Provinces with the highest GDP per capita like Fujian, Guangdong, and Shangong, are the prime destinations for trafficked victims because there is a great demand and resources available to utilise forced labourers. Geographic Distribution of Forced Laborers, Pressure from Human Rights/Activist Groups, 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, Organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - China", "Country Narratives: Countries A Through F: Trafficking in Persons Report 2010: China (Tier 2 Watch List)", "Trafficking in Persons Report 2017: Tier Placements", "China: Sex Work and Human Trafficking (Part 1)", "Human Trafficking in East Asia: Current Trends, Data Collection, and Knowledge Gaps", "List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor", "Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism: A Commentary on the Global Realities", "Birth Control, Surrogate Mothers and Abortions in China", "Laws and Regulations: Opinions on Severely Punishing Trafficking in Women and Children according to Law", "Child Safety Community Help You Save Your Child", "ASEAN and Trafficking in Persons: Using Data as a Tool to Combat Trafficking in Persons", "Overview: Association of Southeast Asian Nations", "Combating human trafficking requires a regional approach, says Stanford scholar", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Human_trafficking_in_China&oldid=997860707, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from August 2019, All Wikipedia articles in need of updating, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 2 January 2021, at 16:14. Traffickers recruited girls and young women, often from rural areas of China, using a combination of fraudulent job offers, imposition of large travel fees, and threats of physical or financial harm, to obtain and maintain their service in prostitution. [13], In 2009, courts nationwide decided 1636 cases of trafficking in women and children, representing a 20.9% increase from 2008. In fact, in the past thirty years, over 25,000 children have been born to surrogate mothers in China. The U.S. Department of State reported that China had "arrested 19 of the country’s 20 most wanted traffickers and pursuit of cri… For national, bi- and multilateral laws and agreements on human trafficking involving China, please see the resource section. A State Department report on human trafficking published in 2004 cites official Chinese statistics indicating that between 2001 and 2003, Chinese law enforcement agencies investigated more than 20,000 trafficking cases involving over 43,000 women and children. The penalties for traffickers and buyers of the 'human goods' are high and severe. However, since China has recently adopted the Human Transplantation Act that bans commercial use of prisoner organs, China has reduced the number of transplants to foreign patients by 50% in 2007. A person is considered a "trafficked victim if he or she is involved in the above-mentioned situations, regardless of whether the person consents to it or not. severely punished according to law. In an effort to control the growing population, the country limited each family to the maximum of one child. The UNIAP states that many individuals have been trafficked from southwest China though Myanmar and eventually into countries like Thailand and Malaysia. Sex trafficking in China is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the People's Republic of China.China, the world's most populous country, has one of the highest rates of human trafficking, including sex trafficking, in the world. "[13], In 2008, courts nationwide convened to decide 1353 cases of trafficking in women and children which was a 9.91% increase of cases from 2007. 20 Actions in 2020. [2], In addition to internal trafficking of the migrant population in China, rampant trafficking is often also attributed to a decade-long one-child policy that resulted in gender imbalance, and a universal expectation to marry. As human trafficking is a prevalent problem within China, regulations and laws have been implemented in order to prohibit forms of trafficking. Undocumented migrants who are trafficked into China mainly come from Vietnam, Russia, North Korea and Myanmar. As a recent New York Times article suggests, many poor Chinese families also send their daughters to work in the sex trade. [6], Popular areas of origin for domestically trafficked brides are the poorer areas of Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guizhou where poverty renders women more vulnerable to trafficking. [5], The main means of trafficking involved: fraud and deception, 37%; kidnapping, 26%; abuse of power or a position of vulnerability, 17%; and physical violence, 5%. [5], According to a UNIAP study on the reports of human trafficking in China, there were 800 reported human trafficking cases reported in the print media between 2006 and 2007. Foreign NGO activities in mainland China are limited and under the supervision of the government. [5], Also, in 2016 TongJuBao.com, a collaborative mutual help model (also referred to sometimes as P2P Insurance) launched a Child Safety scheme intended to mobilise the resources of all member to fund professional rapid investigation support (supporting the family and police efforts) in case a child from the community should go missing. [5], In another instance, children in Xinjiang were forced to pick cotton as part of a "work-study" program, according to foreign media reports. Traffickers also use China as a transit point to subject foreign individuals to trafficking in other countries throughout Asia and in international maritime industries. China is a main source and also a significant transit and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labour and forced prostitution. According to Helen Stacy, director of the CDDRL Program on Human Rights and a FSI senior fellow, human rights issues are becoming integrated into regional discussions on trade and economic development. While highlighting this work, the Xinhua piece and a related article published in the Procuratorial Daily also paint a disturbing picture of trends in human trafficking in China. In addition, the definition of trafficking does not pertain to male victims of trafficking or adult victims of labour trafficking. [2], The number of women suffering from sexual exploitation is exponentially increasing. There were numerous confirmed reports of involuntary servitude of children, adults, and migrant workers during the reporting period. China's cooperation with the international community in the fight against human trafficking is reflected not only in its efforts to undertake global treaty obligations, but also in a series of bilateral and multilateral cooperation programs and concrete actions it has carried out. This exploitation of women's bodies has called for stricter laws against surrogacy. During the year, Chinese sex trafficking victims were reported on all of the inhabited continents. The Chinese government ratified the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol in December 2009, which obligates China to prohibit all forms of trafficking and bring its domestic laws into conformity with international standards within 24 months. "[13], Several organisations within China have dedicated efforts into ameliorating the human trafficking situation. In the United States Department of State report, "Article 244 of the Chinese Criminal Law criminalises forced labour, but prescribes punishments of a fine or no more than three years imprisonment, and only if the circumstances are found to be 'serious' - penalties which are not sufficiently stringent." [5] In 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor where China was attributed 12 goods ranging from bricks, coal and cotton to electronics, fireworks and Christmas decorations. The organ trade is the trade of organs for organ transplantation. Though it primarily manifests itself in the forms of forced labor and modern slavery, human trafficking can also apply to other issues such as sex trafficking, forced criminality and forced organ removal. Learn the indicators of human trafficking on the TIP Office’s website or by taking a training. Often, men kidnap the women after enticing them with promises of employment and money, but later sell them to villages and other provinces. The All-China Women's Federation is also involved in a collaboration project with Vietnam to combat trafficking on the borders. As reported over the past five years, human traffickers subject domestic and foreign individuals to trafficking in China, and they subject Chinese individuals to trafficking abroad. A domestic market for wives and illegal adoptions was once the reason for most human trafficking in China, but now traffickers abduct women and children for use as forced laborers, street performers, prostitutes, beggars, thieves, etc. The couples looking for a surrogate mother go through an unlicensed agency which acts like a middleman that establishes communication with women willing to rent their wombs. 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