The State Department\u2019s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report has promoted China from a \u2018Tier 3\u2019 to a \u2018Tier 2 Watch List\u2019 nation. The report appears to attribute this promotion to a technical modification of the One Child Policy:<\/p>\n
The PRC government maintained efforts to prevent trafficking in persons. In November 2013, the government modified its birth limitation policy to allow families with one single-child parent to have a second child, a change that may affect future demand for prostitution and for foreign women as brides for Chinese men \u2013 both of which may be procured by force or coercion. TIP Report, p. 134.<\/p>\n
Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers, stated, \u201cThe fact that the PRC government tweaked the One Child Policy does not signify that it \u2018maintained efforts to prevent trafficking in persons.\u2019 Allowing a relatively small number of families to have a second child will not end gendercide or sexual slavery in China. The selective abortion and abandonment of baby girls is most prevalent in the countryside, where couples already can have a second child if the first child is a girl. Even if the most recent modification were to improve gender ratios at birth, the impact on sexual slavery would not be felt for decades to come. What about all the women and girls who are being trafficked now? The TIP Report does not cite any effective new initiatives by the CCP to help current victims of sexual slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Littlejohn has been a vocal critic of those who have argued that China is \u201ceasing\u201d the One Child Policy by lifting the ban on a second child, if either parent is an only\u00a0child. Littlejohn stated, \u201cThis minor modification does nothing to end the coercion that is the core of the Policy. The problem is not whether the Chinese government allows a woman to have one child or two children. The problem is that the government is telling women how many children they can have and is enforcing that limitation with forced abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Littlejohn continued: \u201cWe know that forced abortion continues in China. WRWF is currently strategizing on how best to help a woman in China escape the forced abortion of her second child.\u201d In addition, there is a current uptick in Chinese refugees entering the United States at the Mexican border, stating that they are fleeing the One Child Policy.<\/p>\n
In the 2013 TIP report, China was demoted to a Tier 3 nation \u2013 a status it shared with Iran, Sudan and North Korea.\u00a0Tier 3 nations are considered to be the worst in prosecuting traffickers and helping victims and consequently may be subject to sanctions if approved by the U.S. President.\u00a0The reason given: \u201cThe government of the People\u2019s Republic of China does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking . . . \u201c 2013 Tip Report, p. 129.<\/p>\n
The 2013 Report goes on to discuss how China\u2019s One Child Policy, combined with son preference, has caused a gender imbalance that is driving human trafficking and sexual slavery, not only within China but from the surrounding countries as well.\u00a0The Report listed the many nations from which women and girls are trafficked into China:\u00a0\u201cWomen and children from neighboring Asian countries, including Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Mongolia, and the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as well as from Russia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas, are reportedly trafficked to China for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.\u201d The 2013 Report also highlights the fact that Chinese government officials complicit in trafficking are not prosecuted. Moreover, sex slaves who are victims of trafficking, instead of being rescued, are convicted as prostitutes and serve lengthy jail sentences.\u00a0\u00a0 Further, the Chinese government forcibly repatriates North Korean refugees, many of who have been trafficked into China. Upon return to North Korea, these refugees \u201cmay face severe punishment, even death . . . \u201d 2013 TIP Report, p.131.<\/p>\n
In the 2014 TIP Report, none of this has changed. The 2013 and 2014 TIP Reports concerning China are substantially similar. The Chinese government has done nothing effectively to remedy the reasons it was demoted to a \u201cTier 3\u201d status. To the contrary, the 2014 TIP Report states that \u201cThe People\u2019s Republic of China did not provide detailed data on law enforcement efforts to combat trafficking in persons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Equally unjustified is the 2014 TIP Report\u2019s claim that the Chinese government is abolishing the infamous RTL \u2013 Re-Education Through Labor, or Laojiao<\/em> system — in which an estimated hundreds of thousands of people are arbitrarily detained without judicial review, and subjected to forced labor and torture. The fact that the National People\u2019s Congress ratified a decision to abolish the RTL is the possible beginning, not the end, of reform. According to Amnesty International, this announcement by the NPC is a \u201ccosmetic change,\u201d in which prisoners may suffer similar injustices after having been moved to different facilities such as \u201cblack jails\u201d and \u201cbrainwashing centers.\u201d<\/p>\n Littlejohn concludes, \u201cThe Chinese government\u2019s efforts to remedy the problems that brought it to a \u2018Tier 3\u2019 status range from ineffective to non-existent. The promotion of China from a \u2018Tier 3\u2019 to a \u2018Tier 2 Watch List\u2019 status is baseless and unwarranted. WRWF urges the State Department to reconsider this promotion and return China to its rightful \u2018Tier 3\u2019 status.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign a petition against forced abortion in China: Watch a four-minute video about forced abortion in China: http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=34<\/a><\/p>\n Read \u201cChina Hasn\u2019t \u2018Eased\u2019 Its One Child Policy Read the 2014 United States Department of State Trafficking in Persons \u201cTIP\u201d Report Read \u201cAmnesty International Warns China\u2019s Labor Camps Are Revived as \u201cBlack Jails\u2019 and \u2018Brainwashing Centers\u2019\u201d Read the full Amnesty International Report on the RTL: \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The State Department\u2019s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report has promoted China from a \u2018Tier 3\u2019 to a \u2018Tier 2 Watch List\u2019 nation. The report appears to attribute this promotion to a technical modification of the One Child Policy: The … Continue reading
\nhttp:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/364200\/china-hasnt-eased-its-one-child-policy-reggie-littlejohn<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.state.gov\/j\/tip\/rls\/tiprpt\/2014\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.ibtimes.com\/amnesty-international-warns-chinas-labor-camps-are-revived-black-jails-brainwashing-centers-1512582<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/library\/asset\/ASA17\/042\/2013\/en\/f7e7aec3-e4ed-4d8d-b99b-f6ff6ec860d6\/asa170422013en.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n