{"id":2688,"date":"2018-07-31T01:10:31","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T01:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=2688"},"modified":"2019-03-28T03:07:14","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T03:07:14","slug":"world-day-against-trafficking-in-persons-gendercide-and-sexual-slavery-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/world-day-against-trafficking-in-persons-gendercide-and-sexual-slavery-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"World Day Against Trafficking in Persons: Gendercide and Sexual Slavery in China"},"content":{"rendered":"

This time last year, a report emerged that a Chinese woman from Anhui Province died<\/a> after her husband pressured her into aborting four pregnancies in a year, because he wanted a son. The couple already had a four-year-old daughter. After the Two-Child Policy was instituted on January 1, 2016, they decided to have a second child, which the husband determined would be a boy. When the woman became ill because of the repeated abortions, her husband divorced her. Soon after, she died.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s shift to a two-child policy has not ended the sex-selective abortion of baby girls, especially second daughters. Now, China has an estimated 30-40 million \u201cbare branches\u201d \u2013 men who will never find wives and will be unable to reproduce and carry on the family line. This alarming gender imbalance is the driving force behind sexual slavery in China.<\/p>\n

This will be true for decades to come. Even if China were to eliminate all coercive birth limitations now, even if cultural son preference were magically to disappear and gender ratios at birth were to normalize going forward, the effects of these changes would not be felt for decades. In the meantime, China suffers under the unique, self-inflicted wound of sex-selective abortion driven by decades of coercive population control.<\/p>\n

July 30 marks the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, the annual day to raise awareness of the estimated 21 million people who are victims of forced labor and sexual exploitation globally. 71 percent<\/a> of these victims are women and girls.<\/p>\n

While human trafficking and sexual slavery are global problems, China is unique because it\u2019s One Child Policy has given rise to the greatest gender imbalance in terms of sex ratios at birth.\u00a0\u00a0 The normal ratio is 105 boys born for every 100 girls born. At its height, China\u2019s sex ratio at birth was 121 boys for every 100 girls<\/a>. There are an estimated 30 to 40 million<\/a> more men than women living in China today \u2013 so-called \u201csurplus males.\u201d<\/p>\n

The State Department\u2019s most recent Trafficking in Persons Report<\/a> downgraded China to a \u201cTier 3 Nation,\u201d stating, \u201cThe Government of the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC) does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so . . . \u201c China shares this bottom status with North Korea and Sudan.<\/p>\n

China needs to step-up its anti-trafficking enforcement efforts to conform with international standards. Its continued refusal to do so raises the dark question: Might the Chinese government be deliberately turning a blind eye to sex trafficking because they depend on it to \u201cservice\u201d the 30 to 40 million \u201csurplus males\u201d they have created through the One Child Policy?<\/p>\n

The TIP Report accurately states that China\u2019s coercive population control program has combined with cultural son preference to produce a critical gender imbalance:<\/p>\n

The Chinese government\u2019s birth limitation policy and a cultural preference for sons created a skewed sex ratio of 117 boys to 100 girls in China, which observers assert increases the demand for prostitution and for foreign women as brides for Chinese men \u2013 both of which may be procured by force or coercion. Women and girls are kidnapped or recruited through a marriage broker and transported to China, where some are subjected to commercial sex or forced labor.<\/p>\n

Such a \u201cskewed sex ratio\u201d is only possible through gendercide: the sex-selective abortion or abandonment of baby girls. This form of discrimination \u2013 which violently delivers the message that girls do not deserve to live \u2013 in turn gives rise to further violence against women and girls: human trafficking and sexual slavery.<\/p>\n

This sexual slavery occurs both within China and from the surrounding countries. As described by the TIP Report, within China, women and girls from rural areas are trafficked to urban areas and forced into prostitution. Traffickers use \u201ca combination of fraudulent job offers and coercion by imposing large travel fees, confiscating passports, confining victims, or physically and financially threatening victims to compel their engagement in commercial sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the 2017 Report of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China<\/a>, women are trafficked into China from neighboring Asian countries, including Cambodia, Burma (Myanmar), Nepal and North Korea \u201cfor forced marriage and commercial sexual exploitation.\u201d The TIP Report states that, as far away as Africa and South America, women are similarly \u201cpromised legitimate jobs and forced into prostitution upon arrival.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of special concern is the plight of North Korean women and girls. North Korean refugees escaping possibly the most repressive regime on earth are not given asylum in China. According to the CECC Report, they are instead considered \u201cillegal economic migrants\u201d and are forcibly repatriated, in violation of international refugee law –\u201cdespite the fact that repatriated persons face torture, imprisonment, execution, and other inhuman treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seventy to 80 percent of refugees from North Korea are women, many of whom are trafficked for forced marriage or sexual exploitation. These victims are completely helpless. They cannot go to the Chinese authorities and report that they are being beaten and raped, because to do so would bring about forcible repatriation and possible execution.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s demographic problem is not that it has too many people, but rather that it has too few young people to sustain its rapidly aging elderly population, as well as a critical shortage of girls. China needs to abandon all population control and in fact develop strong incentives for people to have children, especially girls.<\/p>\n

Because of the One-Child Policy and continuing coercive population control, hundreds of millions Chinese women have been forcibly aborted, tens of millions of girls have been selectively aborted, and women from within China and throughout the world are being sucked into sexual slavery. China\u2019s One Child Policy has caused more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth and any other policy in human history. This is the true war against women.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers<\/a> has had significant success through our Save a Girl Campaign<\/a>, saving baby girls from sex-selective abortion or abandonment, and empowering women to keep their daughters. A fieldworker travels to the woman\u2019s door and greets her with the message that girls are as good as boys, encourages her to stand up to the pressure to abort or abandon her daughter, and provides monthly support for a year. These funds provide practical support. Perhaps more important, they enable the woman to go to her husband or mother-in-law and say, \u201cI can\u2019t abort or abandon this baby girl. She\u2019s a lucky girl \u2013 look, she\u2019s already bringing money into the family!\u201d We have saved hundreds of baby girls in Chinese villages with this campaign of direct personal encouragement and support.<\/p>\n

It would be effective for the Chinese government to use this model and implement it nationally. This, coupled with greater enforcement of existing laws making sex-selective abortion illegal, would help normalize the gender ratios going forward.<\/p>\n

Learn more about WRWF\u2019s Save a Girl Campaign here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related Links<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/strong>United States Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2017<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.state.gov\/j\/tip\/rls\/tiprpt\/2017\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Congressional-Executive Commission on China 2017 Report (10\/5\/17)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.cecc.gov\/publications\/annual-reports\/2017-annual-report<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

China\u2019s One Now Two Child Policy Turns 37: Chinese Woman Dies After Husband Pressures Her to Abort Four Girls in One Year (9\/25\/17)<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/chinas-one-now-two-child-policy-turns-37-chinese-woman-dies-after-husband-pressures-her-to-abort-four-girls-in-one-year\/<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n

World Day Against Trafficking in Persons<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/events\/humantrafficking\/index.shtml<\/a><\/p>\n

China Daily: 30 Million Men to be Wifeless Over Next 30 Years 2\/13\/17<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.chinadaily.com.cn\/china\/2017-02\/13\/content_28183839.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

China: Too Many Men (4\/13\/06)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/china-too-many-men\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers Save a Girl Campaign<\/p>\n

http:\/\/womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/index.php?nav=end-gendercide-and-forced-abortion<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This time last year, a report emerged that a Chinese woman from Anhui Province died after her husband pressured her into aborting four pregnancies in a year, because he wanted a son. The couple already had a four-year-old daughter. After … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,193,49,162,30,15,18,8,20,124,128,19,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abortion","category-chinas-missing-girls","category-chinas-one-child-policy","category-chinese-communist-party","category-coerced-abortion","category-gendercide","category-human-trafficking","category-one-child-policy","category-reggie-littlejohn","category-save-a-girl","category-sex-selective-abortion","category-sexual-slavery","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2688"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2844,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688\/revisions\/2844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}