In the past days the Danish media have been in a frenzy about a three year old boy, Holger, who was lost from his parents for 24 hours and found again. Even CNN joined in.
No doubt that it's a good story, but it lacks a bit of perspective.
Take for example Haiti. Karin Aaen from UNICEF Denmark (@karinaaendk on Twitter) has written a blog post (in Danish) on how estimates say that 2000 Haitian children are lost every year.
The numbers are from UNICEF and therefore to be considered credible. English speakers can read this article: 'UN: Children in Haiti Sold for $1.37':
Before the earthquake, it was estimated that 2,000 children in Haiti were kidnapped or trafficked every year. UNICEF recently estimated that 8,000 children were identified as being extremely vulnerable.
The problem is not new. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' '2002 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor – Haiti' reads:
In 2002, a joint IOM/ UNICEF study found that between 2,000 and 3,000 Haitian children are trafficked each year to the Dominican Republic for work as beggers or in the agriculture and construction sectors.
Needless to say, sadly, 2000 children doesn't get 2000 times as much attention as Holger. Maybe they should, maybe they shouldn't. But it's too convenient to stop worrying about lost kids because Holger showed up.
Print