A Weibo post, widely circulated among netizens, has called for “supporting Gao Xiang’s proposal, as a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), for collecting the DNA data of newborn babies in the re-registration procedure of permanent residence (or hukou) in order to prevent child trafficking”.
Journalists from the Forum on Making the Country Prosperous later found out that the name Gao Xiang is not on the list of CPPCC members or CPPCC Standing Committee members. However, the suggestion of utilizing technologies such as DNA data collection to help solve trafficking cases has long been of interest to and proposed by delegates to the various current local people’s congresses and political consultative conferences, as well as the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the CPPCC.
It was ascertained that Gao currently serves as a member of the standing committee of Nanjing Democratic League. And he said he never proposed such a suggestion.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, a national anti-trafficking DNA database was established in 2009. So far, public security departments across the country have helped 3,166 trafficked children find their parents through the database, said Chen Shiqu, head of the anti-trafficking office under the ministry.
In response to netizens’ suggestion, Chen said that child trafficking cases have been in a situation of ‘low occurrence but high clear-up rate’.
“After collecting the DNA of parents whose children we suspect have been trafficked, we can then compare this to children who have been rescued from traffickers across the country, and swiftly and easily reunite these shattered families,” Chen Said.
Chen added that it is not necessary to collect the DNA of all newborn babies.
Some netizens have questioned the suggestion that all newborns be added to the DNA registry, worrying that personal privacy will not be properly protected by the measure.
The national anti-trafficking DNA database is composed of blood samples taken by the police from the parents of missing children, children suspected of having been abducted or with an unclear history, children in social welfare institutes, homeless children and child beggars, according to the ministry.
Information on the database is shared among the 236 DNA laboratories in the country.
“All homeless children must take blood tests before they can be adopted and this information will be included on the DNA database,” Meng Qingtian, an official with the ministry’s anti-trafficking office, said. “Chinese children adopted by foreign families are also required to take the test.”
About 30,000 to 60,000 children are reported missing every year in China, but it is hard to estimate how many cases of human trafficking there are , according to the ministry.
Nancy Sun, Women of China