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The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) welcomes China's top legislature's latest revisions to the Criminal Law regarding sexual exploitation, trafficking and abuse of children, which demonstrates China's commitment to the protection of children and women and the rule of law.

UNICEF has been closely following the law amendment and its implications on child protection, and was actively involved in the process by submitting comments on the drafts.

The ninth amendment to the Criminal Law passed by the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee made encouraging progress in the protection of children and women. According to the amendment, buying of trafficked women and children will result in criminal penalty; perpetrators of abuse against children can be prosecuted if the victim is not capable of filing a complaint to court; people with responsibility of guardianship and caregiving to children in institutions and facilities shall be held criminally liable for serious cases of abusing. And sexual abuse against boys aged 14-18 is now a crime.

It also repealed the controversial crime of “sex with an underage prostitute”, reclassifying it as rape. The offense of “sex with an underage prostitute” blurred the nature of a heinous act, which is sexual exploitation by adults against children, and labelled the girl victims as “prostitutes”, which further victimized the girls.

“The Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that the child shall be protected from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. The NPC Standing Committee's decision is a step further towards having the best interests of the child a primary consideration in legislation, which demonstrates vital progress in response to the concluding observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child on China's report,” said Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative to China.

She added that UNICEF stands ready to continue its support to the Government of China in the protection of children in the new five-year UNICEF Country Programme for China (2016-2020).