Baby sold in Kyrgyzstan

The trafficking of children is a reality, as recent television footage from Kyrgyzstan has shown.

A nurse in a hospital in the town of Bishkek was filmed selling a baby boy for little more than 460 euros.

The undercover police officers, taking the infant, say she offered them the choice of a girl or a boy.

The nurse is filmed toasting the sale with champagne, but hers is a short-lived triumph, as she is arrested soon after.

The United Nations body, Unicef says more than a million children each year are victims of child trafficking around the world.

In Great Britain alone, eight to ten thousand arrive from Africa and are subjected to abuse and exploitation.

Police suspect there are many such deals in Kyrgyzstan, where eight out of ten children live in extreme poverty, that is they live in households where people earn little more than a euro a day.

A spokesman from the Health Ministry said: “We plan to investigate all maternity facilities in Bishkek as well as other medical departments. We have also started an investigation of maternity wards outside Bishkek. We want to nip such outrageous cases in the bud.”

Unicef says the majority of children sold are consigned to a terrible fate.

Many are victims of sexual abuse or are forced into prostitution, menial work bordering on slavery, drug trafficking and begging.

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