Mainland China finally considering reclassifying sex with underage prostitutes as rape after pressure from activists
Amendment to criminal law would treat sex with underage girl as rape no matter the context
The mainland may abolish the crime of soliciting underage prostitutes, leaving adults who have sex with minors to be charged with the more serious crime of rape.
Children's rights activists have long called for the solicitation crime to be repealed, saying it is a notorious loophole that has allowed some connected officials caught having sex with minors to receive lighter punishment. It has also fuelled abuse of young girls, they say.
The change is among a package of amendments to the Criminal Law the National People's Congress began considering yesterday at the start of its six-day legislative session, held every two months, in Beijing.
Under existing law, anyone who has sex with a prostitute under the age of 14 faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, while sex with a girl under 14 is classified as rape and punishable by death.
The solicitation clause was added in 1997 to ensure that a person who hired a prostitute without knowing she was a minor was not charged with rape. Additionally, by becoming a prostitute, the girl had given some indication of consensual sex, legislators believed.
The central government is well aware of the controversy over the law
But the solicitation charge has become controversial. In 2008, Lu Yumin, an official at the tax bureau in Sichuan province had sex with a girl under 14, but the police decided initially to give him 15 days of administrative detention and fine him 5,000 yuan (HK$6,060). After a public outcry, Lu was charged and sentenced to 10 years in prison.