Guarding the vulnerable(3)

Shortcomings of the law

In addition to spreading knowledge about how to prevent sexual abuse, China's laws are also being improved to impose harsher punishment on offenders.

Participants at the annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in March 2014 have proposed to repeal the law that identifies sex with an underage prostitute as a separate crime, claiming that such crimes should be treated in the same way as the rape of a child, and punished accordingly.

Under the current law, people who have sex with prostitutes under 14 years old face a maximum of 15 years in prison, whereas those convicted of raping a child face the death sentence.

Zhu Zhengfu, a member of the National Committee of the CPPCC, criticized criminalization of children under 14 who are pushed into prostitution, saying that the law improperly treats the victims as prostitutes, rather than children who have been raped.

However, the proposal was not accepted as the NPC's Legislative Affairs Committee replied that the law itself is not wrong but it is improperly applied to cases where rape is involved. The application of the law should be more strictly supervised in the future to ensure justice. However, the committee also said it would take into consideration the suggestions while revising and improving the Criminal Law.

Role of schools and parents

With legal progress in protecting children from sexual abuse yet to be made, parents and schools should play their part in protecting children from sexual abuse.

"Parents should give children the necessary sex education," said Sun Yunxiao with the China Youth and Children Research Center.

They should tell children at an early age that others should not touch their bodies, especially the private parts. If children know such a simple thing, they will shout aloud if somebody tries to abuse them and the offenders may stop their act, he added.

For those parents whose children have already suffered abuse, they should call the police. Parents should stay calm and keep evidence such as the pants their children wore when being abused.

Once children have suffered abuse, they should tell those they trust rather than hiding the fact. Some girls who have been sexually abused feel too ashamed to tell their parents. Such attitudes could be changed through sex education.

In addition to giving sex education courses, schools should enhance safety measures. "School management staff should conduct regular patrols of classrooms and equip students' dormitories with protective measures because many sexual assaults occur in classrooms and dormitories," Shi Weizhong, a senior official with China's Supreme People's Procuratorate, said.

Also, to prevent teachers from committing sexual abuse, higher moral standards should be upheld for teacher recruitment. Once employed, teachers should receive training programs on morality.

"We should trust teachers, but on the other hand, restrictions should be set out on contact between teachers and students. For example, teachers should not offer one-to-one instruction to students in the dormitories but in their office, with the door wide open," said Sun Yunxiao.