Protection
Once their survival and development are assured, children need protection from a host of threats. One threat that has attracted increasing attention is trafficking—buying and selling people for profit, usually women and children. One cause of trafficking is believed to be China's sex ratio at birth (SRB), the ratio of male births to female births. China's current SRB is 117 boys for every 100 girls, compared with a worldwide average of 106 boys to 100 girls. The high SRB stems in part from a strong preference for sons, common in many agrarian societies. Migrant children in China require special protection. China's rural areas have an estimated 100 million to 150 million surplus farmers, many of whom leave their homes to seek work in cities. Roughly 19 million children accompany their parents when they migrate, and many cannot get adequate access to health care, education, and other basic services. Migrant children face discrimination that diminishes their life quality and hurts their chances of success. Often they must pay extra to attend schools outside their home provinces, and may have difficulty learning because they don't speak the local dialect. Very young migrant children also face an exceptionally high risk of abduction by child traffickers. Many other problems are also faced by the “children left behind” by their migrating parents, although systematic investigation has yet to be conducted.
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