Debate erupts on social media over death for traffickers:

A great number of posts on the popular social networking site, Wechat, blame the current law for being too lenient on child traffickers.

By Ma Danning

The viral call for the death sentence for all child traffickers on Chinese social media has led to legal professors' widespread defense of the existing punishments, although they also admit that greater punishment for buyers may be part of the solution.

Certain public pages on Wechat, a popular social networking site, showing pictures and miserable stories of trafficked children and their families were forwarded widely on Thursday.

In the end, such posts usually blamed the current law for being too lenient on child traffickers, and called to raise the current minimum imprisonment of five years.

"Prescribing death for every trafficker may lead to more extreme cases of child trafficking."

As of Thursday night, more than 540,000 people have expressed agreement with a proposal that demands death for all child traffickers, by forwarding it on Wechat.

There were no official statistics about human trafficking in China. The frequent media reports on police raids on child trafficking gangs, and the universal notices for missing children on lamp posts and on the Internet imply that it is prevalent. The rapid spread of the post on social media reflects the fact that it echoes people's long-held concerns.

Facing public pressure, Chinese law professors are voicing their opinions on all online platforms and media they can access, with some suggesting web users not to be taken in by some public pages that are just attracting hits.

Zhang Hui, a lawyer from Guangzhou, said among fundamental principles of law, one is, a violator's punishment should be suited to the crime he or she committed, and another is the presumption of innocence. The uniform punishment certainly violates these rules. They would also deprive the criminal of his right to defend himself.

^{Hopeful: a father holds a placard looking for his missing son in Shantou}

Qi Xiaoling, a law professor, said prescribing death for every trafficker may lead to more extreme cases. If the trafficker would face a death sentence no matter whether he abducted one child or 100 children, he might go for the latter, which is more lucrative. Besides, the capital punishment will increase the possibility that the trafficker turns to extreme approaches once exposed – such as killing the kidnapped child, to prevent police from finding the evidence of his crime.

Li Xuesong, judge of Qujing Intermediate People's Court, admitted that the current law imposes light punishment on buyers of abducted children. According to the Criminal Law of China: "Whoever buys a child but does not maltreat the child nor obstruct his or her rescue may be exempted from being investigated for criminal responsibility." Li suggested a change to this article that imposes a heavier penalty on buyers of an abducted child.

According to China's criminal law, whoever abducts and traffics a child shall be sentenced to at least five years in prison. Under eight aggravating circumstances, including trafficking more than three persons, sexual abuse, and use of violent means, the trafficker shall be sentenced to more than 10 years, up to life imprisonment. If the circumstances are especially serious, he/she shall be sentenced to death and also to confiscation of property.

"Whoever abducts and traffics a child shall be sentenced to at least five years in prison."

In fact, China has kept a heavy punishment for children trafficking. Official figures show that courts across the country handled over 7,700 such cases between 2010 and 2014. Some 13,000 people were punished and over 7,000 of them were given sentences greater than five years in prison.

And the death sentence, which netizens have called for, has never been ruled out.

Lan Shushan, who abducted 34 children aged from 3 to 10 and sold them for over 500,000 yuan (about $81,334) from 1998 to 2008, was sentenced to death earlier this year.

In another case, Ma Shouqing and his accomplices abducted and sold 37 children from 2006 to 2008, with one female infant dying during transportation. He got the same punishment as Lan and was executed.

How do other countries fight against child abduction?

US

In the US, an 'Amber Alert' rapid response system has been established to tackle such crimes with profiles of a missing child publicized through various channels: TV, radio, text messages, Facebook, Twitter, website pop ups and banners and large screens in public places. Besides, America has established a National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, for parents of those children to report their missing children and issue a standard notice. Parents can also request the center to send a specialized search party to look for the child.

Japan

Japan has less than 100 cases of child kidnapping each year. This can be attributed to the equivalent punishment between kidnapping and illegal adoption. Under Japan's criminal law, both of them would receive similar terms of imprisonment- less than ten years for kidnapping and seven years for illegal adoption.

EU

On Dec 29, 2010, the European Council and European Parliament agreed to make a new law on combating kidnapping to fight against such behavior more strictly. The new law gives a broader definition to kidnapping, including

forced begging and kidnapping with the aim of illegal adoption. The new law imposes imprisonment from five years to ten years on criminals in kidnap cases, focusing on enslaving children, organized crime, threatening victims' lives and severe violence. Suspected individuals and corporations may face criminal punishment and temporary or permanent closure.

Thailand

Kidnapping is prevalent in Thailand. Most of the children kidnapped are forced to beg or sold to factories as cheap labor. To fight against it, the Thai government combines legislation and prevention. It established a strict labor policy, stating that foreigners need work permits in order to work in Thailand, or both the employer and employee will receive criminal punishment. Besides, numerous civil organizations participate in the cause, promoting education for women and children and protecting their rights.

Infographic: abducted child rescued after 42 hours of fear

Why is child trafficking rampant in China?

It is believed the tradition of preferring boys over girls and legal loopholes has led to a strong demand from "buyers".

China has advocated a one-child policy since the 1970s, aiming to deter people persistently having children in an attempt to get a male offspring to continue the family line.

In some regions, especially the rural southwest, people are willing to go far to get a boy so that their family lines will "survive".

Another contributing factor has been the mild legal consequences of purchasing abducted children. According to Chinese law, "buyers" shall be exempt from criminal liability if they have not ill-treated or impeded the rescue of trafficked children.

Chen Shiqu, director of the anti-trafficking office, Ministry of Public Security, believes it "is hard to stop buyers".

"We are stepping up efforts to get punishment of buyers into law. We also want to change the way rescued children are treated. When they are taken from a buyer they will be sent to social welfare institutes," the People's Daily quoted Chen as saying.

^{Accused: 24 defendants suspected of trafficking babies hear trials at a court}

Adoption also has a role to play.

According to Xu Jianzhong, a senior official at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, about 30,000 children are currently living with foster families across the country and latest figures from the ministry show the number of registered orphans to be about 600,000.

Qin Xiyan, a lawyer from Central China's Hunan province, submitted a proposal to amend the adoption law a few years ago.

The proposal pointed out some parts of the law, implemented in 1992, were outdated, with high qualifications set for foster family applicants, deficient adoption procedures and lack of supervision. Legal loopholes encourage underground adoption and child-trafficking.

In an encouraging sign, a new regulation on foster families was issued on Sept 26. It is expected to help state-certified families adopt orphans and homeless children, Xinhua News Agency quoted Xu as saying.

Internet and DNA technology help bring abducted children home

China introduced a DNA information system solely for child-trafficking cases in 2009. It has been used to identify parent-child relationships by comparing samples collected from families of missing children. "(As of October), it has helped find more than 3,500 kidnapped children," Chen Shiqu said.

More efforts have been introduced to save abducted children. On Nov 3, an online platform was launched in Beijing to construct a database for parents, children, the police and the public at large to share related information.

Wu Yan, Liu Jing, Ma Chi and He Shuang contributed to this report.

Source: Death for traffickers

Trinity Mount Ministries Website

Chinese who buy children to be prosecuted:

BEIJING: Buyers of abducted children in China will face criminal punishment under proposed laws that would remove an exemption from prosecution, reports said Thursday, as authorities clamp down on the flourishing child trafficking industry.

More than 13,000 children were rescued by police in China last year, the China Daily said, with demand for stolen youngsters fuelled by a traditional preference for sons and a one-child limit for some couples.

Current law imposes harsh sentences for child trafficking, including the death penalty in certain cases.

Buyers of kidnapped children can be sentenced to up to three years in jail, but are exempt from criminal proceedings if they have not abused the children or obstructed efforts to rescue them.

The revised criminal law will eliminate the exception and "increase penalties for those who buy children", the state-run newspaper said, without specifying potential sentences.

"Buyers would receive a less severe penalty if they did not abuse the child or attempt to hinder rescue efforts," it added.

The revised law was welcomed by Feng Jianlin, a father from Shanxiprovince in northern China whose daughter was kidnapped in 2008 when she was nine.

"I think those who buy children should be punished, and the proposed law will promote China's anti-baby trafficking campaign," said Feng, who has set up an information-sharing website which has seen 14 children reunited with their biological parents.

"Currently people do not break the law if they buy children, so the trafficking business is rampant in China," he told AFP.

Parents of missing children commonly use the Internet to search for their offspring, and thousands have posted photos of babies and toddlers on website Baby Come Home, as well as sharing information on Feng's website.

Child trafficking has grown into a huge problem in China, where this year alone police have broken up criminal gangs found keeping babies in disused mortuaries and confining pregnant women to factories before selling their newborns.

Earlier this year, a Chinese mother in the central province of Henan was charged with human trafficking for allegedly conspiring with a doctor to sell her baby boy for almost $7,000.

In 2013 several families in Shaanxi province accused a doctor of persuading them to give up their children shortly after birth, allegations that led to a number of local officials being sacked.

Almost 13,000 people involved in human trafficking were punished between 2010 and last year, the China Daily said, citing the Supreme People's Court.

More than half of those convicted received sentences ranging from five years in prison to death.

The new criminal law was submitted Wednesday to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament.

Other revisions include harsher punishments for those involved in "cults or superstitious activities", and widening the list of activities which can be defined as "terrorism", state news agency Xinhuasaid.

China has previously cracked down harshly on groups it labels "cults", most notably the Falungong spiritual movement, which was banned in the late 1990s.

More recently the outlawed "Quannengshen" - which can be translated as the Church of Almighty God - has been targeted.

A father and daughter who belonged to Quannengshen were executed in February, having been convicted of beating a woman to death at a McDonald's restaurant, reportedly after she rebuffed their attempts to recruit her.

China has also rolled out tough measures to confront what it labels "terrorism" in the largely Muslim region of Xinjiang, sentencing to death scores of people while hundreds have been jailed or detained.

Source: Chinese who buy children to be prosecuted

Trinity Mount Ministries Website

Focus on missing children art exhibition in Nanjing, China:

By Xinhua

An art exhibition titled Children, which features 61 portraits of missing children painted by artist Li Yueling, opened in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, Jun 9, with the aim of drawing more attention to missing youngsters and reminding parents of their parental duties.

Trinity Mount Ministries Website

First Public Alert System for Lost Child Unveiled in Nanjing’s Deji Plaza:

A view of Deji Plaza, one of the busiest commercial centers in Nanjing. (Photo : www.thousandwonders.net)

First Public Alert System for Lost Child Unveiled in Nanjing’s Deji Plaza:

China has launched the first public lost child alert system on June 1, Monday, in Nanjing city in east Jiangsu Province.

The new alert system was installed and tested at the Deji Plaza, a busy commercial zone in Nanjing City.

With the alert system, parents who lost their child or whose child got lost in the building can push the emergency button installed at the elevator on every floor.

The staff of the plaza will then ask the parents about the physical features and other details of the lost child and then conduct a 10-minute search within the premises. During this period, security guards will shut down and monitor all the exits in the building.

If not found within 10 minutes, the nearest police station will be alerted and will carry on the search.

Further, before the alert system was installed, security guards and staff members of the plaza have already been trained to search for missing children.

The new alert system was first tested on May 29 and within six minutes after the emergency alarm was set off, the child was found in the plaza.

In Canada and the United States, the missing child safety program, called "Code Adam," is being widely used.

Chen Shiqu, an officer of the Ministry of Public Security, said that the lost child alert system can be replicated as an effective mechanism to find missing children in other large public venues.

Around 200,000 children are lost every year in China, with most of the cases happening in public places.

Source: http://en.yibada.com/articles/36186/20150603/first-public-alert-system-lost-child-nanjings-deji-plaza.htm

Trinity Mount Ministries Website

Nanchang Service Attendant Helps Missing Children Find Parents:

All-China Women's Federation

Editor: Hou Jianjun

As part of her duties, 29-year-old Li Jun, a service attendant at the Nanchang Railway Station in Nanchang, capital city of southeast China's Jiangxi Province, has helped more than 200 missing children find their parents over the past five years. Netizens have dubbed her 'China's Most Beautiful Service Attendant'.

Working from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, Li says that she is often so busy helping passengers that she has no time for meals.

At the busy railway station, children often get separated from their parents, but Li stands by to help parents find their missing children. 

Li Jun (L) helps a woman passenger with a baby push her luggage. [yzdsb.com.cn]

"In the past five years, we have never received a complaint about her. The other staff members admire her for her responsibility and work ethic," said Li's manager, Wang Fang.

To offer passengers better services, Li opened a micro-blog on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like social media service, two years ago. She has written about 100 posts about her service experiences and has set up a free reservation service platform to make it more convenient for senior citizens to use the station's services. 

Li Jun (R2) answers a passenger's questions. [Xinhua]

Li says that her work ethic stems from her parents' teachings. Her father passed away last year and she now lives with her 62-year-old mother. Every night, when she returns home, she washes her mother's feet and chats with her about her day. When it comes to finding a life partner, she says the most important thing to her is that he be kind to her mother. 

Trinity Mount Ministries Website

Join Trinity Mount Ministries on Twitter:

Alpha Relief: September 2011 Update:

Click here to give this month!