A campaign to prevent trafficking in girls and young women for
labor exploitation has been launched by the Chinese government and
the International Labor Organization.
Girls and young women are the most vulnerable groups among
migrant workers, often ending up doing various forms of forced
labor or in prostitution.
Scheduled to last four years, the campaign will concentrate on
five provinces. Anhui, Hunan and Henan are categorized as sources
of trafficked girls and young women, who are then sent to Jiangsu
and Guangdong provinces.
Shenzhen is one of four cities in Guangdong involved in the
campaign.
A steering committee was set up in Shenzhen last Wednesday to
guide a multidimensional partnership of local governments and
organizations, including the women's federation and the bureaus of
education, public security, labor, culture, civil affairs,
population and family planning and justice.
The committee is now investigating female migrant workers in
Shenzhen, who make up 53 percent of migrants in the city. Many of
them live in the selected trial districts of Bao'an and Longgang.
Three communities will be selected in the two districts for
detailed work this year.
The project is being financed by the British Department for
International Development with US$2.3 million and the central
government with 2.2 million yuan (US$266,000). Shenzhen will spend
200,000 yuan (US$24,000) each year on the project.
(Shenzhen Daily March 22, 2005)