Child trafficking in China from a human rights-based approach: A case study of three Chinese provinces

Child trafficking is a heinous crime and a severe violation of human rights that concerns every country, including China. Child trafficking in China has particularities and is subject that has been under-evaluated. The prohibition of child trafficking in China has historically focused on the domestic abduction and sale of children, which has always existed in Chinese history. In the 1980s, the crime became widespread, and public concern reignited. The existing domestic legal framework based on the first Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, adopted in 1979, is remindful of a long history of contrasting a widespread practice. Human rights violations are both causes and consequences of child trafficking, either domestic or transnational. This research examined the crime of child trafficking, as defined in Article 240 of the Criminal Law of China, in three provinces of China (Guangdong, Shandong, and Yunnan) from a human rights perspective, analysing factors that may cause and facilitate child trafficking and human rights issue arise during and after trafficking process, as well as the State's obligations under international human rights law. To ensure that the research questions are adequately addressed, this research adopted a mixed-methods approach. There are three criminal modes of child trafficking: the abduction and sale of children (M1), the parental sale of children (M2), and the organised child trafficking (M3). The quantitative analysis of 1,567 court judgements at national level drew up the flows of trafficked children in the three provinces of study. Detailed analysis of the court judgements regarding 689 victims in Guangdong, Shandong and Yunnan Provinces unveiled both differences and similarities in the trafficking patterns presented in the three provinces. The crime was concentrated in rural areas. Most of the children were trafficked for illegal adoption. They were primarily infants less than one year old. Both boys and girls were vulnerable to trafficking. The anecdotic evidence based on ...