Will child trafficking cease? [Archives:2005/813/Local News]

Mohammed bin Sallam
The Yemeni census has determined that the number of the children smuggled to Saudi Arabia Kingdom to beg, work in the sex industry and for other purposes, during 2004 has increased to 39,000 female and male children.

The study prepared recently by the Yemeni Center for Social Studies and Labor Research showed that child smuggling is not new in Yemen but it has spread out increasingly since the second Gulf War, due to the increased poverty and the lack of laws on the issue.

The study found that 59.3% of the children are between 13 and16 years in age, 74.6% of whom were schools students. The study also said that 62.8% of the children are not working for their own profit, but to maintain old persons or handicapped family members.
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