Newborn babies have become the latest target of human trafficking syndicates in Laos, already a source, transit, and destination country for women and girls subjected to the sex trade.
A Lao security official said syndicates are going around hospitals and poor households in remote areas of the country "adopting" newborn babies and selling them to foreigners using government documents to legalize the trade.
When they reach between the ages of one year and two years, the babies are sold to buyers from neighboring countries for up to U.S. $5,000 each.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that concerted efforts from government agencies are needed to stop the practice as the babies are being adopted "legally."
“They [human traffickers] would adopt newborn babies from the poor, raise them for a while, then sell them to foreigners for between $2,000 and $5,000 a baby, depending on how rich the buyers are,” the official said.
The same official says, “They would do the paper work with the justice ministry and foreign affairs ministry; they legally adopt the babies."
The official said investigations were under way to get to the bottom of the issue.
"We [the security department] will report this practice to the government. We are now investigating and will propose [to the government] the way to stop it.”
Sex trafficking
Laos is a source and, to a much lesser extent, a transit and destination country for women and girls subjected to sex trafficking, and for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor in factory work, domestic labor, agriculture, and the fishing industry, according to a U.S. report.
Lao men, women, and children are found in conditions of forced labor in Thailand, Malaysia, and China, the U.S. State Department's 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report said.
Many Laotian migrants, particularly women, pay broker fees to obtain jobs in Thailand, normally ranging from U.S. $70 to U.S. $200, but are subsequently subjected to conditions of sexual servitude and forced labor in Thailand’s commercial sex trade or in domestic service, garment factories, or agricultural industries upon their arrival, the report said.
In addition, according to the report, Laos is increasingly a transit country for Vietnamese, Chinese, and Burmese women who are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor in Thailand.
Laos prohibits all forms of human trafficking under its law, which prescribes penalties ranging from five years’ to life imprisonment.
Authorities reported investigating 20 trafficking cases involving 47 alleged offenders, and convicting 33 trafficking offenders in 2010, compared with zero convictions during the previous year, the U.S. report said
Reported by RFA's Lao service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.