Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - China (Ratification: 2002)

Article 3(a) of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Sale and trafficking of children. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that section 240 of the Criminal Law of 1997 prohibits trafficking in women and children. However, it noted that section 9 of the Judicial Interpretation No. 28 of 2016 on the effective application of the laws regarding trafficking in women and children, referred to children under section 240 of the Criminal Code as persons under 14 years of age. The Committee therefore requested the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to protect boys aged 14 to 18 years from trafficking.

The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that the Criminal Law of China adopts a multi-crime decentralized legislative model to protect citizens from trafficking, namely (i) crimes related to the sale and trafficking of women and children for labour or sexual exploitation; (ii) the crime of forced labour; (iii) the crime of luring, organizing or forcing into prostitution or the production and dissemination of pornography; and (iv) the crime of engaging children in hazardous work. Referring to the definition of a child as “persons under the age of 14 years” and regarding the protection of boys from 14 to 18 years from trafficking, the Government states that in China, the vast majority of trafficking of children occurs around the age of six years for illegal adoption. In judicial practice, trafficking of boys over the age of 14 is rare. If boys aged 14–18 are trafficked for forced labour or prostitution, the perpetrators can be held criminally responsible for other related crimes under the Criminal Law of China, and the punishment is relatively heavier. In this regard, the Committee recalls that the Convention applies to all children under 18 years of age and that the prohibition of child trafficking must extend to boys and girls (paragraph 450 of the General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, 2012). The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate the provisions in the national legislation that establish penalties for the offences related to the sale and trafficking of boys aged 14–18 years.

Articles 5 and 7(1). Monitoring mechanisms and penalties. Sale and trafficking of children. The Committee notes the Government’s information that the Supreme People’s Court, in conjunction with the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security, continues to carry out special crackdowns on crimes of trafficking in women and children, effectively curbing the high incidence of such crimes. The Government indicates that the number of such cases accepted by the People’s Court has been declining year by year. Since 2021, the public security organs have launched an operation named “Reunion”, making an all-out effort to resolve cases of child trafficking, arrest suspects and search for children who were trafficked. The Government further indicates that in 2018, 30 people were prosecuted in a mega case of transnational child trafficking in Yunnan Province. In 2020, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate guided the handling of a series of child trafficking cases in southeast Hubei province and identified more than 20 cases of trafficking in children. Furthermore, according to the statistical information provided by the Government, in 2020, the People’s Courts at all levels across the country examined 546 cases of trafficking in women and children. Of the 1,103 defendants convicted of trafficking in women and children, 55.94 per cent were sentenced to imprisonment of more than five years. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the investigations, prosecutions and penalties applied, in particular the data concerning the sale and trafficking of children under 18 years for labour and sexual exploitation.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.