The article discussed a recent increase in baby smuggling in Bulgaria to Western European countries, especially in the UK and France. As of now, human trafficking is only punishable by minimal immigration penalties, which is an easy financial risk to take considering a baby can be sold for up to $10,000. However what I found most interesting is a quote in the article:
Bulgaria has been under strong international pressure to crack down on organised crime since joining the European Union earlier this year.We discussed in the class the obvious benefits and consequences of the Western Influence and Modernization, however I thought we focused primarily on the negative, even siting the European Union as an example. But this article suggests the EU to be a good thing, and in fact it is the international pressure from joining the EU that has reduced crime levels and has paid more attention to baby smuggling in recent years. It is important to understand that there are some cultural practices that we don't agree with and certainly try to impose our beliefs on, however I think this is an example in which all innocent people regardless of cultural roots can benefit from thanks to pressures from the Western world.
3 comments:
I absolutely agree. The EU can put a lot of pressure on countries to get them to follow the EU's prescripted protocols. For instance, Romania had to make several drastic changes to its economic and social structure in order to be in line with what the EU wanted its countries to be. It's debatable whether those changes were beneficial to Romania or not. However, in this case baby smuggling, and crime in general, is something that the EU's pressure can be a positive force in decreasing.
I am curious why people are smuggling babies to begin with? The article mentions one guy who cannot legally adopt as one of the recipients of these babies, but what about the others? Why not go through normal adoption channels? It seems to be more expensive to get the illegal ones....I just don't get how this could be such a huge business.
People are smuggling babies most likely because they couldn't qualify if they attempted to legally adopt. They probably have criminal backgrounds, or some sort of history that wouldn't make them good parents...which is even more concerning that they are receiving these children...
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