Beijing condemns abuses against children in US

Sustained abuse suffered by children in the United States is "saddening" and "disturbing", Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday.

Zhao made the remarks at a daily news conference after Xinhua News Agency reported that a Chinese official expressed concerns on Tuesday over the violation of children's rights in the US. The official was speaking at an interactive dialogue with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children.

The dialogue was held during the 49th session of the Human Rights Council.

The US detained as many as 45,000 undocumented migrant children in 2021, Zhao said, adding that of the more than 260,000 such children the US had detained over the past few years, 25,000 were held for more than 100 days.

"Management of relevant detention facilities is chaotic. Abuse, forced labor and other violations of human rights have occurred repeatedly, leaving serious trauma to children detained there physically and mentally," the spokesman said.

"What's more heart-wrenching is that the US government forcibly separated immigrant children and their parents. … Many children have yet to find their parents to this day," he also said.

Also, the proliferation of guns in the US has led to frequent on-campus shootings, which victimize a large number of children, Zhao added.

Of a total of 44,750 people killed by gun violence in the US in 2021, 1,533 were aged under 17, and 4,107 of the more than 40,000 wounded were under 17, Zhao said.

The spokesman said gun violence in the US increased by more than 30 percent during the pandemic, and that the number of children admitted to hospitals for gunshots "has soared".

"Looking at these children whose rights have been violated, people cannot help but ask where are the human rights and freedom for children in the US," he said.

wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn