Passports, prostitutes and women travelers
By Xu Chi |
May 15, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A TOUGH restriction on young women applying for passports in three counties in southwest China's Yunnan Province may be lifted soon, according to an exit-entry bureau official.
Women aged between 16 and 35 are generally not allowed to apply for passports as the government fears they would be going abroad to be prostitutes, local media reported.
A 24-year-old woman living in Yunnan's Menglian County complained that she had planned a trip to Thailand but the county's exit-entry bureau wouldn't let her to apply for a passport, the provincial news portal (www.yunnan.cn) reported.
She told the website an officer didn't even look at her application but told her: "Women under the age of 35 are not allowed to apply for passports."
On her microblog, she wrote: "I love my hometown but I also love traveling. I have the simple idea to get a passport as my right as a citizen but why am I not allowed to do so?"
The exit-entry bureau responded by saying the regulation was in place because too many women had been going abroad to offer sexual services.
In two other counties in Yunnan - Lancang and Ximeng - women between 16 and 35 were also restricted from applying, the website said.
Yang Zhonghua, director of the Pu'er City Exit-entry Bureau, told the website that in 2005, many women from the three counties had been traveling to Southeast Asia to offer sexual services. The three counties are under the jurisdiction of Pu'er.
Yang said foreign governments repeatedly reported cases of prostitution to Chinese embassies.
After getting the go-ahead from the Ministry of Public Security, Yunnan issued a regulation restricting women aged 16 to 35 from applying for passports. However, if the women were able to provide sufficient reasons, such as visiting relatives or attending lectures, their applications could be considered.
But Yang said the regulation might be canceled soon as more and more residents were wanting to travel abroad. And a recent study showed that women who wanted to engage in prostitution could still find a way to go abroad illegally.
Meanwhile, the woman who had complained on her microblog, said yesterday that her application for a passport had been approved.
Women aged between 16 and 35 are generally not allowed to apply for passports as the government fears they would be going abroad to be prostitutes, local media reported.
A 24-year-old woman living in Yunnan's Menglian County complained that she had planned a trip to Thailand but the county's exit-entry bureau wouldn't let her to apply for a passport, the provincial news portal (www.yunnan.cn) reported.
She told the website an officer didn't even look at her application but told her: "Women under the age of 35 are not allowed to apply for passports."
On her microblog, she wrote: "I love my hometown but I also love traveling. I have the simple idea to get a passport as my right as a citizen but why am I not allowed to do so?"
The exit-entry bureau responded by saying the regulation was in place because too many women had been going abroad to offer sexual services.
In two other counties in Yunnan - Lancang and Ximeng - women between 16 and 35 were also restricted from applying, the website said.
Yang Zhonghua, director of the Pu'er City Exit-entry Bureau, told the website that in 2005, many women from the three counties had been traveling to Southeast Asia to offer sexual services. The three counties are under the jurisdiction of Pu'er.
Yang said foreign governments repeatedly reported cases of prostitution to Chinese embassies.
After getting the go-ahead from the Ministry of Public Security, Yunnan issued a regulation restricting women aged 16 to 35 from applying for passports. However, if the women were able to provide sufficient reasons, such as visiting relatives or attending lectures, their applications could be considered.
But Yang said the regulation might be canceled soon as more and more residents were wanting to travel abroad. And a recent study showed that women who wanted to engage in prostitution could still find a way to go abroad illegally.
Meanwhile, the woman who had complained on her microblog, said yesterday that her application for a passport had been approved.
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