Cooperation key to success

In recent years, women's federations across China have stepped up efforts to raise children's and parents' awareness of sexual assault by producing videos, hosting lectures and opening hotlines to keep minors safe, an official said.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, federations nationwide have strengthened cooperation with the judicial authorities to help minors who have experienced such assault, according to Li Yueyang, deputy head of the legal department at the All-China Women's Federation, speaking at the end of May.

"Our goal is to innovate and diversify measures to guarantee children's safety and promote their healthy growth," she said.

In the past decade, Li and her colleagues have made and posted a number of short videos that explain how to prevent the sexual abuse of minors and organized lectures in both urban and rural areas to raise awareness of the protection of children's rights and interests.

"We attached great importance to visiting women with (physical or financial) difficulties, and responded to every hotline caller who asked for help as we hoped to unearth clues about the suspected sexual assault of minors and report cases to the authorities as quickly as possible," she said.

She added that in addition to offering assistance to children, women's federations at all levels have helped to formulate legal documents with the judicial authorities

For example, on May 30, the All-China Women's Federation and the Supreme People's Court, the top court, issued a guideline on family education that aimed to offer stronger protection for children by urging parents and guardians to pay greater attention to family duties.

The 24-article guideline required women's federations and the courts to set up a system to enable cooperation with other government agencies and social organizations, to identify new problems involving family education and conduct more research on the issue.

It also ordered the establishment of working stations or special teams to focus on family education and stated that women's federations should coordinate with schools, educational institutes and children's activity centers to provide parents with professional guidance about the problem.