Baby Trade.

Twenty years ago the United Nations adopted the Convention of the Rights of the Child. The CRC or UNCRC, is an international treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children.

Nations that ratify the UNCRC are bound to it by international law.As of December 2008, 193 signatories have ratified it, including every member of the United Nations except the US and Somalia.The UNCRC has been used as a blueprint for child protection legislation around the world.

The treaty restricts the involvement of children in military conflicts and prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.However, the treaty's promise to protect children has not always been kept.In many cases, poverty is to blame for making worse, the plight of the most vulnerable.

 

The illegal sale of children makes up more than half of all the cases of human trafficking around the world, according to recent estimates.

Traditionally it has involved the exploitation of children in poorer nations, but an Al Jazeera investigation has found that it is also happening in developed countries, such as South Korea.

For four months, Al Jazeera surfed community boards on popular Korean Internet sites, and found an underground trade where pregnant women can sell their unborn children.