China's women organization appeals against child molestation

The All-China Women's Federation on Monday issued a call for more severe punishment against molestation of girls, in response to recently-publicized sexual harassment and rape cases against children.

The federation called for perfecting laws and regulations on child protection, and using criminal law and other laws to better protect minors, particularly girls.

China has had a string of child molestation cases in recent years. The most recent case reported by media involves a township primary school teacher in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region molesting his student, a 13-year-old girl.

The teacher was sentenced to three years in prison this month.

On June 30, a man surnamed Zhang, husband of a kindergarten dean in Jilin province, was detained by police for suspicion of molesting a 6-year-old girl in the kindergarten where his wife works.

In April last year, a court in east China's Anhui Province sentenced a school teacher to death for raping five schoolgirls and molesting six others.