The Chinese government has launched a campaign to educate rural women and children on their legal rights and how to defend themselves against the growing problem of people trafficking.

Statistics from the Public Security Ministry show Chinese police resolved 20,360 cases of women and children trafficking from 2001 to 2003, arresting 22,018 human traders and emancipating42,215 kidnapped children and women.

The crackdown on human traffickers, who face severe court penalties, including the death sentence, was only one side of the government's measures to fight the practice, said Zhang Jing, an official with the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF).

She said the government was also calling for assistance from the country to fight against human trafficking, what experts consider a complicated "social" problem.

"Children and women are the most vulnerable targets due to their inability to defend themselves," Zhang said.

Most kidnapped women, who are either sold for marriage in remote rural areas or forced into prostitution, came from rural areas and were easily lured with money or lucrative "jobs".

Renshou County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, which saw 2,458 local women and children kidnapped from 1995 to 2001, launched a powerful anti-trafficking campaign in the past two years.

Ma Xiaoling, vice-president of the provincial women's federation, said most of the women disappeared while seeking jobs in cities, a move driven by poverty. But their lack of education and naivety from living sheltered lives made them easy prey for criminal elements.

In response, the local government has printed anti-trafficking slogans on calendars, cards, T-shirts and umbrellas. Advice centers are set up when migrant rural women return for holidays to warn them of the dangers of human trafficking.

Statistics show that Renshou, with a population of 1.6 million, has over 300,000 surplus rural laborers, of which 120,000 are migrant women workers.

Local government departments also published pamphlets with vivid pictures depicting scenarios in which women and children should be on their guard against strangers.

Meanwhile, the local women's federation organized skills training for over 700 women in pilot villages, teaching them horticulture, pig raising and health care to help them shake off poverty.

The campaign had secured 170,000 yuan in funding from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the local government by the end of 2003 to provide 100 needy households with a subsidy of 1,500 to 2,000 yuan each for schooling and farming costs.

"With women having better standards of living with advanced farming skills and children going to school, cases of human trafficking have decreased greatly," Ma said, adding only three women were kidnapped last year.

Xinye County, central China's Henan Province, which also used to be a prime focus for women and children traffickers, has tried to incorporate lessons on human trafficking into elementary and middle school education.

Liu Jukui, head of an elementary school at Shangzhuang Village, was impressed by the move. "I had thought the fight against human trafficking was confined to the public security departments. Now I know it needs the participation of the whole of society," he said.

Liu and his colleagues are treating the legal and security education as an important lesson.

Zhang Jing said the government would strengthen crackdown on human trafficking and target the campaign at more possible victims, especially women and children in rural areas, this year.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2004)