anotherkiranfromnyc made a very good point :”…..Even under very normal circumstances, would you condone and turn a blind eye to child selling under any circumstances? Would you really? Being poor does not excuse her family for human trafficing…”
But the father DID NOT search for a buyer for his child. He did not try and sell her. A man masquerading as an Arab Sheikh came to the family and offered to adopt Rubina, to look after her education, give her a decent home rather than a slum, AND give the family £ 200,000. The father fell into the trap and negotiated for more, without committing to give away his child.
I would bet that if someone masqueraded as Bill Gates, went to a homeless family (or what is called trailer trash) in the US, who were living on food stamps, and said the he would take care of their child (that the family could not take care of themselves) as if the child were his own, AND give the family $ 10 million, the family would seriously consider the offer. And the press all over the world would not call it ‘selling their child’. They do that to Rubina’s father because they like to feel that people in the rest of the world have a different morality than their own. It gives them a greater feeling of self worth.
I am not taking a moral position on this issue, nor on human trafficking. I am just saying that it was a completely disgusting thing for the British tabloid to do. £ 200,000 might as well be £ 2 billion for Rubina’s father, someone that has found it difficult to find the next meal for himself and his family, and an Arab Sheikh might as well be Bill Gates,
The News of the World created a trap for the father, who walked right into it because of the poverty trap he has lived n all his life, and sensationalized it all over the world. In the process all that happened was a little girl was completely traumatized. Shame on them !