Child trafficking within China: literature review

Child trafficking violates the fundamental human rights of children and is a heinous crime that has concerned the Chinese authority and international community for a long time. As a preparation for a systematic research on the child trafficking within China from a human rights perspective, this review analyses literature, official documents and other relevant publications related to child trafficking and trafficking in persons, with a special focus on the definition and root causes of the issue, the principle and paradigm applicable when confront the crime. After a comparison of a series of national and international legal documents, reports and literature, the review identified some differences and incompatibilities of the definition of child trafficking in the Chinese and international legal framework. There are several approaches to identify and classify factors that cause and encourage human trafficking. However, most of the studies are about causal factors of international trafficking in women and children, while only a small part of literature focuses on child trafficking or domestic trafficking in persons. There is a series of interacting principles that guide the international and national anti-trafficking policies and actions in all the sectors and every aspect of an anti-trafficking response, and human rights is among the most important principles. States and international mechanisms combat child trafficking based on the paradigm for combating trafficking in persons consisting of four pillars of intervention: prevention, persecution, protection and partnership (cooperation and coordination).