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Written by: Eurasia Review
February 6, 2012
A retired justice ministry officer in Laos has been hauled up for
questioning after he “adopted” newborn babies from hospitals and poor
rural households and allegedly sold them—mostly to Americans,
Canadians, and Australians, according to government officials.
The officer, who obtained adoption papers from the justice and foreign
affairs ministries for babies that had been taken away from their
parents, is accused of selling the infants—all one to two years old—
for U.S. $1,500 to $5,000 each.
“What he did for adoption was legal, but selling babies was
[illegal],” a Lao national security official investigating the case
told RFA, saying the retired officer had been taken in for
interrogations.
“He is the one who goes around hospitals and poor rural homes to
locate unwanted babies and takes them to be sold later,” the official
said.
It is not know how many babies have been linked to the trade but Laos
has gained notoriety in recent years for human trafficking.
It is a source and a transit and destination country for women and
girls subjected to sex trafficking, as well as for men, women, and
children subjected to forced labor, according to a U.S. State
Department report.
No Specific Law
Laos has no specific law to check human trafficking, officials have
said.
According to the U.S. State Department’s 2011 Trafficking in Persons
Report, court proceedings of human trafficking cases in Laos “lacked
due process and transparency.”
International groups and non-governmental organizations have also been
unable to verify data provided by the Lao government, the report said.
The government did not report prosecuting any cases of internal
trafficking, while the impunity of corrupt government officials
remained a problem throughout the Lao justice system, it said.
The report also highlighted corruption, which it said is “endemic” in
Laos.
Observers of trafficking in Laos believe that some public officials—
particularly at local levels—are involved in facilitating human
trafficking, sometimes in collusion with counterparts in neighboring
Thailand, the report said.
“Nevertheless, the government has never reported any officials
investigated, prosecuted, or punished for involvement in trafficking
in persons.”
The Lao National Assembly approved a National Plan of Action on human
trafficking in 2007 but it has not been endorsed by the prime
minister’s office.