BEIJING — China has launched a campaign to locate missing or abducted children and help them reunite with their families, the Ministry of Public Security said on March 26.

The campaign that started in January this year is aimed at finding children who have fallen victims to abduction or are missing over the past four decades, the ministry told a press conference.

Both parents of abducted children and the victims have been encouraged to have their DNA information collected at nearby public security agencies so that their personal information can be recorded in the national DNA database to help find the biological relatives.

The ministry also called on the public to report information involving child abductions to the police and offer assistance in the search for missing children.