Province tries to end child prostitution

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-02 08:51

Authorities in Guizhou province on Friday launched a campaign to crack down on the "forced prostitution of underage girls" following a recent scandal in which 11 Xishui county schoolgirls were reportedly forced into the sex trade and raped for months.

Lin Lianhua, deputy secretary of the politics and law committee of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, told a mass rally on Tuesday that he hoped the campaign would "end the kidnappings of girls, especially minors".

Lin added: "The campaign, which will last until the end of this year, will also target those who force minors to beg or commit crimes."

Seven people - four government officials, a legislator, a teacher and a taxi driver - stood trial behind closed doors at the Xishui county court on statutory rape charges on April 8.

The hearing ended on April 9. Prosecutors announced on April 22 they had suspended charges against the seven people who had been tried for statutory rape after "new evidence" was found, without elaborating further.

The suspects were accused of raping 11 teenage girls, all primary and secondary school students in Xishui, from Oct 2007 to July 2008.

Yuan Li, a 37-year-old "former prostitute", and two of her friends, allegedly abetted the rapes, said the Xishui county court.

A spokesman for the court said: "Yuan knew many influential people in town. She offered her own apartment as a hospitality venue for raping the girls, helped find clients and took a 30 percent commission - roughly 100 yuan ($14) per person."

The remaining 70 percent went to her sidekicks, a 14-year-old school dropout surnamed Liu and Liu's boyfriend, 15-year-old Yuan, the spokesman said.

He said the two teenagers, who are drug addicts and wanted to make a fast buck, abducted the girls from a primary school and three junior high schools in the county.

Zhao Xiang, deputy chief of Guizhou Provincial Public Security Bureau, said on Thursday that as part of the campaign, the police would target those who "organize, force, introduce or allow people to engage in prostitution, or rape minors".

Ringleaders suspected of organizing or harboring women to enter prostitution or provide venues for prostitution would be dealt with severely, said Zhao.

Xinhua