Recently, Curtis Baldwin, a former foreign teacher of EF Education, an English training institution, was accused of sexually exploiting 12-year-old students in China.
Baldwin has been sued in the United States. On October 23rd, Weibo account @ EF Education issued a statement saying that Baldwin was dismissed in November 2019 for violating EF’s code of conduct for employees, and he immediately returned to the United States. The following month, the parents of a former student contacted EF Education and told them that Baldwin might have violated the law in contacting the student through social media in the United States. With the consent of parents, EF North American staff reported the case to the relevant US departments within one week.
The statement did not disclose why Baldwin violated the employee code.
In response to this matter, on the afternoon of 23rd, the public relations staff of EF Education Shanghai Headquarters responded to The Paper that Curtis Baldwin worked in EF from 2014 to 2019 as an English teacher. In November 2019, EF Education received a complaint against foreign teacher Baldwin, and the company immediately suspended him. The complaint has nothing to do with this case.
Regarding the content of the complaint, the publicist did not disclose it, saying that during Baldwin’s tenure, all classrooms of EF were equipped with security monitoring probes.
On 23rd, an expert on juvenile protection told The Paper that sexual exploitation is a kind of sexual assault in China’s current law, but the relevant provisions of the law are not comprehensive, for example, there is no provision for perpetrators to sexually exploit minors through the Internet.
Ef’s former foreign teacher was accused of sexually exploiting and spreading child pornography.
According to the contents of the indictment released by official website, the United States Department of Justice, on October 5th, 47-year-old Curtis Baldwin pleaded guilty in front of David Rush, the chief district judge of the United States, and he confessed to being accused of sexually exploiting minors and receiving and disseminating child pornography.
According to the indictment, the suspect Curtis Baldwin, from Springfield, Missouri, worked as an English teacher in EF Education China and left EF Education on November 20, 2019. After returning to Springfield, he contacted a 12-year-old female student who had previously taught in China through WeChat. According to the indictment, Baldwin threatened the girl by publishing naked videos.
In addition, according to the indictment, on March 10, 2020, federal agents executed a search warrant at Baldwin’s residence. A number of items were seized, and it was found that Baldwin’s Apple) MacBook Pro laptop contained child pornography files, including several videos of underage women in China having explicit sex.
According to the indictment, Baldwin may face at least 15 years in prison according to federal law. The case was filed by Ami Harshad Miller, an assistant U.S. attorney.
On 23rd, Lv Xiaoquan, a lawyer of Beijing Qian Qian Law Firm, told The Paper that the term "sexual exploitation" comes from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the concept is not directly put forward in China’s current laws, but the indecency and rape of children, the introduction, organization and forcing of minors to engage in prostitution, the production, publication, dissemination and reproduction of child pornography and the pornographic performances of children in the Criminal Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC) all belong to "sexual exploitation".
Niu Shuaishuai, director of the International Cooperation Department of Beijing Youth Legal Aid and Research Center, pointed out that there are many forms of child sexual exploitation, including child pornography, child sexual seduction, child prostitution and sexual extortion against children. Compared with sexual abuse of children, the word "exploitation" contains the meaning of "transaction", that is, there is some form of material or other immaterial transaction between the victim and the perpetrator or the third person.
Niu Shuaishuai told The Paper that in China’s current laws, sexual exploitation is a kind of sexual assault, but the relevant provisions of the law are not comprehensive, for example, there is no provision for perpetrators to sexually exploit minors through the Internet.
Girl protection expert: There are more and more cyber sexual assaults, so sex education should be strengthened.
The Paper noted that @ EF Education announced in its statement on October 23rd that the parents of the student had contacted the company, and informed that Baldwin had contacted the student through social media in the United States, and there might be illegal acts in communication. With the consent of parents, EF North American staff reported the case to the relevant US departments within one week.
Xu Hao, vice chairman of Beijing Zhongyi Public Welfare Foundation and member of the fund management committee of the "Girl Protection" public welfare project, said in an interview with The Paper that in this incident, the girl’s parents contacted EF Education after seeing the information, which is very correct and worth learning.
Xu Hao said that at present, there are more and more sexual assaults on the Internet. For example, sex-related activities in the form of videos, pictures, voices, and words can be regarded as sexual assaults on minors.
Faced with this phenomenon, Xu Hao said that parents need to strengthen supervision and teach their children how to prevent sexual assault. "Parents should pay attention to what their children are doing online and consciously help them identify what is harmful and inaccessible."
Xu Hao said that parents can set up interception software for their children’s daily computer and mobile phone terminals. In addition, in terms of sex education, parents should correctly guide their children, not "talk about sex change", and learn to distinguish which behaviors involve sexual induction.
Niu Shuaishuai suggested that on the issue of sexual abuse and exploitation of minors, the most important thing is to prevent the occurrence of such incidents, and to nip the bud of crime in the beginning by strengthening sex education. Niu Shuaishuai mentioned that Article 40 of the newly revised Law on the Protection of Minors stipulates that schools and kindergartens should carry out sex education suitable for minors, which is a major breakthrough in sex education for minors in the Law on the Protection of Minors.
In addition, Niu Shuaishuai suggested that an information inquiry system for criminals such as sexual assault, abuse, trafficking and violent injury should be established at the national level, and free inquiry services should be provided to units that are in close contact with minors, such as educational institutions.
