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CHINA'S ORPHAN CRISIS
Every year thousands of innocent children are abandoned to suffer in China's inhumane orphanages. Those who are lucky enough to survive infancy are forced to live a life filled with abuse and torture. With China's more than 5,000 years of recorded history, it is no wonder why China has a population of 1.25 billion people, 20 percent of the world's total population (Kincaid). But what is most surprising is China's increasing number of abandoned children and their inconceivable need to keep this problem a safeguarded secret. Through education of the causes, conditions, and solutions to the abandonment of China's children, the current orphan crisis can be stopped. Perhaps the first step in finding a solution to China's problem is finding the underlying causes.
Discovering the causes of why Chinese children are abandoned can end the increasing number of orphans. Since the 1980s, China has had a dramatic increase in the number of children that are left abandoned. A big factor that has been in consideration to the causes of these high numbers is China's one-child population control policy. This policy states that couples can have only one child. Those who do not comply with the policy are punished greatly with lower priority in schooling, fines, and sometimes the loss of a job, and they endure drastic measures like abortion and sterilization. Families that do follow the policy are rewarded with monthly cash payments, better housing, health care, educational opportunities, and sometimes an increase in salary. With the one-child policy and a society that prefers males over females, there is evidence that there has been an increase in female infanticide by those who are trying to have a male to take over the family's inheritance.
Over the years there have been tens of thousands of children left abandoned because of China's many laws and social traditions. The majority of children abandoned are females who are healthy, but they are looked down on because of traditional attitudes of males being more valuable than females. Children that are born with handicaps or who are girls are labeled as "undesirable" by society and family. These "undesirable" children are rejected by their families and are banned from the Chinese society. The only other option, besides infanticide or death, is to leave these children to be taken care of by government funded orphanages. The high number of abandoned children is kept as a "state secret" because the orphans reflect the poverty in China. Pride, perhaps the greatest underlying cause, prevents China from ever accepting any type of assistance from other counties that are willing to help the consistently increasing orphan crisis (Weiser). With the strict laws, policies, and traditions of China, it is no wonder that orphanage conditions are so harsh.
Uncovering the conditions that orphans are forced to live in can undoubtedly contribute to the ending of China's orphan problem. In China there are approximately 40,000 welfare institutions, including orphanages, in rural areas and about 100 in urban areas ("China Facts") .These facilities are run by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs and funded by the government, institutions, and individual donations. The funding is claimed to be used to provide orphans with adequate medical and education services and help with the beginning of adulthood finances, but an insight into an orphan's life tells another story.
China's constitution and many other laws forbid the abuse and abandonment of children and whoever disobeys these rules is said to be brought to justice. However, there are not nearly enough reports of these laws being enforced compared to the number of children that are left abandoned.
In 1989, the Chinese government provided information that revealed that there was a staggering number of abandoned children that were dying while in Chinese
orphanages. Also, Human Rights Watch has found a staggering rate of infant mortality in state institutions. The likelihood of a newly admitted orphan in 1989 to survive was only 50 percent. Compared to the mortality rates of any other country's orphanages, China's numbers are truly excessive ("Children's Rights").
Every year thousands of Chinese orphans and abandoned children disappear. In an effort to cover-up its orphan crisis, Chinese officials have failed to record most of China's abandoned children. A figure provided by the government said that the orphan population is only about 100,000, which is very low when in comparison to China's total population ("Children's Rights") .With this recorded number being so low, the whereabouts and actual numbers of China's unaccounted-for orphans may be a complete mystery. The likelihood of ever obtaining a full accounting of these mystery children is said to be impossible.
"China's claim to guarantee the 'right to subsistence' conceals a secret world of starvation, disease, and unnatural death, a world into which thousands of Chinese children disappear into each year" ("Orphans and Abandoned Children") .Since the early 1950s, China's orphanages have been ruled by cruelty, abuse and vicious neglect, which are the leading causes of the stunning death rates. Today this trend in abuse continues to rule and is considered to be China's biggest human rights issue.
One of the most well known orphanages in China is Shanghai Children's Welfare Institute. Shanghai has been praised by the government for its "national model" in caring for orphaned and abandoned children. However, documents show that Shanghai was said to be comparable to one of the worst institutions in China. During the early 1980s the total mortality in Shanghai was as high as 90 percent. In 1991, the annual death-to-admission ratio of orphaned children was 77.6 percent and increasing. Between 1986 and 1992 alone, over 1,000 children were subjected to brutal treatment which included intentional starvation, torture, and sexual assault in Shanghai. Various Shanghai Municipal agencies knowingly censored evidence of Shanghai's child abuse and high monthly death rates and put a stop to investigations into these wrongs. The Chinese state council stated that the claims of child mistreatment were not true and that a thorough investigation had been conducted into this claim ("Children's Rights").
Through the organization Human Rights Watch, the true horror of China's orphan problems are being told. "Many institutions appear to be operating as little more than an assembly line for the elimination of unwanted orphans, with an annual turnover of admission and death far exceeding the number of beds available" ("Children's Rights") .In Shanghai, records show an unreal number of deliberate and cruel deaths. Child-care works of Shanghai have selected children to be part of their orphan population solution called "Summary Resolution" which means that children are deliberately starved and deprived of water. When a child that was part of "Summary Resolution" was on the verge of death, medical attention was given to the child so that Shanghai appeared to be giving the child lifesaving intervention. In the cases where the "Summary Resolution" was successful and the child died, false medical records were created to say that the child died of conditions like "mental deficiency" and "cleft palate." Shanghai has also successfully justified the death of children from starvation and medical neglect with claims that they died of made-up disabilities ("Children's Rights") .
The cruel truths of "Summary Resolution" were easily keep secrets because the roles in this plan were played out by everyone, no matter their staff level. Also, Shanghai's Bureau of Civil Affairs is not only responsible for managing orphanages, but also for the crematoria where children's corpses could be disposed of with little oversight. A doctor, Zhang Shuyun, was able to secretly steal photographs and medical records of all of Shanghai's wrongs. The medical records showed the switching of medications, the deliberate oversight of malnutrition, and the neglect in giving medical attention to life-threatening conditions. Dr. Zhang Shuyun's pictured also gave insight into the dead and dying children of "Summary Resolution" ("Children's Rights") .With evidence of the cruel and inhumane treatment of orphans and abandoned children, many organizations have come together to try to create a solution to this mistreatment.
"The enormous loss of life occurring in China's orphanages and other children's institutions call for immediate action by the international community" ("Orphans and Abandoned Children") .Currently, the Untied Nations and related special organizations are leading the investigation that is being conducted on China's welfare system. Other organizations participating in China's orphan crisis are the United Nation's Children's Fund, Human Rights Watch/Asia, and the World Health Organization. In 1993, International China Concern was founded because of the conditions that Chinese orphans are forced to endure. Also, adoption organizations like Overseas are working with China to give new homes and opportunities to China's orphans in suitable countries like America.
Learning about China's orphaned children crisis can put an end to the inhumane treatment of unwanted and abandoned children. Children are meant to be given opportunities in life and treated with dignity so that future generations do not relapse into the hatred and narrow-minded ways of today's life. Ending the vicious lifestyles of the innocent children of China is one of the highest priorities in resolving the world's human rights issues.
Works Cited and Consulted
"Children's Rights." Human Rights Watch. 2001. http://www.hrw.org/children/abandoned.htm. 4 Dec. 2001.
"China Facts." http://www.oneworld.org/news/partner_news/china_ factsheet1.html. 4 Dec. 2001.
"International China Concern." http://www.icc-hk.com/. 4 Dec. 2001.
Kincaid, Jorie. "China." 15 Nov. 2001. http://www.orphansoverseas.org. 4 Dec. 2001.
"Orphans and Abandoned Children." Human Rights Watch. 2001. http://hrw.org/summaries/s.china961.htm#need. 5 Dec. 2001.
Postman, David. SIRS Researcher. "One Child at a Time." Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 27 June 1999: A1.
Tyler, Patrick E. SIRS Researcher. "U.S. Rights Groups Asserts China Lets Thousands of Orphans Die." New YorkTimes. 6 Jan. 1996: A1.
Weiser, Beat U. "China's Forgotten Orphans." http://www.nzz.ch/english/background/background2000/background0006/bg0006china.html. 4 Dec. 2001.
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