Using ALL of a Woman's Body (Updated)

[Jimmy H.]

Note: The precision about the buyers being mostly Roma was not given in the reports I have heard on French radio; any general mention of "the Roma/'Gypsy' community" should be treated with much caution. I chose the CTV article (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/
CTVNews/20070122/
paris_baby_070122/20070122?hub=World) over the BBC's, because the latter was just deplorable.

Dozens on trial in Paris baby trafficking ring

Associated Press

Updated: Mon. Jan. 22 2007 6:50 AM ET

PARIS — Dozens of people go on trial Monday for suspected roles in a network that recruited desperate pregnant women from Bulgaria, brought them to France and sold their newborns to childless couples.

The trial in Bobigny, north of Paris, centres on 22 babies who were sold between 2003 and 2005, mostly to couples within France's Roma, or Gypsy, communities, for between US$3,900 and US$9,100, prosecutors say.

The babies' mothers were promised large sums of money to come to France, give birth and hand their babies over to other couples. Usually they only received a tiny fraction of the money, and often the network forced them to become prostitutes or beggars after giving birth, prosecutors say.

Most of the couples could not have children, and none were accused of mistreating their babies. When the network was discovered, the babies were initially placed in foster care, though after several months they were returned to the families that bought them. Some couples have begun proceedings to legally adopt the children.

Fifty-six people are on trial in the case, most of them Bulgarians. Four are suspected organizers of the ring who are already jailed in the affair, while seven others are being sought through international arrest warrants.

Birth mothers and couples who bought babies are also on trial, and they face between six months and three years in prison if convicted.

(End of article. Emphasis mine.)

[gerry]

From reproductive object to sexual object.
From poverty to deeper poverty.
From national to alien.

This can never be called a "journey."

[Jimmy H.]

Those three lines summarise it perfectly, gerry. According to the trial reports, the buyers' defense is that they wanted to "save the babies". "In advance", since the deal was done before the birth. They also claim that they didn't know (or really care, it seems) what happened to the mothers.

[Jimmy H.]

Update: Verdict pronounced.

I wish there was a better article than the BBC's, but that'll do for now. Describing the buyers as "French Roma (Gypsy) families" is way vague, given the diversity of the group (Romanichels, Gitans, Manouches, etc.), but anyway (the French media usually reserve "Roma" for newly arrived immigrants from Eastern Europe, i.e. non-citizens). Saying that "Many of the children are thought to have been born to prostitutes" is also sloppy, since many of those women have been forced into prostitution after giving birth. That being said:

Baby-smugglers jailed in France

Dozens of people have been sentenced in a French court for their role in a network that smuggled Bulgarian babies to French Roma (Gypsy) couples.

he 11 leaders of the scheme, including nine Bulgarians and two French men, were jailed for between two and six years for "trading in human beings".

Three of them are still on the run and were tried in absentia.

Punishments for 38 "parents" purchasing babies ranged from one year in jail to six-month suspended sentences.

One other received a fine and two others no punishment.

The couples are said to have paid up to $10,000 (£5,000) for each child.

Investigators believe that between 2001 and 2005 at least 22 children were bought by the couples, who were unable to adopt under French law.

The mothers - many of them thought to have been Bulgarian prostitutes - were brought to France to give birth.

SENTENCES
Five "ringleaders"
Five-to-six years in jail (three are on run)
Six other "organisers"
Two-to-five years
Four "baby purchasers"
Up to one year in jail
34 "baby purchasers"
Suspended sentences



They were promised large sums of money, but once they had handed over their babies they only received a fraction of the sum and were then forced to work as prostitutes or beggars, French officials said.

The babies were initially taken into care when the case emerged, but the purchasing parents were not accused of mistreating their babies.

Despite the case and the sentences handed to the Roma families, many of them are now being allowed to keep the children.

A defence lawyer, David-Olivier Kaminski, said the couples had been forced into a corner because France did not allow couples with roaming lifestyles to adopt children.

"These are French citizens, Gypsies, desperate to have children, who had no hope of meeting these strict adoption criteria," he said.

(End of article. Link: http://news.bbc .co.uk/2/hi /europe/6325039.stm)

[stormy]

These sentences don't sound particularly harsh, given that it involves the trafficking of 44 or more people (22 pregnant mothers, plus their latterly born offspring).

[Jimmy H.]

Indeed, Stormy. I didn't have the time to comment more, but I wanted to post the update as soon as I heard the verdict. In all the reports I have seen or heard (on the radio), the trafficked women have suddenly disappeared; at least they haven't been sentenced, something that wasn't completely unlikely. They are at high risk, but no word on whether they will be allowed to stay (with protection) in France, or sent back to Bulgaria. They didn't even say if the mobsters will be also tried for pimping. I'll have to dig deeper.