Stronger clampdown on child trafficking urged

China's top court on Wednesday called for more efforts to clampdown on child trafficking.

The situation in the country is "still severe", the Supreme People's Court said in a statement issued ahead of Children's Day on June 1.

Authorities nationwide should maintain strict crackdown on human trafficking and find solutions to new problems that arise, the statement said.

In addition to kidnapping and trafficking, some regions have also seen criminals sell their own babies, according to the court.

In a case study included in the statement, a couple who sold their son for 26,000 yuan ($4,093) was sentenced to three years in prison with a five-year reprieve and fined 30,000 yuan.

In 2009, Wu Yajun and his wife Guan Qianqian sold their 4-month-old son with the assistance of a local nurse. Police later found and released the baby boy from his adopted parents after Wu's father reported the case.

In another case, major culprits who have trafficked in at least 38 toddlers were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, which is usually means life in prison. Police rescued all of the children, the top court's statement said.

China's criminal code elevated the maximum punishment for child traffickers, holding them punishable by death, when the National People's Congress amended the Criminal Law last year.

Police solved 5,320 trafficking cases involving children last year, rescuing 8,660 children, according to the Ministry of Public Security.