2000 were not registered at birth, humanitarian disasters and armed conflict during conflicts, children may be abducted by armed groups and forced to participate in hostilities. They may be sexually abused or raped, demand for exploitative sex and cheap labour, Trafficking and the skyrocketing demand for exploitative labour and sexual services are inexorably linked, traditions and cultural values, lack of the protective and guardian less environment, poor legislation ect.

     The Child trafficking is illegal and extremely harmful, as trafficked children are physically and sexually exploited and abused.  And children themselves have spoken about the harm caused by trafficking and the need for protection. But there is much more to be done to make the elimination of child trafficking a reality.

     Coordinated efforts are needed to stop and prevent child trafficking. Parliamentarians are key players in bridging political, governmental and civil concerns, and in uniting many partners in a common cause. Through specific steps to advance public policy, awareness and response, it is possible to end the scourge of child trafficking, to hold perpetrators of crimes of trafficking of children accountable, and to build a protective environment to keep children safe from harm.

     The Collaboration and Contribution of TAPAS- Trafficking Analysis And Prevention Aiding System is a sincere effort to combating the child trafficking in our country and strengthening the muscles  of the all those facilitators.

References:

1. British-born teenagers being trafficked for sexual exploitation within UK, police say | Society | The Guardian
2. UNICEF Innocenti Report on Child Trafficking in Africa
3. UNICEF Innocenti Report on Child Trafficking in Africa
4. UNODC - Signatories to the CTOC Trafficking Protocol