Education around domestic violence to be strengthened

Education and rehabilitation for perpetrators of domestic violence should be strengthened while the quality of protective services for victims needs to be improved, a report being mulled by China's top legislature said.

Judicial authorities are ordered to strictly use civil or criminal liabilities for those who harm family members, said the report.

It was submitted for review on Monday to an ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislative body.

In addition to the requirements for authorities, the report also called on social organizations, including women's federations, disabled persons' federations and trade unions, and community committees to offer perpetrators more help, such as legal education, psychological aid and mediation for family disputes, to help them alleviate some of the causes of domestic violence.

"The utilization rate of shelters for victims of domestic violence needs to be further increased, and the quality and professionalism of services provided in these places should be enhanced, so as to give stronger personal protection for the victims," said Huang Xiaowei, deputy head of the National Working Committee on Children and Women of the State Council.

She suggested community and village committees set up information platforms to follow, prevent and help solve cases of domestic violence, adding that more legal knowledge should be provided in rural areas, schools and kindergartens.

The NPC Standing Committee adopted the Anti-Domestic Violence Law in December 2015, and it took effect in March 2016.

"From then on, fighting domestic violence has become a priority job of many government agencies, and written into their plans on women and child protection," Huang said.

Data released in the report showed that more than 1,500 personal safety protection orders, which are similar to restraining orders in the West, were given by Chinese courts to victims of domestic violence since 2016.

To give victims easier access to such orders, last year the Supreme People's Court issued a guideline to lower the threshold for collecting proof. In the document, 10 types of behaviors that can be identified as evidence of domestic violence are listed.

Huang said victims will also be taken to temporary shelters established by civil affairs departments after their applications and receive legal aid provided by justice bureaus, thanks to efforts by authorities over the past few years.

So far, more than 4,700 stations offering legal assistance have been built nationwide, with handling of over 8,900 cases involving abandonment, abuse and domestic cases last year, the report added.