The number of cases of abducting and trafficking women and children continued to drop in China in 2014 because of the harsh punishments imposed, the Supreme People's Court said yesterday.

Courts across China handled 978 cases of women and children trafficking in 2014. There were 1,313 in 2013 and 1,918 in 2012, the court said.

SPC spokesman Sun Jungong said courts had imposed harsh punishments for such crimes. He said that abduction and trafficking seriously violated the rights of women and children, separated families and affect the stability of society.

A total of 12,963 traffickers and buyers have been punished in 7,719 cases from 2010 to 2014 and 7,336 of them received punishments ranging from at least five years in prison to the death penalty, Sun said.

He said the number of trafficked children abandoned or sold by their parents had now exceeded the number who were kidnapped or abducted, without specifying.

He urged an intensified crackdown on the buying of abducted children.

There has also been an increase in cases of abduction and trafficking of foreign women, who are forced into prostitution in some regions and also frequently into marriage, he said.

Sun said that courts will continue to adjust policies according to new circumstances to better protect the rights of women and children.

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