Sexual abuse of minors is on the rise in China
Society & Culture
Top society and culture news for March 3, 2017. Part of the daily The China Project news roundup “Clickbait about China’s ‘parliament of billionaires’”
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China logs 30 percent rise in reported sexual assaults on children / SCMP
A recent report (in Chinese) released by a non-governmental Beijing organization shows that in 2016, a total of 433 sexual assault cases involving 778 victims who are under 14 years old were reported. This was a 30 percent increase of the previous year’s total. Juvenile victims from rural areas accounted for roughly 76 percent of the reported cases and about 34 percent were under 12 years old. The report also notes that suspects in 300 sexual assault cases were acquaintances of the victims or their parents, such as teachers, neighbors, relatives, and family members.
Nearly a third of the crimes took place at the victim’s home. The organization warned that the actual total number of cases could be much higher because most cases were not reported. On Thursday, right before this year’s annual Two Sessions political gathering, some deputies to the National People’s Congress and experts held a seminar, calling for solutions to curb the growth, which include “making sexual abuse awareness education compulsory in schools.” The suggestion, however, is not without controversy. On Tuesday, a mother from Hangzhou posted several photos to the social media platform Weibo of a book named Sex Education for Elementary School Students that was given to her son, questioning, “Is it appropriate for a second-grade child to study this?” The post attracted thousands of comments on Weibo (in Chinese). One of the most upvoted comments reads, “It is parents like you, who still regard talking about sex with children as a taboo, that hinders the development of sex education in China.”
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