Family Forum / Parenting / Adoption / February 2008

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/081021CA-CEE2-4D75-8868-CC4B9E59016D.htm

Iraqis resort to selling children
By    Afif Sarhan in Baghdad

Unicef says an estimated two million children in Iraq continue to face
threats,
including poor nutrition, disease and interrupted education [GALLO/
GETTY]

Abu Muhammad, a Baghdad resident, found it difficult to let go of his
daughter's hand but he had already convinced himself that selling her
to a family outside Iraq would provide her with a better future.

"The war disgraced my family. I lost relatives including my wife among
thousands of victims of sectarian violence and was forced to sell my
daughter to give my other children something to eat," he told Al
Jazeera.

In 2006, Abu Muhammad and his family were forced to leave their home
in Adhamiya, a district of Baghdad, after militia fighting claimed the
streets in his once tranquil neighbourhood.

They began living in a makeshift refugee camp on the outskirts of
Baghdad, but he soon lost his job and the children, unable to make the
daily trek, quit school.

"There wasn't enough money to spend on books, clothes and transport,"
he said. His daughter, Fatima, the youngest of four children, began to
show signs of malnourishment and a local medic said she had become
anaemic.

Desperation

By mid-2007, conditions for his family had become desperate and his
children, once healthy and bubbling with life, had become gaunt and
lethargic.

It was then that a translator and a Swedish couple claiming to be part
of an international NGO arrived in the makeshift refugee camp.

"They heard about my situation and the woman, who said she could not
have babies, offered some money to give her my youngest daughter of
two years old," he said.

"I refused in the beginning but the Iraqi translator was constantly
coming at the camp and insisting with the same question. One day I
found that my children would die without food and a clean environment
and the next time he came to my tent, I told him that I agreed."

He gave the translator all personal documents and after a week the
couple came with new documents for Abu Muhammad to sign, authorising
the adoption and to pick up his daughter.

Abu Muhammad, who received $10,000, believes he is now damned by God,
but he says his inner turmoil is allayed somewhat by his belief that
Fatima will have a better life than many in Iraq.

"I could see her love in the first time she looked at her," he said of
the adoptive mother.

Alarming disappearances

Local officials and aid workers have expressed concern over the
alarming rate at which children are disappearing countrywide in Iraq's
current unstable environment.

Omar Khalif, vice-president of the Iraqi Families Association, (IFA),
a NGO established in 2004 to register cases of those missing and
trafficked, said that at least two children are sold by their parents
every week.

Another four are reported missing every week.

He said: "[The] Numbers are alarming. There is an increase of 20 per
cent in the reported cases of missing children compared to last year."

"In previous years, children were reported missing on their way home
from schools or after playing with friends outside their homes.
However, police investigations, police have revealed that many have
been sold by their parents to foreign couples or specialised gangs."

According to police investigations and an independent IFA study, Iraqi
children are being sold to families in many European countries -
particularly the Netherlands and Sweden - Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

"Taking advantage of the desperate situation of many families living
under poverty conditions in Iraq, foreigners offer a good amount of
money in exchange of children as young as one month old and up to five
years of age," Khalif said.

He said there are fears children are being trafficked for the sex
trade and the organ transplant black market.

Children drugged

Hassan Alaa, a senior interior ministry official, said that while it
has been difficult to precisely trace where the missing children are
taken, government forces have captured 15 human trafficking gangs
operating in Iraq in the past nine months.

"Many were carrying false documents prepared to take some children out
from the country."

"During their confessions, they said many children are sold for as
little as $3000 and for very young babies, the price could reach
$30,000," Alaa said.

The interior ministry has stepped up its security at checkpoints and
border posts throughout Iraq.

He says that the child traffickers resort to drugging children with
powerful sedatives during the trip out of Iraq. When they drive up to
a checkpoint, the police are told the children are merely sleeping.

"All children leaving Iraq now have to be woken up and interviewed by
the police and border patrols, except those who are infants and unable
to speak," Alaa said.

Extreme poverty

Mahmoud Saeed, a senior official at the Ministry of Labour and Social
Affairs, says extreme poverty and nationwide unemployment have pushed
parents to the edge, forcing them to make decisions once believed
unthinkable.
Roger Wright, Unicef's Special Representative for Iraq recently told
the media that "Iraqi children are paying far too high a price."

"While we have been providing as much assistance as possible, a new
window of opportunity is opening, which should enable us to reach the
most vulnerable with expanded, consistent support. We must act now."

Unicef says:

- An estimated 2 million children in Iraq continue to face threats
including poor nutrition, disease and interrupted education.

- Many of the 220,000 displaced children of primary school age had
their education interrupted.

- An estimated 760,000 children (17 per cent) did not go to primary
schools in 2006.

- An average 25,000 children per month were displaced by violence or
intimidation, with their families seeking shelter in other parts of
Iraq.

- In 2007, approximately 75,000 children had resorted to living in
camps or temporary shelters.

- Hundreds of children lost their lives or were injured by violence
and many more had their main family wage-earner kidnapped or killed.

"Desperate seeing their families without food and hygiene, parents
prefer to give their children for adoption, to save their lives," he
said.

Saeed said the ministry was making employment a national crisis issue
in 2008, hoping to find immediate work for the poor.

He is hoping international aid agencies and NGOs will increase their
participation and investments in projects geared towards helping
children.

But for many parents, help will inevitably come too late.

Anguish

Khalid Jabboury, 38, a father of seven and displaced on the outskirts
of Baghdad, says giving his daughter up for adoption to a Jordanian
family has given him nothing but torment.

He said: "After one year I heard from some relatives that they had
seen my seven-year-old daughter working as a servant for the supposed
new family and she was being beaten as well."

He says he was paid $20,000 for but wants to give the money back if a
local NGO can assist in her repatriation.

The IFA's Khalif says there is nothing the NGOs can do once children
have been taken out of Iraq.

Ruwaida Saleh, 31, a mother of three, is also praying for her eight-
year-old daughter Hala's safety.

Saleh says her daughter disappeared in July 2007 and has not been
heard from since.

"The police told us to give up, but I cannot. I have nightmares she is
being raped," she said.

"I will hold God's hands and beg Him to have Hala in my arms again one
day. It is a pain without explanation that I will carry to my coffin
if I never find her."