Li Dan

BOOTHS were set up at 11 railway and bus stations Monday to help migrants, especially women, access legitimate employment agencies to prevent the job seekers from being cheated.

The booths were set up as part of a project, named Spring Rain, which was first introduced in Guangdong last year, and has since been introduced in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Hunan provinces.

Xiao Zunzhi, vice chief of Shenzhen’s help center, said that his center had been approached for assistance by more than 1,560 migrants last year, 20 percent more than the figure recorded in the previous year.

“A large proportion of these people were minors cheated to be thieves and young women from Xinjiang, Sichuan and Guizhou sold to be prostitutes in the city,” he said.

Local police rescued more than 30 abducted minors and five young women from prostitution gangs in 2006, Xiao said.

“Some minors were told that they could get a job in Shenzhen and ran away from their homes. Others had consent from their parents who signed ‘contracts’ with gang members without knowing the truth,” he said. “About 85 percent of the minors seeking refuge at our center were forced to be thieves.”

The local labor authorities sent 100 employees to distribute Spring Breeze cards among arriving migrants. The card lists the schedules and locations of 101 free job fairs to be held between March 5 and 31, the contact numbers of 24 recommended private employment agencies and six official agencies, as well as hotline numbers for questions and complaints.

“Many of the abductees were lured by jobs. Offering them the right job agents is the best prevention for tragedies,” said Zhu Yuncai, an official with the local labor and social security bureau.

Lawyers with the city’s justice administration were also present at the booths to assist migrants and teach them about traps in job contracts. A housekeeping firm attached to the local women’s federation recruited nannies on spot.

Similar events were carried out at railway and bus stations in Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan and Huizhou on Monday.

Statistics revealed that more than 40 percent of migrants on the Chinese mainland in the year 2004 were female and the figure has since been on the rise. Young women aged between 16 and 20 are regularly abducted and forced into prostitution.

Meanwhile, nearly 10,000 people went to seek jobs at the Shenzhen Job Fair when it opened Monday.