China’s stolen children: internal child trafficking in the People’s Republic of China

Trafficking in children has attracted worldwide attention in the last two decades primarily due to its links with global migratory movements and the role ‘transnational organised crime’ is perceived to play in these. Internal trafficking is largely ignored primarily because of a preoccupation with cross-border, transnational migratory movements. Arguably, the growth of the relevant literature has given rise to certain widespread perceptions about the uniformity in the trade characteristics and actors under the common rubric of ‘trafficking in human beings’. By capitalising on direct linguistic access to a wide range of Chinese open sources, the purpose of the article is to offer an account of the various dimensions of the issue as they present themselves in the particular Chinese context. Our main concern has been to perform a systematic presentation of this material in light of the extant wider literature. In the Chinese case the combination of socioeconomic, political and cultural factors set a complex picture that highlights the shortcomings of dominant ways of thinking about the phenomenon. This complex picture serves usefully to cast doubts with regard to how the criminal activity itself is being conceptualised as well as to perceptions of victimisation embodied in current discourses on human trafficking.     

The Situation in Libya and the ICC’s Understanding of Complementarity in the Context of UNSC-Referred Cases

The PTCI’s decision on the admissibility of the case against Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and the subsequent AC Judgement are the first expressions of the ICC’s understanding of complementarity in Article 13(b) cases. Admissibility decisions display how the ICC attempts to strike the balance between international justice and states’ right to exercise their territorial criminal jurisdiction. In relation to cases triggered by UNSC referrals, these decisions also mark the delicate moment in which the ICC’s interaction with the politics UNSC is unveiled. In the case against Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi the ICC seems to have taken deferent approach toward the highly authoritative mechanism that triggered the case. Legally speaking, these decisions might appear as a missed opportunity. They fail to provide a conclusive clarification of the parameters of the ‘same case’ test. First, the AC did not subscribe to the offence-specific interpretation of the ‘same conduct’ test embraced previously by PTCI and, in the name of consistency with the Court’s previous case law, reverted to the incident-specific approach adopted in Lubanga. However, the case-by-case approach adopted by the AC undermines the legal certainty that the AC meant to achieve in the definition of the admissibility test. Moreover, the AC has failed to appraise the PTCI’s conclusion that domestic implementation of international crimes is not necessary for the purposes of successfully challenging the admissibility of a case. Finally, in light of the constraints imposed by Article 17(2) on the relevance of due process violations, the PTCI’s decision to reject on the grounds of ‘inability’ as opposed to ‘unwillingness’, which again the AC did not consider, could be seen as evidence of a deferent stance toward the UNSC.     

Promoting the Modernization of China’s Governance System and Capacity in Line with the Rule of Law

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in 2012, XI Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has made a series of vital expositions on the promotion of modernization of the national governance system and capacity in line with the rule of law. The law is the most important tool for governing a country, and the rule of law supports the national governance process and capacity. Promoting the rule of law on all fronts is an essential requirement for developing socialism with Chinese characteristics and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and capacity. Comprehensive law-based governance in all areas should be promoted to advance the modernization of national governance. Furthermore, law-based thinking and methods should be used to address difficulties and challenges faced in this modernization process.     

The Consequences of Social Inequality for the Health and Development of India’s Children: The Case of Caste,Sanitation, and Child Height

Social Justice Research - The links among social inequality, economic inequality, and health have long been of interest to social scientists, but causal links are difficult to investigate...     

Social Media’s Role in Peacebuilding and Post-Conflict Recovery

Armed conflict can have detrimental and profound effects on the social capital of people and communities affected by violence. Besides the destruction of economic and physical infrastructures, intrastate conflict fractures societies, destroys social capital, and exposes vulnerable populations to mental health disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder. The restoration of social capital represents a major challenge in achieving sustainable peace in the vast majority of pluralistic societies that have suffered from past conflicts. The emphasis on the reconstruction of the physical infrastructure needed for the survival of agonized communities after a conflict can delay the restoration of social capital, which slows down the recovery process. As a result, the damaged social capital in post-conflict societies remains an obstacle in building sustainable peace. This essay highlights the influence of social media on the restoration of social and psychological capitals in post-conflict recovery.     

Paradox of China＇s Jurisprudence in Course Of Social Development

改革开放以来的法理学在研究与教学上在一定程度上与中国模式之间存在着一种张力,其表征是：法理学之西方知识与中国模式之东方经验的悖论、法理学之“权利本位”与中国模式之“发展”“稳定”目标的悖论、法理学之法律自由价值优先与中国模式之法律秩序价值优先的悖论、法理学之以“个人”为本的法律观与中国模式之以“人民”为本的法律观的悖论。如何认识与看待这些悖论,是当下法理学发展的新课题。     

Spinoza’s Conception of Personal and Political Change: A Feminist Perspective

Law and Critique - By focusing upon three figures: a trade unionist, who can no longer understand or reconcile himself with his past misogynist behaviour; Spinoza’s Spanish poet, who loses...     

The negligence of prison authorities and the protection of prisoner’s rights

This article looks at the potential for legal action brought by prisoners (and their dependants) who have suffered from the alleged neglect of the prison authorities. The article will examine the case law in this area to assess the success of prisoners’ negligence claims and whether such claims are unduly fettered by judicial attitudes and other more practical issues such as the difficulty in establishing a breach of duty. In particular the article will consider whether the law and its application has been, or should be, modified in the light of new obligations imposed on public authorities, including the courts, by the Human Rights Act 1998 and by the developing case law of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Convention rights such as the right to life and freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment.     

The Role of the People’s Armed Police in Chinese Policing

This study examines the role of the People’s Armed Police (PAP) in Chinese policing. While the PAP has been in existence for over five decades, very little research has paid attention to the critical position that the PAP occupies in Chinese policing. The history of the PAP between 1949 and 1982 was highlighted by a number of changes in name and a constant change of direct control between the military and the public security. The PAP experienced a great expansion and became more stabilized in organizational structure and missions after 1983. While it is part of China’s military forces, the PAP is currently involved in a wide variety of law enforcement, order maintenance, and service activities. Its law enforcement function is carried out chiefly through preventive patrol in urban areas. The most important order maintenance function shouldered by the PAP is the disposition of mass incidents, which have increased dramatically in number and size and have become better organized over the past two decades. The Chinese government also often mobilizes the PAP to undertake emergency rescue and disaster relief tasks. The PAP will continue to be a critical force in the Chinese police system. Its leaders as well as the government should seek ways to improve the legitimacy of the force.     

An Analysis of China Health Charity Credibility Before and After the 2016 Charity Law of the People’s Republic of China

Due to corruption and limited oversight, philanthropy in China has come under increasing scrutiny by both the Chinese government and public. In particular, corruption has impacted charities, resulting in operational funding declines that have also impacted legitimate charities serving the vulnerable. Hence, an increase in the number of Chinese charities without adequate transparency and needed good governance threatens the health of these organizations and their service groups. In response, the Chinese government enacted the 2016 Charity Law, implemented on September 1, 2016. Yet the impact of this law, if any, is unknown. We therefore conducted a literature review of the academic and gray literature to assess characteristics of the law, its strengths and limitations, and to explore anti-corruption case studies. In addition, we reviewed publicly available secondary data on the transparency status—complete financial information and responsible staff—of Chinese charity organizations and a group of health-related specific charities before and after the Law’s enactment. This included the transparency scores of the top 100 charities and top 30 health-related charities in China. The academic literature we reviewed focused on general governmental corruption and little on charity-related corruption. However, the gray literature reflected a poor view of charities in China due to publicized claims of fund and abuse. Based on our secondary data analysis, we found charity organizations’ transparency shows some variation but as a total continues to score low overall across the top net asset holding charities. Importantly, based on a regression analysis, the transparency scores of Chinese charities did not experience a significant change despite the Charity Law’s enactment. In response, strengthening the Charity Law by enhancing enforcement of financial regulations and implementing systemic good governance measures is needed. Further, efficiency initiatives such as philanthropy de-administration, e-government, and outsourcing monitoring of Chinese charities to external agencies would promote trustworthiness and credibility of Chinese charity organizations now and in the future.

     

The Influence of the Social Bond on Self-control at the Moment of Decision: Testing Hirschi’s Redefinition of Self-control

Hirschi (2004) redefined self-control as the tendency to consider the “full range” of potential costs relevant to a criminal act, suggesting that such costs vary in number and salience based on one’s level of self-control. He also suggested self-control, as expressed at the moment of decision, was influenced by the individual’s level of social bonding; those with fewer bonds would exhibit less self control by considering fewer costs and finding them less salient when making a decision. This study presents an initial attempt to examine Hirschi’s theoretical statement linking concepts from the two theories. Presented with a hypothetical drunk driving scenario, participants were asked to identify perceived costs and salience as a measure of self-control, as Hirschi (2004) suggested. Results support Hirschi’s assertion demonstrating that the social bond impacts offending likelihood through its relationship to self-control expressed within the decision. Future theoretical and empirical directions are outlined.     

The performance of private companies in China before and during the global financial crisis: firms’ characteristics and entrepreneurs’ attributes

Economic Change and Restructuring - This work sheds light on how firm- and entrepreneur-specific attributes covariate with Chinese private firms’ growth rates before and during the global...     

Where is Latisha’s Law? Black Invisibility in the Social Construction of Victimhood

Laws named after specific crime victims have become increasingly common. These laws are part of a broader effort to downgrade the status and rehabilitative needs of offenders and to hear the voices and trumpet the legitimate concerns of victims—often as a means of justifying punitive crime control policies. Beyond the substantive merit of individual statutes, collectively these named laws provide a clear image of which victims warrant protection and memorialization: Victims who are vulnerable in some way, who are pursued by predatory criminals into their otherwise safe domains, and—above all—who are White. In this regard, an analysis of 51 named laws from 1990 to 2016 reveals that the vast majority of them (86.3%) honor White victims. In asking the question, “Where is Latisha’s Law?,” we seek to illuminate the virtual invisibility of African American victims and the implicit social construction of which lives matter more in American society.     

China and India’s participation in global climate negotiations

In this paper, we discuss a range of issues concerning developing country participation in current global climate change mitigation negotiations, especially India and China. We argue that the problem of redefining ‘common yet differentiated responsibilities’ in a way which allows developing countries room to pursue their individual development goals while still achieving the necessary level of carbon mitigation is central to the debate. The choice of negotiating instruments, effective technology transfer and financial support, and other related issues have been raised principally by China and India, and may also be raised by several other countries. Kyoto non-compliance by Annex 1 countries will also greatly impact the negotiating power of China and India and other developing countries. We conclude that, once basic principles are clearly defined, the greatest incentive for China and India to participate in climate change negotiations is the prospect of future negotiating rounds that can be linked to a large number of climate change related issues, such as intellectual property, the potential for financial transfers and trade/market access.     

China’s ten years in the wto: its performance and new challenges

Becoming a member of the WTO in 2001 was a historic event of great significance during the process of China’s reform and opening up. Since then, China has steadily pushed forward the reform and opening up policy, proactively seizing the opportunities of economic globalization and positively utilizing the multilateral trading system to develop economic and trade relations with other countries, all of which have contributed to the great economic and social achievements during the first decade of 21st century. However, there are different opinions on China’s futuristic role in the WTO, and those disagreements resulting from various interest preferences are not only one-sided and limited, but also triggering off the discussions on the criteria to assess China’s performance in the WTO. This article argues that China’s activities in the WTO (i.e., implementing WTO commitments, participating in the Doha Round negotiation, the dispute settlement and trade policy review) should be a kind of assessment criteria. Based on comprehensive observation of China’s performance in the WTO, it is concluded in this article that China’s participation in the WTO system and global trade governance extends the scope of world trade law, improves its effectiveness, constitutes China’s new contributions to implement treaty obligations in good faith, resolves peacefully international trade disputes, and maintains substantively the international rule of law. At the same time, it has not only caused new driving forces for international trading system, but also made China face new challenges in the WTO.     

Reorientation and prospect of China’s combat against corruption

Not as much significant achievements as expected have been made since China launched its fight against corruption decades ago, though the Chinese Communist Party, as the initiator and promoter of the anti-corruption reform, made great efforts and changed several orientations of the combat. The article analyzes the implications of newly reorientation towards institutional building and argues that the CCP’s guideline for combating corruption has impeded its progress, no matter what means adopted. The further progress in corruption control depends on the change of political structure and social development in China.

---