Jornal “Va Kio” - Legal Consultancy
From “Selling Piglets” to Baby Robbery in China

No.451 – 2008.04.02 News

After the Europeans discovered the New World, the western countries needed large-scale of labors to exploit the resources of their colonies. They brought Africans and Asians into their colonies by force to open up their new land. During the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, many Chinese were swindled out of their country to work as coolies overseas. These labors going abroad would sign a “body-selling indenture” and hence a name Contracted Chinese Labor was given to them. A colloquially Cantonese term “selling piglets (maai jyu jai)” describes the phenomenon of slave trade. The transaction was carried out by recruitment centers with officially written contract. In the old days, our government (of the Qing dynasty) was not strict on population control. Therefore numerous slaving centers were established in costal regions such as Macao, Shantou and Hong Kong. Macao was once the center of “piglet” trade in the 19th century. A lot of “piglet centers” resided in the district between St. Anthony’s Church and Ruins of St. Paul.

Nowadays, there is no more slaving center and slave trade has been forbidden worldwide long time ago. It is a pity that human trafficking still exists. Not long ago, a monstrous baby robbery happened at a place neighboring Macao, Foshan city in Guangzhou. A trafficker of a mob broke into a residence in Nanhai District, tied up the 70-year old grand mother of an eight-month old baby and took him away. The boy was immediately sold to other province for RMB 38,000.

Human Trafficking is not merely a regional problem, but also a global concern. It is one of the most profitable activities, aside from the sales of drug and weapon, to the international criminal gangs. Children and women have always been the major victims of this illegal activity. Most of the sufferers come from depressed areas and belong to the underprivileged groups, for instance child stragglers and illegal immigrants. Some traffickers will use fraud (e.g. recruiting models with high pay for overseas companies), coercion (e.g. intimidation of doing harm towards the family of victims), violence or abuse to control victims. They might even rob victims (i.e. the baby robbery case mentioned above) and sell them to other parties.

The United Nation calls upon the attention of the world to face the problem, in particular child trade, and hence established Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child prostitution and Child Pornography. It appeals all the countries to forbid and fight against the illegal activities by means of legislation and administration. The Protocal came into practice in the People’s Republic of China on 3 January 2003, and also in the Macao Special Administrative Region. In addition, according to Macao’s Organized Criminal Law (Lei da Criminalidade Organizada), the party who allure or solicit the other party to prostitution in other countries or regions will be sentenced to a maximum 8 years of imprisonment. If the victim involved is under the age of 14, the offender will be condemned to a maximum 15 years of imprisonment.

Note: With reference to Article 7 of Law No. 6/97/M, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child prostitution and Child Pornography.

(Source by DSAJ)

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