Friday, July 15, 2011

Baby Factories?

There is a line in this article that says "Baby factories" or "baby farms" are common in western Africa." Um, what? I'm not an expert on the region, but I find this statement unlikely at best. Any thoughts out there?

Police in Nigeria free 32 pregnant teens from 'baby factory;' newborns sold into labor, sex markets

Police in Nigeria freed 32 teen girls from an alleged "baby factory" used to feed the region's exploding sex trade and human trafficking markets, authorities said.

Cops in the southern Nigerian city of Aba raided the clinic, known as The Cross Foundation, Monday after receiving a tip that the owner was harboring pregnant girls and selling their babies, Nigeria's Daily Champion newspaper reported.

Some of the girls, who were between 15 and 17, told authorities that the clinic's owner, Dr. Hyacinth Orikara, forced them to sell their babies to him for around $190, depending on the gender, Agence France-Presse reported.

"We rescued 32 pregnant girls and arrested the proprietor who is undergoing interrogation over allegations that he normally sells the babies to people who may use them for rituals or other purposes," police commissioner Bala Hassan said.

Orikara could face up to 14 years in prison for selling babies, authorities said.

The doctor denied the charges, telling the Champion that the clinic cared for teenagers with unwanted pregnancies.

The women were transferred to the regional headquarters of an anti-trafficking organization, authorities said.

"Baby factories" or "baby farms" are common in western Africa.

The organizations sell newborns to the highest bidder and the children often end up being used as factory workers, mine workers or sex slaves.

Human trafficking is ranked the third most common crime in Nigeria, after fraud and drug trafficking, according to the UN.

With News Wire Services

2 comments:

  1. Let me try to leave a comment again.

    This story is perhaps one of the most evil I have ever read. I know most of the stories you are dealing with a ugly and bad but this one truly demonstrates how depraved man can be. I actually had to take a walk and clear my head after reading this one.

    I am the adminstrator for a Facebook page called "Christian Advocacy Now". Our goal is to "inform, organize, and inspire Christians to pray and act on behalf of the oppressed." Obviously, human trafficking is sometimes we speak out on.

    Anyway, I appreciate your blog. Keep up the good fight. You do make a difference.

    Ken Zintak
    zintak@comcast.net

    P.S. Visit us on FB and "like" us. thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do you usually think about optimizing the blog posts for search machines?

    ReplyDelete

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