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Tuesday, July 16, 2019, 13:02
Rising concern over child molestation cases
By Zhou Wenting
Tuesday, July 16, 2019, 13:02 By Zhou Wenting

A volunteer social worker gives a lecture on avoiding sexual assault to children in Suichuan county, Jiangxi province. (XIAO YUANPAN / CHINA DAILY)

A case involving a billionaire founder of a real estate company suspected of molesting a 9-year-old girl at a luxury hotel in Shanghai has sparked public outrage in the media.

"Education equips children with the ability to spot unusual contact and tells them about detailed steps to protect themselves as best they can in case such incidents happen to them."

Sun Xuemei, one of the founders of the Girls' Protection Program

Local media identified the man detained by Shanghai police on July 3 as 57-year-old Wang Zhenhua, then chairman of the board of Seazen, a property developer in the city.

Police also detained a woman, a friend of the victim's mother who is suspected of taking the girl to the hotel.

The alleged offense occurred on June 29, leaving the child with injuries to her genitalia, according to Xinmin Evening News in Shanghai.

The Shanghai People's Procuratorate gave approval on Wednesday for the two suspects to be arrested. The case has highlighted child molestation in the country, with such incidents being more widespread than many imagined.

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The Girls' Protection Program at the China Foundation of Culture and Arts for Children said 11,500 cases of child molestation were heard and adjudicated by domestic courts from 2015 to November.

Child protection experts said parents, schools and legal and educational authorities agree on the importance of education aimed at helping children protect themselves from sexual assault.

Lectures initiated by schools, legal departments and nongovernmental organizations have been offered to children in many areas, including Beijing and Shanghai as well as Guangdong, Fujian and Hunan provinces.

Based on these efforts and the resources available, experts suggested making such education a compulsory part of the school curriculum to help children and parents remain alert to the potential dangers and avoid risks.

Girls ages 9 to 13 attend a class on juvenile physiology, sex and reproductive health at a hospital in Zhengzhou, Henan province. (GUO WEI / CHINA DAILY)

Song Wenzhen, a counsel at the National Working Committee on Children and Women, which is responsible to the State Council, said, "Similar to safety lessons regarding fire escapes and traffic rules, such education needs repetition, as it's hard for children to master the skills and steps to cope through just one lecture.

"Systematic and scientific design of such classes to prevent sexual assault of children of different age groups is also important."

You Lina, a prosecutor who handles cases involving juveniles in Shanghai, said: "More efforts should be made in preventive education. Although knowing how to cope with such incidents afterward is also important for children, parents and society to best protect the child involved, this comes only as a remedy."

China Daily talked to 25 parents of children ages 3 to 12. Twenty of the parents said they had discussed the prevention of sexual assault with their children. From time to time, they remind them never to let others touch their private parts, to stay away from strangers who approach them, and to avoid being left alone with strangers.

However, Sun Xuemei, one of the founders of the Girls' Protection Program, said parents need more knowledge about how to educate their children. For example, minors should keep an eye on unusual behavior by anyone-not only strangers but also people they believe they know well.

"In this sense, anyone acting abnormally, such as touching children's private parts or letting children see or touch theirs, is dangerous," Sun said.

The Girls' Protection Program said nearly 320 sexual assault cases involving 750 minors were reported by media nationwide last year, and two-thirds of them were committed by people working with or near children, such as teachers, school bus drivers and security guards.

Children learn about child protection by playing checkers at a welfare house in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. (ZHANG YANXIONG / CHINA DAILY)

Detailed steps

Li Min, the mother of a 4-year-old girl in Shanghai, said: "When we look back on our childhood and teenage years, many of us experienced uncomfortable bodily contact from others to a different extent, but most of us were confused about such situations and didn't understand what had happened until years later."

Sun said, "Education equips children with the ability to spot unusual contact and tells them about detailed steps to protect themselves as best they can in case such incidents happen to them."

The program has staged lessons on protection against sexual assault for children of both genders in 30 provinces and regions since its establishment in 2013, and last year it updated a systematic teaching plan involving professional advice.

Sun said one of the most important precautions for children to take is to avoid or refuse a request for a one-on-one encounter with a person of the opposite sex, particularly in a confined environment.

"Some lawbreakers make such requests ... to see if the child has been alerted. If the person finds the child has been educated (about avoiding one-on-one contacts with others), he or she may halt their plan," she said.

Gu Ying, director of juvenile cases at the procuratorate in Shanghai's Huangpu district, said they had stressed to teachers that they should keep a "respectable distance" from children, especially those of the opposite sex. For example, male teachers should not invite girl students to their offices or homes alone.

She also said juveniles should be cautious when meeting people dressed improperly in public, such as those inclined to challenge rules and who have no respect for their own bodies.

In 2014, Huangpu district was the first in the city to distribute booklets to school students and residential communities on the prevention of sexual assault. The booklets are now distributed throughout the city.

According to experts, if juveniles are sexually assaulted in public, they should shout for help.

Zhu Daqian, deputy director of psychology at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, said it may be hard for a child to say "stop" out loud to an adult, so parents and teachers must help them through role-playing activities.

Sun said the Girls' Protection Program learned that after receiving such education, children had avoided assault on public transportation. Others had told their parents after falling victim to assault in similar circumstances.

"This helps them avoid being a victim for a second time," she said.

Xue Ling, center, from the Girls' Protection Program, tells students at a primary school in Yuzhou, Henan province, how to avoid sexual assault. (PHOTO / CHINA DAILY)

Liu Xing, a 17-year-old girl from Chongqing, said this education helps minors to not only protect themselves but also others.

She once found a man edging closer to a girl younger than herself on the subway, and the girl was moving toward Liu. "I said out loud to the man, 'You get off at this stop, right? Otherwise you should not have got closer and closer'." Heeding Liu's comments, the man got off at that stop.

On June 1, Shanghai became the first provincial-level region in the country to require anyone seeking a job near places where juveniles gather to have no record of sexual misconduct. Such places include schools, educational and physical training institutions, hospitals and child welfare facilities.

The policy applies not only to teachers, doctors, coaches and caregivers, but also to security guards, gatekeepers, school bus drivers and cleaners who have opportunities to come into contact with minors during their work.

READ MORE: Stronger punishments urged to combat sexual assault of minors

Sun said: "Some scenarios, such as one or two little kindergarten girls being taken by a male teacher from one spot to another in a school, are hard to avoid. As a result, we demand powerful systems to protect vulnerable children."

zhouwenting@chinadaily.com.cn

Students in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, take part in a role-playing activity. (ZHANG DI / CHINA DAILY)

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