Sex trade traffickers get busy among cyclone orphans

Sex trade traffickers are preying on child survivors of Burma's devastating Cyclone Nargis, writes Edward Loxton for The First Post. At least two suspected traffickers have been arrested in Rangoon since the cyclone hit, according to UNICEF's child protection officer in Burma, Anne-Claire Dufay.

"A broker came to a shelter and tried to recruit children," she told the French news agency AFP. "The police intervened and made arrests."

United Nations officials and relief organisations estimate that at least 40 per cent of the victims of the cyclone were children. Thousands were orphaned as the cyclone and its tidal wave swept away whole villages.

A former UN official who worked with homeless children in Rangoon told me that the former Burmese capital was a favoured hunting ground for paedophiles and traffickers.

"We had our hands full trying to track these people down," he said. "The situation is even worse in the countryside, where many gullible and penniless parents hand over their children in the belief that they are guaranteed a better future."

Katy Barnett, child protection adviser in Rangoon for the charity Save the Children, told AFP that traffickers were particularly busy in times of natural disaster, such as the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.

"Traffickers can easily get hold of unaccompanied or separated children and tell them they’ll lead a better life or be safe."

LAST UPDATED 10:37 AM, MAY 14, 2008