One Child Policy

As China’s one-child policy nears its 31^st anniversary, there is still no end in sight to these aggressive regulations. The policy, which is still strictly enforced by the Chinese government, began in 1979 and was scheduled to end September 25, 2010. Since the implementation of the policy, government crackdowns and social pressure to have a son have resulted in at least 50 million “missing” women. A traditional preference to have sons along with the one-child policy has led to sex-selection abortions and a major gender imbalance throughout the country. Unfortunately, many families feel they must resort to extreme measures in order to ensure a male heir and avoid breaking the one-child regulation. The growing gender gap poses the question- how have such a large number of women seemingly vanished while going unnoticed by the rest of the world?

What has been termed as “gendercide” continues to produce rippling effects throughout the country that threaten and devalue the lives of women and children. The conditions of the one-child policy have allowed human trafficking to thrive as unwanted girls and boys are traded as commodities. In July, an unprecedented raid by the CCP’s Ministry of Public Security unveiled a child trafficking ring that led to the suspension of over 300 suspects. At least 81 children were rescued, including 13 babies as young as 10 days to 4 months old. The Ministry reported the deployment of 2,600 police officers from 14 provinces in the July 20^th raid. The incident has only touched the surface of a major black market in which children are bought and sold as future wives, slave laborers and sex workers. As successful as this raid may have been, the root causes of child trafficking in China are still very much in place.

Women's Rights Without Frontiers reports:

A new video featuring One Child Policy activist Chen Guangcheng was leaked to the China Aid Association Wednesday.  It has just been reported that this morning, Chen and his wife, Yuan Weijing, were “beaten senseless” in retaliation for the release of the video.

Blind activist Chen exposed the systematic use of forced abortion in implementing China’s One Child Policy.  His work has not gone unnoticed by the world.  Time Magazine named him in its list of “2006’s Top 100 People Who Shape Our World,” in the category of “Heroes and Pioneers.”  In 2007 he was awarded the Magsaysay award, known as Asia’s Nobel Prize.

The Chinese Communist Party, however, took a different view.  For standing up for the rights of Chinese women, Chen was handed a four year, three month jail sentence, was tortured and denied medical treatment, and is now languishing under house arrest.  No one had heard from him since September until yesterday, when he released this video.  

To read more and sign a petition to free Chen from house arrest, visit Women's Rights Without Frontiers.

The Laogai Archive is a dense set of documents, full of aging papers and sepia-toned photos.  Imagine my surprise, then, in finding actual medical equipment among the records of China's family planning policies - an Intrauterine Device, or IUD. 

The IUD is a hormone-free contraception with a complicated history - it was widely unused for the first 30 years following its invention in 1928 due to high rates of infection.  More recently they have become a relatively safe and effective long-term contraceptive method, and in China they are currently in use by 45% of married Chinese women, representing over two-thirds of all IUD users in the world.  IUDs have long been widely used in China, where the One Child Policy strictly penalizes women and families who have multiple children. 

This particular IUD is a TCuC-S model, manufactured in the Wuxi Medical Instrument Factory of Jiangsu Province under the brand Tian Yi.  It promises to be "Sterile for 2 Years," although there is no manufacture date listed.  The documentation submitted with this particular artifact includes a birth permit issued in May of 1996.  It's a plastic model, T-shaped with 6 small copper bands wrapped around its skinny arms.  A blue filament hangs down from its base.  I am sure it is an unremarkable medical specimen, but as an American woman I find myself nevertheless struck by its presence.  (Read more after the jump)

(Published March 12, 2010 in the Huffington Post) This Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will mark the fifteenth anniversary of her speech at the UN World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 . Then-First Lady Clinton's remarkable speech represented one of the loudest, clearest calls for all nations to uphold women's rights, and to recognize that "women's rights are human rights." There is much for Secretary Clinton to celebrate this Friday as she reflects upon the progress the world has made towards realizing the goals set at the conference in Beijing fifteen years ago. But the work that began in Beijing is far from finished. One striking example of the continued abuse of women's human rights has remained largely unchanged since 1995, despite the fact that it affects one-fifth of the world's women: China's One Child Policy. (Read more after the jump)

Today, LRF executive director Harry Wu testified to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the United States House of Representatives on China's One-Child Policy.  His testimony is below: (PDF version linked to the image on the right)

I am honored to testify here on the coercive population control policy in the People's Republic of China. I appreciate the Commission’s ongoing attention to human rights in China.

In 1998, 2001 and 2004, I testified alongside other witnesses on this issue before the US Congress. Regrettably, the impact of these hearings was minimal, as the coercive population control policy remains essentially unchanged in China, and the violations of human rights associated with this policy are still prevalent throughout the country.

Introduction

Since 1978, the Chinese government has gradually adopted a radical, draconian set of population control measures intended to curb the negative effects of overpopulation in China, home to one-fifth of the world’s population. In 1978, the First Session of the Fifth National People’s Congress introduced the concept of family planning into China’s Constitution. (Read more)

A Chinese woman was granted immigrant status in Canada after "it was argued she'd face huge fines and stigmatization if deported to China," the London Free Press reported.  The woman, Hong Zhang, is a single mother who fled China while pregnant.

According to Hong's consultant, "deported single mothers face a fine of about $140,000 a child when they return to China with kids."

China's draconian set of family planning policies restrict most Chinese couples to having only one child and couples must apply for a birth permit before starting a pregnancy.  After a woman has had her permitted number of children (usually one), she is required to undergo IUD insertion or be sterilized. Unauthorized pregnancies must be terminated, and after an unauthorized birth, one spouse must be sterilized. 

Canada's decision to grant Hong immigrant status will surely save her from imminent punishment and sends a clear signal that China's one-child policy is a direct threat to human rights.  For more on China's one-child policy, please click here.

Since China’s One Child Policy was enacted in 1979, women all over China have been subjected to forced late-term abortions (some as late as nine months), forced IUD insertion, forced sterilization, police detention, and even the destruction of their homes.

Additionally, the Policy has created an unnatural gender imbalance – 32 million more men aged under 20 than women – which has lead to increased human trafficking of young boys and women, as well as a host of other problems.

But, as is true in many circumstances in China, money is buying the opportunity to have more children: