Improvement needed in combat against 'modern slavery'

Updated: 2010-11-17 09:06

By Du Wenjuan (chinadaily.com.cn)

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China needs to improve its efforts in the fight against all forms of "modern slavery" and continue its efforts in helping forced labor and human trafficking victims, a US Senior Advisor to the State Department said Tuesday.

More attention should be paid to all forms of slavery, but not only to the abduction of women and children for commercial use, Luis CdeBaca said during a visit to Beijing where he met with officials from the Ministry of Public Security, Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate.

By improving its legal structure and legal definition concerning related crimes, China can close the gap with international standards, CdeBaca said.

"The government itself cannot solve the problem of modern slavery," CdeBaca said. "Instead, you have to have civil society working with the government; the two working together to harness the power in a way that the victims find themselves in a better place."

China is still having a hard time dealing with problems, including the rising child and women trafficking cases, that many say are mainly brought by migration. In China, 30,000 to 60,000 children are reported missing every year, but it is hard to estimate how many are cases of human trafficking, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Supporting the children who are also involved with related crimes in a humanitarian way and offering better help to children on the streets is important and takes their "best interest" into consideration, CdeBaca said.

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