Child trafficking must be strongly condemned and severely punished.

Human trafficking under the age of 16 is an especially serious and cruel crime that needs to be strongly condemned and severely punished.

Police rescue newborn babies in a child trafficking case. (Source: dangcongsan.vn)

On August 28, Ho Chi Minh City Police announced that they had just dismantled a newborn trafficking ring disguised as adoption activities involving 32 provinces and cities across the country.

Accordingly, through the campaign to mobilize the entire population to actively participate in denouncing crimes and the work of grasping the situation in online groups related to adoption activities, Ho Chi Minh City Police discovered many suspicious information and documents on the sale of newborn babies. The City Police established a special project and from the collected information and documents, quickly summoned Nguyen Thi Anh Dao (35 years old, residing in Nghe An province), who was raising and keeping a male newborn (3 days old) at a hotel in Ward 2, Tan Binh District. Initially, this person admitted to using fraudulent means to find an adoption due to infertility to adopt the newborn baby from Ms. TTTN residing in Dak Lak province (the child's biological mother). But in fact, after receiving the baby, Dao left it with a couple in Ho Chi Minh City, illegally profiting 40 million VND.

Urgently fighting and expanding the project, Ho Chi Minh City Police identified a criminal ring of newborn trafficking under the form of adoption run by Nguyen Thi Anh Dao, Hoang Thi Nhung (42 years old, residing in Dong Nai province), Do Thi Thuy Ngan (30 years old, residing in Hanoi), Cao Thi Thu Phuong (41 years old, residing in Hai Duong province). This ring operates on a large scale in 32 provinces and cities; with the participation and assistance of 6 intermediaries.

The City Police said that, initially, it was determined that from the beginning of 2024 until now, the above criminal ring, through closed groups on social networks, contacted and connected with women who had just given birth in difficult circumstances and were unable to raise their children to buy 16 children (aged from 3 days to 3 months old). These children were bought for 10 - 23 million VND/child. Then, they were resold for 35 - 75 million VND/child, illegally profiting hundreds of millions of VND.

To legalize the sale of newborn babies under the form of adoption, these people colluded with a ring of forging seals and documents of agencies and organizations led by Phan Phuong Nam (35 years old, residing in Dong Nai province) to order fake birth certificates to legalize the adoption procedures and register the births of the trafficked babies.

Following the information from the above-mentioned fake birth certificates, the City Police established 9 working groups to urgently verify 84 cases of newborns with signs of being bought and sold in 32 provinces and cities across the country. Thereby, promptly detecting and rescuing cases of children who had been bought and sold; handing over and coordinating with local authorities to protect and provide health care for the victims.

Notably, a 20-day-old baby boy was discovered and rescued by Vi Thi Anh (38 years old, residing in Son La province, currently awaiting execution of 2 sentences with a total sentence of more than 12 years and 6 months in prison for illegal drug trafficking) under the guise of adoption to postpone serving her prison sentence.

The City Police said they have prosecuted and issued arrest warrants for 16 suspects in the ring (including the masterminds and leaders) who operated and carried out the act of buying and selling newborn babies in 32 provinces and cities nationwide to continue investigating and clarifying the acts of "buying and selling people under 16 years old" and "forging seals and documents of agencies and organizations".

This is not a new incident in our country. Up to now, there have been many cases of buying and selling children under 16 years old and the authorities have also broken up many criminal rings, bringing many subjects to strict trial.

However, since the beginning of the year, the situation of human trafficking crimes in our country has become more complicated and sophisticated. Human trafficking criminals take advantage of information gaps in cyberspace as well as the increasing demand for jobs, especially among young people, to commit crimes.

According to the report of the Government's Steering Committee for Crime Prevention and Control, in the first 6 months of this year, there were 98 human trafficking cases nationwide, with 234 subjects involved in human trafficking. The number of newly discovered and prosecuted human trafficking cases increased by 21.2% compared to the same period in 2023. In particular, the number of victims of human trafficking crimes being children accounted for a large number (out of the total number of cases). In particular, many lines of trafficking of newborn babies abroad appeared, initially connected from groups via social networks. The accounts on these groups were anonymous. According to the survey, there were no exchanges or sales here, but in reality, from here the subjects connected with each other, exchanged, bargained, and successfully brought many newborn babies abroad, forming a transnational child trafficking ring.

Baby-hunting practices are common in remote, isolated areas and target women in difficult circumstances.

Trafficking in persons under the age of 16 is an act of treating people as commodities and depriving them of their basic rights to freedom in an illegal and immoral manner. Trafficking in infants not only violates children's rights, because sold children are at risk of abuse and lack of proper care. Along with that, it also has negative impacts on morality and customs, causing many unpredictable social consequences and directly affecting the security and order situation of the country.

Children are special subjects protected by domestic and international law. Any act of violating children's rights will be strictly handled. In Vietnam, in the work of preventing and combating human trafficking and child trafficking, state agencies have issued legal documents, creating a solid legal framework, becoming an effective tool in the fight against human trafficking crimes. The 2012 Law on Prevention and Combating Human Trafficking and the 2016 Law on Children strictly prohibit the acts of abandoning, neglecting, buying, selling, kidnapping, swapping, and appropriating children. According to the Penal Code, the act of buying and selling children under 16 years old must face a sentence of up to life in prison. Mothers who sell their children, depending on the nature of each case, will be considered for responsibility, even criminally prosecuted.

Given the current complicated situation of this special type of crime, it is thought that communication work on preventing and combating human trafficking needs to be further strengthened, especially communication on social networking platforms needs to be promoted with diverse forms and methods.

Every citizen needs to recognize the methods, tricks and serious consequences of human trafficking crimes, raise vigilance to prevent, stop and detect human trafficking crimes. In schools and residential areas, it is also necessary to increase propaganda so that everyone can join hands to repel this dangerous crime. At the same time, the law needs to have strong enough sanctions to strictly handle violations.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/can-len-an-manh-me-va-xu-ly-nghiem-minh-hanh-vi-mua-ban-tre-em-284691.html