At the first Sino-European Forum on Human Rights, held in Strasbourg, France on Friday, a prosecutor said that China has established a juvenile prosecution and court system under China's legal and justice systems to deal with juvenile crimes.
Zhou Ying, a prosecutor from the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China, speaks at the first Sino-European Forum on Human Rights held in Strasbourg, France on Dec. 4, 2015. [Photo by Zhang Rui / China.org.cn]
"Considering the characteristics of juvenile crimes, China decided to set up special departments to do it," said Zhou Ying, a prosecutor from the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China. She added that China has always had mercy when it comes to saving young offenders, and that the country added a chapter concerning juvenile crimes prosecution procedures to the amendment of China's Criminal Law in 2012.
"China's policy is to save juvenile offenders by correction and education, and tries to make fewer arrests according to the evaluation of the particular situation," she said.
Violent juvenile crimes have been on the rise in recent years. Many are related to gangs, while migrant workers' children also pose a problem and are easily involved in crimes as they have often receive a low level of education.
At the same time, protecting and helping juvenile crime victims is also important, she said, and China's various departments will help them avoid committing a second offense.
However, China has shown no mercy when it comes to crimes committed against children. Ma Dong said at the forum that from 2010 to 2014, China has cracked down hard on child and women trafficking crimes and completed criminal court proceedings of 7,719 cases. As a result, 13,159 criminals were sentenced, among whom 7,236 were sentenced to more than five years in prison. In some cases, offenders were given the death penalty. The severe punishment rate was more than 54 percent.
Under this iron-handed crackdown, the numbers of cases and sentenced individuals have decreased year on year since 2012, which indicates that China has made obvious strides in this area.
"We have principles in mind for the justice system to protect children's best interests," Ma said. "Do everything for every child."
Isabelle Lenger, member of the Bar Council of Strasbourg, also introduced France's criminal and civil laws as well as regulations regarding children and child pornography. Regina Jensdottir, head of the Children's Rights Division chez Council of Europe, talked about the sexual abuse of minors and introduced the Council of Europe Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.
One in five children under 18 in Europe is a victim of sexual violence. In 70 to 85 percent of cases, the perpetrator is a person known to the child and part of their "circle of trust," said Regina Jensdottir, showing a clip of a promotional animated short entitled "Tell Someone You Trust."
She added that much of the suffering remains hidden because children feel afraid to speak out; in 90 percent of cases, abuse is not reported to the police.
Professor Liu Hainian, director of the Center for Human Rights Studies at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that China, too, has made progress by abolishing the crime of "soliciting underage prostitutes" in October and converting it to the crime of rape.
European experts and lawyers said that the sexual abuse of children in Europe covers a wide range. Rape, sexual molestation, improper touching, virtual sex and seducing children to read porn are all specific areas of concern. Additionally, the conventions and laws not only protect underage girls, but also boys.
Chinese and European scholars together with judges have also exchanged views and shared respective statistics from both sides concerning various issues ranging from the illegal use of child labor, child trafficking, juvenile crimes and court systems to education for children. The forum was held jointly by the European Court of Human Rights, the University of Strasbourg, the China Society for Human Rights Studies and the International Institute of Human Rights.
