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Subscribe to RSSA year after the Chinese government started targeting human trafficking, the country’s security ministry reported that in the last year police had rescued 24,000 women and children who had been abducted, the Irish Times reported.
Some women had been sent as far as Angola, in Africa, to be prostituted, the BBC reported. One third of those rescued were children; the rest were women. Most were found during police raids of more than 3,000 gangs dedicated to human trafficking.
The black market for children is a growing problem in China, the BBC reported, and critics blame the country’s one-child policy. The preference for boys over girls has led to an increase in the trafficking of young boys, many of whom are sold to couples without children, the Irish Times reported.
Women were bought for labor and as brides for unmarried sons, the BBC reported.
The Ministry of Public Security, as the Chinese police agency is formally called, said it has started using a DNA database of missing children to make it easier to reunite them with their families.
Officials did not say how many people were kidnapped in China in 2011.
Abductions erupted into a nationwide scandal in 2007 after it was revealed that thousands of people were forced into slavery at brick factories and mines, the Irish Times reported. Nearly 600 people were immediately released, many of them teenagers, and one man was sentenced to death, the BBC reported.
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Soldiers killing civilians and children, gangs trafficking women and children - great start to the week! what a hopeless world this is turning out to be.
The grayest area's of the Bible are increasing as in Revelation, time is running out..
@ Jackie
It has always been hopeless, we just hear about it more now.
And what exactly does your "magic book" have to do with the real world Lusitania ?
The only difference between now and previous centuries?
We have the internet, and news is everywhere.
There is nothing new under the sun, people. Now we just hear about it.
Its not the world that is hopeless, its just the people...
It starts with a basic disrespect for human life and dignity.
Slavery has always been around. We only hear about it now, because of the media and our access to the internet and a lot of countries have come to the conclusion that it is very wrong.
I do not know what it has to do with the end of time in the bible. From what I've read, slavery was ok in the bible, because the people that wrote it lived in a time when it was fine to sell your kids or yourself into slavery.
Exactly...
jackie, did you just learn that this week. You are way behind the learning curve.
Good to see China doing something about their problem, hope that trend continues. Maybe they want to be a civilized country after all.....one could hope.
What country doesn't have slaves?
And here I thought China was having a female gender population problem... I guess now I know where they are in Angola. Sorry about the blunt sarcasm.
@Leroy
We are all slaves its just there is a caste and they are in the bottom.
I'm not a slave. There is nothing that can be compared to slavery. Stick that class warfare bull up you asss.
Chinese people seriously lacked foresight. The idea was the more kids you have, the better, so many of them started living in absolute poverty because of this. Then after they started controlling the population, they decided that guys > girls, so they created this population imbalance. Now, polygamy's illegal, so having way too many guys will make reproduction difficult. Plus they'll find it hard to get laid, so my guess is that the gender ratio will be balanced out within 1-2 generations.
@ Leroy
I hope you know the definition of a slave is not always a person working in captivity for someone else. Check Mariam-Webster and check definition number 2 before you go and start comparing all types of slavery to American slavery.
@Spartan
I agree, but, when I went to China. I found out that to have more than one child, you must pay a hefty tax. For some folks over there, they still believe a man is better at doing jobs and bringing in income than women and in their culture for the most part it might be true.
every civilized government in the world has had or has slavery.
Glenn...human trafficking exists in the US too. In fact, statistics reveal that we are one of the highest. Yes..I found it hard to believe too, but it's a cold hard fact.
glen for your misinformation, china was civilized way before the US. Why do you think they have over 1 billion people, because civilized people don't kill other people. Just because the US sweeps most of its problems under the rug, out of sight out of mind, doesn't mean we don't have problems like what they are having.
@ Spartan... You mean polyandry, which is women marrying multiple men. Polygamy is only a term for a man marrying many women. :-) Not trying to pick apart your comment... I just know few people know that there is a difference.
Spartan said:
Chinese people seriously lacked foresight. The idea was the more kids you have, the better, so many of them started living in absolute poverty because of this. Then after they started controlling the population, they decided that guys > girls, so they created this population imbalance. Now, polygamy's illegal, so having way too many guys will make reproduction difficult. Plus they'll find it hard to get laid, so my guess is that the gender ratio will be balanced out within 1-2 generations.
The idea was that when you lived in poverty, the more children you had, the better your chances of having a child survive to adulthood and take care of you in your twilight years. Infant mortality was high.
Now with China's economy getting better, their sights have turned capitalistic; keep what you have and get more. Since having girl children traditionally meant you had to give the girl a 'dowry' when they got married, then your belongings would go to enrich her husbands family, so girls were considered 'worthless'. A man who wanted to marry a higher-status woman would have to give a bride-price, but bride prices were negligible compared to a dowry.
Then in an effort to control their population the government instituted a one-child policy. If you want more than one child you pay a fine/tax--unless your first child is a girl, then your tax is reduced if you try again and have a boy. Having a second girl child is beyond what most poor families can afford so gender-selective abortions are offered and in some cases you can get financial assistance from the government to abort a girl so you can try again for a boy. If you have a girl and she dies-(like that toddler who was run over in a street and no one helped) you can get a special permit from the Chinese government to have another child. Statisticians who have studied China's population control experiments have noted that almost all abortions done in China are second children, and abortions of girls far outnumber abortions of boys.
The end result is that China now has 30 million more males than females and while the government has finally realized their short-sightedness and is starting to publicly speak out against gender-selective abortions(and is no longer offering state-sponsored abortions) it still takes time to right that. In the meantime, however, there is a steady traffic in infant girls from all over the Asian continent to China, infants and young girls 'purchased' by families and raised as brides for their sons. Without the human trafficking trade, in the next 50 or so years this gender imbalance is going to result in increased violence toward Chinese women when a male who is under pressure to produce an heir by his family will rape a Chinese woman to get her pregnant; the girl will be forced to marry her rapist and the man's family won't need to give a bride price because the girl is no longer 'pure'. Her family would not offer one either because she has 'shamed and dishonored' her family by getting pregnant out of wedlock. Refusal to marry her rapist cold lead to her being stoned to death.
The younger, more progressive generation in China (particularly those who have come to Western countries like the US to study or visit) is getting involved; those who advocate for a democratic government instead of the communist regime are also speaking out against the practice of dowries and there are growing numbers of young people who have refused to marry under traditional bride-price laws and more and more are embracing Western marriages in which both partners are equal.
However such changes are slow and things are only going to get worse before they get better, which is why more Chinese women are traveling to give birth. Hong Kong has been influenced by western traditions more than the Chinese mainland and gender-selective abortions were abolished long ago; likewise those who can afford it are traveling here to America to have their babies (mostly girls) via birth tourism because the jus soli citizenship laws in the US will provide these children an out if they decide they no longer want to live in a communist country when they get older.
I'm confused. Is the human trafficking going out of China, Chinese women and children being sent out of China, or are other people being brought in?
The boys are sold in china the girls are cast out like garbage.
Both, actually. Chinese women trafficked internally and abroad in a white slavery trade. Russian and Vietnamese women trafficked into China.
Now when will someone do something about Mexico?
How about you do "something."
If you have a real, actual, usuable idea that can help the people of Mexico ( and by effect, Mexico's neighbors), don't keep it to yourself. The best thing I can think of is make the value of their gangs' exports (drugs) plummet.
Eliminate the Meth at the source. The giant chemical plants in India. MAKE them disclose their buyers. Washington is weak with India. Meth can be stopped. Natural drugs are a totally different matter. Legalize pot. Execute Heroin dealers. How's that Hal? you smartass.There are lots of ideas and a lot of inaction.
@leroy
You mean to tell me the whole thing you wrote about mexico was about heroin? Thats the biggest problem you see in Mexico?
There have been some recent successes that Mexico has been able to achieve. As the piece suggests police action has to be done by each country. The US effort in the areas of human, weapons and drug trafficking is through our attempts at border protection.
Million laughs, Leroy. Million laughs. These responses of yours seem so odd sitting next to a picture of Malcolm X. Then again, I suppose you think he went soft at the end.
hahahahaha, I don't even know how to repond to you leroy. What grade did you drop out of? We have problems in Mexico and to solve it we have to deal with India. Do you even know they are in different continents?
2012 and slavery is alive and well in almost every country including America.
I'll bet San Francisco has at least 2,000 asian sex slaves. Texas probably has 5,000 hispanic sex slaves. Egypt and Libya both have a thriving slave trade. Mostly house or field workers. Arabs see it as prestigious to own black slaves brought in from the Sudan.
What a disgusting world we live in. I'm not against prostitution, but I am 100% against slavery no matter what form it comes in.
@ Leroy
I am sure you pulled those numbers out of your ass, go back to school as you keep telling me.
@Phenomenal112
The man said "I'll bet" and "probably". He obviously was stating his opinion, and not claiming to pull those numbers out of a stats data-base. You sound like someone who might need to pull something out of somewhere or another...
Too many oppions, not really about the article. Making me write dumb comments.
leroy, why the disparity between races in different regions? Is there a preference by men in each region?
And the gangs are more than likely run by government officials in China. I guess we will never know until their internet gets uncensored.
We will never know until we learn to read Chinese.
Phenomenally stupid. It's OUR two governments restricting info. Not a FRIGGIN LANGUAGE BARRIER. You don't think there are Americans who can read Chinese?
Sure there some Americans who can read Chinese, but if I hacked their sites, unblocked their censorship, can you understand?
phenomenal, everything is written in binary code and converted to ASCII, you can descipher any language because of that fact. You actually don't need to know chinese, but I take it that if you didn't know that much, you wouldn't even know how or where to start hacking their sites.
one small step forward for communist china. Out of 1.5 billion plus chinese, there exists 24K poor chinese newly forced to work for food. That's 2.4x10^4 / 1.5x10^9 = 1.6x10^-5 = 0.0016 % of new chinese saved from slave labor. That's just communist china.
I believe religion and law combined don't have the characters to solve this problem in evolution.
And yet, somehow we owe them trillions of dollars.
Wrong again. Go back to school. China owns 8% of our debt. Japan owns 6%. Private investors own more than China.
I worry about the people voting for Phenomenal.
And I worry about you leroy. We owe China atleast 1.16 trillion and rising, I don't know where where you pulled those percentage numbers from.
This is impossible!
China is our friend and ally! A trusted trading partner and favored nation!
Sorry peteMT, I have to disagree. There is alot of competition between us to call them an ally or atleast a friend. I wouldn't call them a trusted trading partner either. It is true that the make our ipods and we sell them, but the amout of software piracy and un-regulated copyright infringment really does cost us. I guess you can call them a favored nation compared to iran, and is probably the most favored communist "friend" we can ever have, and remember people can't own land in china, houses are leased there. Ally is someone who has the same agenda as you do. Our government opposes Assad, theirs reinforces him.
Freind? Not really. Ally? Nobody makes that claim. Trusted trading partner? No more than anyone else. Prefered trading partner? Yes. Nobody else is really trying or able to compete to manufacture the needed goods that are manufactured there. You are probably staring at a Chinese product at this very moment.
The point of the article as I read it is that China has been making huge advances in the prevention of human traficking. No matter how you feel about China, that is a good thing. And while they still have many improvements to make, they have come a long, long way to reducing human rights issues. This isn't Mao's China anymore.
Pete Your sarcasm was lost on this slow crowd.
Phenominal. I think your in over your head. The SARCASM couldn't have been more OBVIOUS. A blind man could see it. WOW. You to HAL.
Ha ha ha an Article about human trafficking, and I fall for a sarcasm about being an ally. What a dumb comment to post on all sides.
Leroy and Phenomenal. Will you two go do this lover quarrel stuff somewhere else. Your both getting tedious.
I.. I don't know how I could have made that post MORE sarcastic unless.. I actually used the word in between the others...?
Anyone?
Wow.
Something else China can sell in Walmart
I'll take two. Turn them upside down and carry them like a sixpack.
China "concerned" about its people....?
What was the name of the PR firm they hired?
Feel my stomach needs a week of good news for a change for the world.Our world is getting smaller where we hear every bit of bad news.
iwatchnews.org by the Center for Public Integrity carries news stories, quite thorough and neutral. Newsvine comments are addictive, however, and offers an opportunity to glean insight from prolific posters as Michael L Morowitz, Stone6, Frank Morton, and the king of broken records, TrustVerify.
And for witty comments such as this:
And who could forget Wordsworth additions like Republitard and Obammy... Tin Foil. I learn so much on the Vine.
Chinese invade africa, steal all the (endangered) wildlife (after depleting their own stocks) to make aphrodisiacs, create childrens and send the back to Africa as sex slaves - perfect cycle!
STOP THE CHINESE!
Wonder where they learned it from? But stoping the chinese, you first.
Smorgas Borgas!
ok then how about some good news. yesterday my wife gave birth to a 4.1 kg baby girl here in china, and both are doing fine. neither have been stolen yet "touch wood". the doctors feel confident that due to the number of family members we have watching them 24/7 they most likely wont go missing in the hospital. however they refuse to comment on the goings on out of the hospital maternity ward. its not their business.
on another note this might not be good news to you, but i am sure any parent knows the feeling of having a happy healthy bub. peace.
Congratulations, johnnybear! I wish you and your family health, prosperity, and long life!
As for the article, while it is good to know that there are forces in the world working against slavery and exploitation, sadly, I think 24,000 may only be "one small drop in the bucket," so to speak. As the world increasingly becomes a global community, it is my hope that this sort of trafficking will become harder and harder to hide, and humanity will fight it more aggressively. It is important to remember that those exploited are our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, and we must fight for their rights and freedom as we would want them to fight for ours if we were in their place.
I could use a good house keeper :)
My son went to China few years ago and was shocked to find out that if you have a baby girl first, it is left to die like garbage. If you have a boy, then having a second child as a boy is worth the tax, but a girl, sometimes it is either left to die somewhere, or in this case sold for varies reasons. All depends on what part of China you live in.
I think the minute a woman finds out she is pregnant she should be given an ultra sound to determine it's gender, so if it's a girl, she can abort if they do not want that child. Better than carrying to full term, left to die, or sold like a commodity in the market place and suffer to live a life treated like garbage.
what's really scary is if the chinese turns out to be homophobic, then their customs may force their boys to be homosexual because there will be so much more manly man. And all the chinese woman seized and married to wealthy family beforehand....
Damn people........some of you have weired opinions.
And the weirdest thing, if thats what you meant, is that you have an opinion too. But if you meant wired, then I agree.
All of the Chinese side of the family are very supportive, and I am not Chinese. So we both win. also steven100 did you stop and think that it is actually many gov leaders that do that to ensure their seed has a top standing position in future politics. After all most Chinese gov still admire Chairman Mao and if you know anything about him he had 7 wives and killed a few for having daughters instead of sons.
having said that most of what you are talking about is not the norm in china and does position itself in guerilla motherhood, and the afore mentioned. now if you want a history lesson then yes girls were dumped in the river decades ago by farmers who needed a son not just for spite over women, it was to ensure they should keep their land according to local government regs. pretty much the same happened in the history of the U.S. when women could not own land and could not vote, or indians for that matter.
Don’t get me wrong I am not an avid supporter of what the Chinese gov is up to. Especially the global elicit trade. But I will say this, the average Chinese just hopes for a happy healthy baby, boy or a girl. Having lived in a maternity ward in china for the last two weeks I really know that’s true. Guerilla mothers rarely stay in Chinese hospitals as there is too much paper work to contend with. That’s the black market.
local chinese leaders feel they are no longer slaves and therefore are kings and that is the biggest problem.That is where corruption stems from in china. you cant get a job unless you are connected to the gov, you cant make a new building unless you are connected to the gov, you cant do anything unless you are connected to the gov, and if you are a foreigner you are hated by the party line. but the good news is as i have said and that any parent will know, happy healthy bub. peace.
The Chinese mafia is as corrupt and dangerous as any American mafia gang, and they have no problems working in any country where they can gain entry -- legally or otherwise. Of these 3,000 gangs, how many of their members were arrested? Probably very few, if any, since the bribes to government officials to allow the practice can be substantial, and we all know how corrupt most Chinese officials have become.
In India females embryos are often aborted or left to die. China is the same. Until women and children are recognized as humans and not possessions will this world ever change.
European attitudes toward children and women is a new one. Not long ago women could not vote, own property, practice birth control or have divorce options.
Oh, and let's not forget that most "made in U.S.A." clothing was made by Chinese slaves in American Samoa and other territories. It goes like this: "You want to go get a job in America?" and when they're brought there, they find out that's the closest they get and now have to work for years to obtain passage fees to go home.
Tom Delay squashed investigations into this for over a decade. So let's not act as if we here in the states are not guilty of taking advantage of these peoples as well. Check those labels and ASK! If they can't tell you, move on. Lot's of consignment shops out there as well as stores who actually PAY their workers.
you dont seem to get it. in china the first step is going to jail the second step is paying money to get out. thats how it works here. or are you telling me my last 11 years living in china is wrong? i have seen it happen. when you talk about the chinese mafia you are actualy talking about the chinese gov. nothing happens in china without some gov knoledge. then the gov can chose to confirm or deny any actions due to the situation at hand.
Did someone say sex slaves? Why use the unwilling when there are those who welcome it.
collarme.com
I'm still amazed at how huge the human trafficking black market is. I can't understand how anyone can kidnap people and sell or enslave them. It makes me want to go all "Liam Neeson" on these traffickers. ("Taken" movie reference)