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By Zhu Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-12-15 10:07

Six countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region signed a joint declaration on Friday to reaffirm their commitment to eradicating human trafficking and preventing labor and sex exploitation.

The declaration was signed in Beijing as part of the Second Inter-Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT), which involves China, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.

Participating countries agreed that while the response to human trafficking in the region has progressed over the years, obstacles to eradicating the practice remain.

Figures from China's Ministry of Public Security show that police receive about 100 reports of women and children being sold between China and the five other countries every year.

Ministry documents also show that 209 people who had been trafficked to China were repatriated to Vietnam and Myanmar last year. Girls and women in Yunnan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are also at risk of being abducted and taken to neighboring countries such as Thailand for sex exploitation.

"Given the growing economy and mass migration, such transnational cases are on the rise in the region," Vice-Minister of Public Security Zhang Xinfeng told a press briefing after the meeting.

"Therefore, stronger regional cooperation and criminal justice responses are needed."

Maung Oo, Myanmar's Minister of Home Affairs, said the sub-region is "infamous for human trafficking" and called for more information sharing and stronger collaboration among taskforce members.

Prior to the signing of the joint declaration, the six countries on Thursday endorsed a follow-up action plan, the second COMMIT Sub-regional Plan of Action (2008-10), which focuses on policymaking and capacity-building in law enforcement and criminal justice as well as protection, recovery and reintegration of victims.

"In the COMMIT process, we have a rare and important example of a cross-border, government-led process delivering results according to international standards," Khalid Malik, the United Nations Resident Coordinator of China, said.

And Zhang said the number of human trafficking cases within China had been decreasing at a rate of about 10 percent a year since 2000.

Police handled 2,500 trafficking cases last year, cracking 80 to 90 percent of them, he said.

The vice-minister said China has zero tolerance for such crimes. The Criminal Law stipulates that traffickers could face life sentences or even the death penalty in serious cases.

Local media reported on Thursday that a court in Guangdong Province had jailed five people for up to 14 and a half years for abducting and selling eight children.

Reports said the five had coaxed children from villages near the boomtown of Dongguan with snacks starting in August 2005, and then sold them for 13,000 yuan ($1,760) each.