Chinese Officials Conduct Forced Sterilization Program

By Liz Townsend

Officials in China's Puning county, in Guangdong Province, conducted a 20-day forced sterilization campaign in April, aiming to sterilize 9,559 people who had more children than allowed, the London Times reported.

Most people in China are only allowed to have one child, according to rules implemented in 1978. In rural areas like Puning, some are allowed to have two children if the first is a girl, but can have no more than that no matter the gender of the second child, according to the Times.

Because some Puning families have three or four children, family planning officials decided to crack down on rule breakers. "It's not uncommon for family planning authorities to adopt some tough tactics," an official at the Puning Population and Family Planning Bureau told the Global Times.

Relatives of the rule violators were imprisoned in order to force compliance with the sterilization efforts. Huang Ruifeng, who has three daughters, said that officials threatened his father. "Several days ago a village official called me and asked me or my wife to return for the surgery," Huang said, according to the London Times. "Otherwise they would take away my father."

About 100 relatives were being held in cramped conditions April 10, the Southern Countryside Daily reported. "There were some mats on the floor but the room was too small for all people to lie down and sleep, so the young ones had to stand or squat. Owing to the lack of quilts, many cuddled up to fight the cold," according to the newspaper.

About half of Puning's targeted citizens had been sterilized as of April 12, only five days into the campaign, the Times reported.

State-level authorities told the Times that they may investigate to determine if the county officials went too far in their program. State rules do not allow family members to be threatened in order to force compliance, and require authorization before penalizing violators, according to the Times.