Female people's jurors receive certificates of appointment as family jurors on April 9 at the opening ceremony of the women and children's rights protection office in Deqing County, Huzhou City, in East China's Zhejiang Province. [China Women's News]

A grassroots women and children's rights protection office was established in the People's Court of Deqing County in the city of Huzhou, in East China's Zhejiang Province, on April 9. It is the first such kind of grassroots office in the province, initiating a new cooperation mode between the judiciary, government departments and social organizations in the field of protecting women and children's rights and interests.

Fang Haiming, President of the People's Court of Deqing County, stated that the move is a positive response and innovative exploration of the nonprofit work of the protection of women and children's rights. 

According to Fang, it is an extension of the enforcement of family trials in courts at grassroots level and also a new measure of women's rights protection implemented by women's federations.

Women and children have often been in a disadvantaged position during family trials. Relatively, divorced women face more difficulties in daily life, such as lack of child's visitation rights and inadequate alimony. 

Wu Minjin, President of the Women's Federation of Deqing County, spoke highly of the office, as it has established a new platform of implementing the long-term mechanism of protecting women and children's rights and plays an active role in effective rights protection, harmony in families and social stability.

The county's people's court and women's federation selected 10 female people's jurors who have close contact with women and rich experience in resolving family disputes from the 117 jurors to serve as the family affair jurors.

The office invited full-time family mediators and jurors, staff members of the county's women's federation, psychological experts, marriage and family counselors to participate in the work of trials and mediations, achieving the legal outcomes and social effects in the protection of women and children's rights, as well as further giving full play to the role of professionals to improve the success rate of resolving disputes. 

"It is a positive effort made by the grassroots people's court to further protect women and children and their personal and property safety in divorce cases," said Fang.

The court and the federation have given full play to their respective advantages and coordinated various parties to innovate trial mechanisms in the past few years. A system of guaranteeing women and children's rights protection has been established, improving the work of the women and children's rights protection. 

Since 2018, the court has received 1,063 family cases, with 594 cases mediated, 241 cases withdrawn, and 308 resolved before being heard. 

In 2019, the court won the honorary title of the National Advanced Collective for the Protection of Women and Children's Rights and Interests.

(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)