Friday, July 30, 2010

The Commodity of Children

They sell fish and nets and kids at roughly the same price. And the kids are human kids, not goats, but their parents are marketing them. They litter in tens and twelves: 3 may not survive ill-health, 5 to do the menial jobs, 4 for sale if the fish fetches low prices. Arrests hardly happen. Prosecutions never nail them. It may be Vigilante-Time.

4 comments:

  1. Its hard oo... I always ask two simple questions with regards to this child trafficking and trade issue.
    1. Why bring children into the world if you can not take care of them?

    2. Haven't they heard of birth control?

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  2. Kwame Mensa-Bonsu30 July, 2010

    @ Enyonam.... Unfortunately, all over the world, the poorer the person, the more their children. Cue more entrenched poverty.

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  3. *Appalling* I heard about the two recent cases of traffickers being nabbed in Ghana. I hope they feel the full weight of the law...child exploitation/ modern-day slavery has to be stopped...not sure about vigilantism though...That makes me nervous.

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  4. This issue is more complex than it seems. Some families are just so poor that the only way they can survive is to have the kids in the family work. Often times, the parents are working just as hard. And as for birth control, etc., the poorest people in this world are also often those who have the least access to birth control, etc. I'm glad child traffickers are being arrested, but the entire system also needs to change before it can ever be stopped.

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