Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BEIJING509
2009-02-27 07:38:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Beijing
Cable title:  

CHINA: 2009 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

Tags:  PGOV PHUM SMIG KTIP KCRM KWMN CH 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4290
OO RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #0509/01 0580738
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 270738Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2546
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 BEIJING 000509 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM JCARTIN; EAP/RSP JK; G/TIP CCHAN-
DOWNER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SMIG KTIP KCRM KWMN CH
SUBJECT: CHINA: 2009 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

REF: STATE 132759

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 BEIJING 000509

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM JCARTIN; EAP/RSP JK; G/TIP CCHAN-
DOWNER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SMIG KTIP KCRM KWMN CH
SUBJECT: CHINA: 2009 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

REF: STATE 132759


1. (SBU) Please find post's contribution to the 2009
Trafficking in Persons Report. Paragraph
designations are keyed to reftel A questions

China's TIP Situation
--------------


A. The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) serves as
our main source for information on TIP related
statistics and government programs. The process by
which MPS arrives at its statistics is not
transparent and many outside experts and NGOs claim
MPS statistics downplay the extent of the
trafficking problem in China. The All China Women's
Federation (ACWF) and other related organizations
supply us with our main source of information on
prevention programs and rehabilitation. ACWF
information has proven generally reliable in the
past.


B. The People's Republic of China (PRC) is a
source, transit and destination country for men,
women, and children trafficked for the purposes of
sexual exploitation and forced labor. The majority
of trafficking in China occurs within the country's
borders, but there is also considerable
international trafficking of PRC citizens to Africa,
Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and
North America, which often occurs within a larger
flow of human smuggling. Chinese women are lured
abroad through false promises of legitimate
employment and then forced into commercial sexual
exploitation, largely in Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia
and Japan. There are also many cases involving
Chinese men and women who are smuggled into
destination countries throughout the world at an
enormous personal financial cost and whose
indebtedness to traffickers is then used as a means
to coerce them into commercial sexual exploitation
or forced labor. Women and children are trafficked
to China from Mongolia, Burma, North Korea, Russia,
and Vietnam for forced labor, marriage, and
prostitution. North Korean women and children
seeking to leave their country cross the border into
China voluntarily, but some of these individuals,
after they enter the PRC in a vulnerable,
undocumented status, are then sold into
prostitution, marriage, or forced labor.


C. Victims are typically trafficked into situations

where their travel documents are confiscated and
they are not allowed contact with family members.


D. Women and children, who made up 90 percent of
trafficking cases, were often trafficked from
poorer, rural areas where they were abducted or
lured to urban centers with false promises of
employment and then trafficked into prostitution or
forced labor. Migrant laborers, who are vulnerable
to exploitation because they often lack official
residence permits, are also targets.


E. The gamut of organizations involved in
trafficking in China runs from international
criminal syndicates to local gangs and individuals.

China's Anti-TIP Efforts
--------------


A. China acknowledges that trafficking in persons is
a problem and has developed a National Plan of
Action (NPA) to coordinate efforts to combat the problem.


B. At least 28 agencies are involved in anti-
trafficking efforts. Chief among these are the
Ministry of Public Security, the State Council's
Work Committee for Women and Children and the All
China Women's Federation. In November, MPS held the
first Inter-Ministerial Joint Conference System
(IMCS) meeting, a ministerial-level joint meeting
comprising 28 agencies aimed at coordinating
implementation of the NPA between groups.


C. Funding limits the government's ability to
address trafficking. Local governments are often
not allocated enough funding to adequately care for
victims or pursue perpetrators. The NPA calls for
cooperation among government agencies fighting TIP

BEIJING 00000509 002 OF 006


but does not plan for the allocation of resources to
local governments for implementation of the plan.


D. China still only releases minimal statistics
tracking the efficacy of anti-trafficking. The
government tracks the number of trafficking related
prosecutions and victims, however, it is not clear
how many victims were assisted.

Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers
--------------


A. China has laws specifically prohibiting
trafficking in persons. In addition to Articles
240, 241 and 262 of China's Criminal Code, which
directly address trafficking, the following articles
refer to the criminalization of various trafficking-
related crimes: Articles 134, 135, 244, 262 and 333
address forced labor; Articles 358, 359, 360, 361
and 365 address sexual exploitation; Articles 234
and 238 address violation of a victim's rights while
being trafficked; Article 242, 362, 416 and 417
address obstructing rescue operations of trafficking
victims; Articles 318, 319, 320, 321, 322 and 415
address transnational trafficking crimes and
Articles 23, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31 and 64 address
complicity in trafficking crimes.


B. Enticing or forcing a woman who has been abducted
or trafficked to engage in prostitution is
punishable by not less than ten years in prison
under Article 240 of the criminal code. The death
penalty may be used in especially serious cases.


C. China's legal definition of trafficking does not
recognize the trafficking of men as a crime.
However, Article 244 of the criminal code
criminalizes compelling employees to work by
limiting their personal freedom. This statute,
which carries a penalty of not more than three years
in prison and a fine, has been used to prosecute
forced male labor. Chinese authorities have had
modest success in protecting victims of forced labor
and there have been several recent high-profile
cases in which forced laborers have been "rescued"
from their employers by authorities in sting
operations.

China's Labor Contract Law, which went into effect
in January 2008, provides workers and rights defenders
new legal tools to hold employers accountable for
illegal labor practices, such as preventing workers
from exercising their right to leave their jobs. In
addition, the State Council and 14 ministries,
including the Ministry of Public Security and the
Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, are
discussing a revision of China's household
registration policy with the aim of increasing legal
protection for migrant workers. Migrant workers,
estimated by the International Labor Organization
(ILO) to number more than 100 million persons, are
especially vulnerable to trafficking.


D. Rape is illegal in China and some persons
convicted of rape have been executed. Article 236
of China's criminal law states that persons
convicted of rape will be sentenced to not less than
three but not more than ten years. Under some
circumstances, including repeat offenses, gang rape,
or rape of a minor, the prescribed penalty is not
less than ten years and can include life
imprisonment or death.


E. According to MPS, China investigated 2,566
reported cases of trafficking of women or children.
MPS claims to have "solved" 2,282 of these cases
although the MPS does not provide detailed
statistics describing those cases. In April, state
media reported that police dismantled a trafficking
ring that was trafficking elementary and middle
school students from Liangshan, Sichuan Province, to
factories in coastal cities. In June the Fujian
Provincial High Court reportedly upheld criminal
sentences for a group of men convicted of
trafficking more than 130 individuals to various
countries from 2002 to 2006. The three ringleaders
of the group were sentenced to jail terms of 13, 8
and 5 years. Between February and July, police in
Guangdong Province reportedly handled 33 trafficking
cases and arrested 57 suspects involved in

BEIJING 00000509 003 OF 006


trafficking in persons, 15 of whom were foreign
nationals.

In November, police in Fujian Province cracked a
trafficking case involving 18 Vietnamese women who
had been trafficked to Yunnan, Guangxi and other
provinces in China. The women were reportedly sold
into marriages in rural communities for RMB 20,000
(approximately $3,000) to RMB 30,000 (approximately
$4,400) each. In Guizhou Province, state media
reported that courts heard a case involving 30
suspects accused of trafficking more than 80 women
over a four-year period from Guizhou to Shanxi,
Fujian, Zhejiang and other provinces. The women
were led to believe they were being provided
employment, but instead were trafficked to rural
areas for forced marriage.


F. China has not officially adopted standardized
guidelines for identification of trafficking
victims, although guidelines have been developed and
are currently being considered for approval. The
Ministry of Civil Affairs is working with the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) on a
training module on identification, protection,
recovery and reintegration of trafficking victims
and is planning to implement a pilot project at
several of its relief shelters to develop a model
program for such services.


G. China cooperates with other governments in the
investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases.
In particular, China works with its partners in the
Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against
Trafficking (COMMIT) to counter trafficking in
Southeast Asia. Southern Chinese provinces often
work with neighboring countries to combat
trafficking. As an example, law enforcement
officers representing Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous
Region and Vietnam reportedly meet monthly to
discuss joint anti-trafficking measures, as well as
other programs to combat cross-border crime.
According to the China Law Association, more than
200 Vietnamese women and children trafficked to
China have been helped since 2004 through bilateral
cooperation on this issue. During the reporting
period, China signed memoranda of understanding with
Cambodia and Vietnam on law enforcement cooperation.
The memoranda covered trafficking cooperation.


H. There is no extradition treaty between China and
the United States. According to MPS, the decision
to extradite persons charged with trafficking would
be made "according to relevant international
conventions and bilateral agreements."


I. There were reports of local officials' complicity
in both alien smuggling and in prostitution, which
sometimes involved trafficked women. In some cases
village leaders sought to prevent police from
rescuing women who had been sold to villagers.
However, there is no indication that the government
sanctions such actions by individual corrupt
officials.


J. In February 2008, the Central Committee on the
Comprehensive Management of Public Security
(CCCMPS),China's top public security watch-dog,
added anti-trafficking measures to its list of
national priorities for maintaining public security.
As a result, police facilities around the country,
including community and civilian police
installations, were reportedly expanded and improved
to provide a "safer community environment for the
general public." The new priorities also mean that
government officials' performance is evaluated
against regulations that prohibit complicity in
trafficking crimes.


K. Both prostitution and the purchasing of sex are
criminalized under Article 66 of the Law on Public
Security Administration Punishments.


L. To our knowledge, Chinese peacekeepers have not
been implicated in sex trafficking while overseas.


M. China is not a known destination for child sex
tourists.

Protection and Assistance to Victims

BEIJING 00000509 004 OF 006


--------------


A. China continues to lack comprehensive victim
protection services, although it is making efforts
to address this deficiency. The NPA calls for
strengthening relief and rehabilitation of victims
by increasing the number of women and children who
receive training, aid and medical treatment, as well
as through establishing institutions for relief,
transfer and rehabilitation. The NPA further
mandates that rescued women and children should be
successfully reintegrated into society and agencies
should "strengthen registration, management and
protection" by establishing "specialized archives"
to track victims' rehabilitation progress.


B. The Ministry of Civil affairs is working to
develop a program model for victim identification,
protection, recovery and reintegration, and plans to
double its child relief centers, which often serve
as shelters for trafficking victims, to 300 by 2010.
The Ministry of Public Security, with the help of UN
agencies, continues to operate "transfer centers"
along the border with Vietnam and Burma which
reportedly provide assistance and rehabilitation
services for victims.


C. Though no nation-wide victim protection service
exits, local government-funded women's federation
offices and other women's organizations do provide
some counseling on legal rights and rehabilitation,
though lack of funding reportedly limits services in
some areas. The NPA requires the government to
"increase the proportion of rescued women who
receive training, assistance, physiological and
psychological treatment" as part of efforts to
enhance "rehabilitation" of victims. Governments in
southern border provinces often rely upon NGOs to
identify victims and provide victim protection
services due to the lack of resources. Trafficking
victims are generally returned to their homes
without extensive rehabilitation.


D. Although China provides temporary shelter to
foreign victims of trafficking, there are no legal
alternatives to repatriation. Most foreign victims
are therefore returned to their country of origin
upon identification. China continues to work
together with COMMIT members, especially Vietnam and
Burma, on anti-trafficking programs, and uses its
Border Liaison Offices (BLOs) in Yunnan and Guangxi
Provinces to facilitate repatriation of victims. The
government does not provide foreign victims with
legal alternatives to removal to countries in which
they may face hardship or retribution. Some
trafficking victims have faced punishments in the
form of fines for leaving China without proper
authorization. China continues to treat North Korean
trafficking victims solely as illegal economic
migrants and has deported victims to North Korea,
where they may face severe punishment. China
continues to bar UNHCR from access to the vulnerable
North Korean population in Northeast China.


E. Longer-term care is not provided to victims on a
consistent basis nationally. While shelters exist,
it is not clear what care they are able to provide.
Shelters are often not trafficking specific and so
may house victims of domestic abuse or other crimes.


F. China continues to lack systematic victim
identification procedures to identify trafficking
victims among those it arrests for prostitution and
to refer them to organizations providing services.
It does not have a comprehensive nationwide victim
protection service, but has taken some steps to
improve intra-governmental coordination and
cooperation in vulnerable southern border provinces.


G. According to MPS, the total number of trafficking
victims identified was 930. More specific
statistics were not available.


H. China has not officially adopted standardized
guidelines for identification of trafficking
victims, although guidelines have been developed and
are currently being considered for approval. The
Ministry of Civil Affairs is working with the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) on a
training module on identification, protection,

BEIJING 00000509 005 OF 006


recovery and reintegration of trafficking victims
and is planning to implement a pilot project at
several of its relief shelters to develop a model
program for such services.


I. MPS officials stated that repatriated victims of
trafficking no longer faced fines or other
punishment upon return. However, authorities
acknowledged that some victims continued to be
sentenced or fined because of corruption among
police, provisions allowing for the imposition of
fines on persons traveling without documentation,
and the difficulty in identifying victims.
Trafficking victims often lacked proper
identification, which made it difficult to
distinguish them from persons who illegally crossed
borders. MPS trained border officials to spot
potential victims of trafficking, and MPS opened two
border liaison offices on the Burma and Vietnam
borders to process victims. However, the ACWF
reported that ongoing problems required intervention
to protect trafficking victims from unjust
treatment.


J. Post does not know of any programs to encourage
victims to assist in the investigation and
prosecution of traffickers.


K. See F, H and I above for discussion of victim
identification.


L. China lacks comprehensive national programs for
victim rehabilitation including repatriated
nationals. However, some NGOs have partnered with
local government agencies, women's federations and
the Civil Affairs Bureau to develop programs to fill
this need. Save the Children UK (SCUK) has
implemented programs in Yunnan province aimed at
assisting trafficking victims following their
repatriation to China.


M. NGOs such as Save the Children UK, the
International Labor Organization and UNICEF all run
projects in China to assist trafficking victims.
These organizations usually work with women's
federations, the Ministry of Civil Affairs or MPS to
run shelters for victims and provide training for
officials and vulnerable groups. For example, in
2007, UNICEF partnered with the Kunming Public
Security Bureau to establish a shelter for victims
and provide psychological consultation.

Prevention
--------------


A. China is making strides to increase public
awareness of the trafficking issue. The NPA
stipulates that the government "increase the
dissemination of anti-trafficking information,
training and education" in key areas and with at-
risk populations, as well as with the general public
and law enforcement officials. Hotlines for victims
of trafficking and trafficking-related crimes are
set up across the country in various provinces,
cities and counties, and are maintained by
government agencies, associations or youth
organizations. Targeted public awareness campaigns
continue in various regions, building on the success
of the All China Women's Federation (ACWF) "Spring
Rain" campaign, held in February 2007, in which
information on trafficking prevention and safe
employment was disseminated to young female migrant
workers during the spring migration season across
five provinces. Such campaigns usually aim to reach
young, female audiences, considered the most
vulnerable to trafficking in China.


B. The Chinese government did not provide
information on any efforts to monitor immigration
and emigration patterns for evidence of trafficking.


C. MPS led the first Inter-Ministerial Joint
Conference System (IMCS) meeting in October. The
meeting comprised 28 agencies and was a follow-up to
several preparatory meetings on implementing the NPA
held in June and September. Participants discussed
rules and regulations, as well as ministerial
responsibilities for implementing the NPA and
reviewed problems and difficulties encountered since
January.

BEIJING 00000509 006 OF 006




D. China's National Plan of Action on Combating
Trafficking in Women and Children was released by
the State Council in December of 2007 and took
effect on January 1, 2008. During the reporting
period, China took steps to implement the plan
including drafting regulations and rules and
delegating responsibilities among the 28 ministries
involved.


E. Post is not aware of the Chinese government
taking any measures to reduce demand for commercial
sex acts.


F. Post is not aware of the Chinese government
taking any measures reduce the participation in
international child sex tourism by nationals of the
country.


G. China's peacekeepers deployed abroad are kept
under tight supervision to ensure that no
opportunity for illegal activity of any kind exists.
Post is unaware of any instances of Chinese
peacekeepers being implicated in trafficking.

--------------
POINT OF CONTACT
--------------


3. (SBU) The point of contact for this submission is
Political Officer Brooke Spelman, tel.: 86-10 8531-
4381; fax:86-10 8531-3525. Estimated hours spent
preparing this submission: 90. (Thirty hours to
compile and edit the above material and sixty hours
in the field obtaining information.)
PICCUTA