April 6, 2005
CHILD TRAFFICKERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN STICKLERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
UNICEF: Child trafficking on the rise (AP, Jerusalem Post, April 4th, 2005)
UNICEF warned Monday that millions of children around the globe are being trafficked annually in an illegal industry worth US$10 billion ( 7.7 billion) a year, rivaling the trade in illicit drugs and arms.U.N. Children's Fund Executive Director Carol Bellamy urged lawmakers worldwide to ensure the protection of children by instituting laws that stop their exploitation and abuse.
"Parliamentarians have a choice," Bellamy said at the launch of a handbook to help lawmakers combat child trafficking that coincides with the Inter-Parliamentary Association's annual meeting in Manila, attended by hundreds of legislators from all over the world.
"They can make decisions that ensure the protection of children, or they can make decisions that leave children vulnerable to being exploited and abused," Bellamy said.
She said lawmakers can enact legislation to protect children, allocate funds from national budgets and use the power of parliamentary inquiry to hold governments, industries and civil society accountable.
Those who would like to believe the contents of all those Halloween UNICEF boxes actually go to children in need should browse through this 170 page bureaucratic oeuvre d’art, which only deals with child trafficking tangentially. It is basically an international version of It Takes a Village and, to the extent that it’s mind-numbingly abstract bafflegab means anything, seems to be a general call for state control over child-rearing with all the usual politically-correct trappings. Alarming statistics on the plight of millions of children quickly give way to such stirring calls to arms as “For example, a parliamentarian might insist that the capacity of a national statistical office or
bureau be enhanced such that it is equipped to properly monitor, record and analyse child protection issues.” Thus, the esteemed Ms. Bellamy continues her record of leaving the dirty work of providing for hungry, sick and enslaved children to others while she pursues her rights agenda in the tranzi jet-set world.
On those rare circumstances when a kid comes to my door with a UNICEF box on Halloween, I don't give him candy or change.
Posted by: bart at April 6, 2005 7:19 AMBack when I was a kid (the 1980's) there was that big scare about people putting cyanide into Halloween candy. Remember the one that turned out to be a hoax? My mother decreed that I could not trick or treat for candy but must instead trick or treat for UNICEF. I only did that for a couple of years before quitting the whole trick or treat concept altogether. And another young man is set on the inexorable course towards Conservativsim and resentment of the UN! So don't maltreat that poor scamp who glumly comes to your door trick or treating for UNICEF! Odds are that he's just got an over-protective mother. Give him some change "and a little something for yourself, kid" and maybe a John Birch Society "US out of UN!" tract if you've got one.
Posted by: Governor Breck at April 6, 2005 7:34 AMConsidering that it's often the UN peacekeepers who are the ones trafficking in children, the irony of this one is too much for me to deal with this early in the morning.
Posted by: Mike Morley at April 6, 2005 8:10 AMGovernor
Hoax?
Ever hear of Ronald Clark O'Bryan who attempted to poison trick or treaters in his neighborhood, in order to kill his 8 year old son for 20k insurance policy. He did kill his son. By the way the candy was "Giant Pixy Stix" loaded with cyanide.
Posted by: h-man at April 6, 2005 9:34 AMWell, color me corrected. Thanks! Still, no kid should be forced to trick or treat for UNICEF.
Posted by: Governor Breck at April 6, 2005 10:59 AMNo, but all kids should be forced to trick or treat for charity. Somebody has to break the monopoly here.
Posted by: Peter B at April 6, 2005 1:00 PMNo kid should be compelled into slavery for charity, of all things. Let the charities raise their own funds. It's bad enough when United Way pushes your employer to make deductions from your paycheck for them.
Posted by: bart at April 6, 2005 1:39 PMBart:
oh, sure, the kids have a god-given right to collect enough candy to rot each of their teeth twenty times, but no duty to lift a finger for anyone else. We can't have the poor competing for all those scarce resources, can we?
Posted by: Peter B at April 6, 2005 1:53 PMNot as a matter of compulsion. If they want to, that's a different story. But there should be no government telling them to do otherwise. If the government is so all-fired up about giving money to charity let the bozos in Congress have a friggin' vote and face the wrath of the taxpayer. But to compel kids to raise money for 'charity' chosen by the State is no different from a medieval corvee, and every bit as disgusting.
Posted by: at April 6, 2005 2:21 PMBart: (I assume that is you):
I agree completely. The State should have nothing to say here and, if it tried, it would be a bona fide freedom and civil rights issue involving our innocent.
But parents should tell the little snot-nosed savages they have no choice.
Posted by: Peter B at April 6, 2005 6:00 PMSorry, "..innocent, perfect and emotionally-fragile progeny."
Posted by: Peter B at April 6, 2005 6:02 PMAgreed in that it is absolutely an area of parental discretion.
Posted by: bart at April 6, 2005 7:02 PM