Combating Violence against Women

(A) Efforts and Progress

1. Breakthroughs have been made in legislation on combating violence against women

To address domestic violence, 12th NPC Standing Committee in 2013 proposed to include the development of the Anti-domestic Violence Law into the five-year legislative plan, which was later submitted for deliberation by the State Council and finally became part of the legislative work plan 2014. By now, 29 provincial-level jurisdictions in China have introduced local regulations and specialized policies dedicated to the prevention and curb of domestic violence. In terms of combating sexual harassment, the State Council promulgated the Regulations Concerning the Labor Protection of Female Employees, requiring employers to combat sexual harassment against female employees in the workplace , being the first national labor regulation to clearly address sexual harassment. In July 2012, the Regulations of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone on Gender Equality Promotion were promulgated, taking the lead to urge gender equality legislation in Mainland China, with clearly defined provisions for prevention and combating domestic violence and sexual harassment, a breakthrough in terms of its operability. Up to now, 31 provincial-level jurisdictions have consecutively launched the Implementation Measures for the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women in its own version , the vast majority of which contain more clarified definitions of domestic violence and sexual harassment as well as detailed provisions on prevention and control, relief measures, liabilities and other aspects. Liuyang City in Hunan Province and Chengde County in Hebei Province issued the Resolution on Prevention and Combating Violence against Women successively in 2010 and 2014, being the first two local regulations developed to prevent and combat violence against women.

2. Objectives and initiatives for prevention and curb of violence against women should continue to be included in the national development plan

Chapter 36 of the Outline of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2011-2015) spells out the national determination to crack down on violence against women, trafficking in women and other criminal conducts. The National Human Rights Action Plans of China (2012-2015), evolving from its predecessor plan (2009-2010), claims to "develop the anti-domestic violence law and improve the multi-sectoral cooperation mechanism for prevention and suppression of domestic violence and an integration mechanism to include prevention, suppression and rescue as a whole and "to protect children from all forms of sexual abuse". Combating violence against women and children in all forms remains one of the major objectives of the China National Program for Women Development(2011-2020) and the China National Program for Child Development(2011-2020), with more detailed requirements for preventing and deterring rape, trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assaults spelt out in the "policy measures," coupled with content of effective prevention and suppression of sexual harassment. The National Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking of Women and Children (2008-2012) and the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking (2013-2020) clearly require establishing a sound long-term anti-trafficking work mechanism to resolutely combat and effectively curb trafficking of women and children, while providing the trafficked victims with practical assistance and proper placement. For an effective implementation of the action plans above, the Opinions on Punishing Crimes involving Trafficking of Women and Children According to Law were issued in March 2010, giving a judicial endorsement to impose severe punishments on criminals engaged in trafficking in women and children. And also, in 2013, the Opinions on Preventing Children from Sexual Abuse and the Opinions on Punishing Crimes involving Sexual Abuse of Minors According to Law were released, stressing the need to prevent minors from being sexually assaulted and punish the perpetrators.

3. Government-led mechanisms featuring multi-sectoral cooperation should be established to prevent and combat trafficking and domestic violence 

In 2008, the Ministry of Public Security set up the Office of Combating Trafficking in Women and Children, and took the lead to establish a ministerial-level "joint meeting mechanism for combating the trafficking of women and children under the State Council" in collaboration with 31 ministries including the Legislative Affairs Commission of NPC. Government-led anti-trafficking work mechanisms featuring multi-sectoral cooperation have enjoyed ongoing improvement, with fruitful initiatives carried out across the country to combat trafficking of women and children. Throughout 2013, 5,126 and 2,765 cases of trafficking in women and children were cracked, with 2,395 alleged criminals under prosecution . In 2008, the CPC Publicity Department, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and other four ministries jointly released Some Opinions on Preventing and Deterring Domestic Violence, to promote the formation of a government-led, multi-sectoral cooperative mechanism in combating domestic violence.Currently, the Ministry of Public Security has set up "110" anti-domestic violence call center in most provinces. A warning system has been created in Jiangsu, Ningxia and some other places to deal with misdemeanor cases of domestic violence. Grassroots courts have set up "collegial panels" for women's rights protection and anti-domestic violence to pilot ruling of victims of domestic violence in protection of their personal safety. Pilot courts nationwide has increased to cover 14 provinces and municipalities from the 5 provincial-level jurisdictions in 2008, with nearly 300 copies of ruling issued accumulatively regarding the protection of personal safety . The Ministry of Justice launched the "148" hotline for legal services and established a legal aid station for battered women. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has set up domestic violence shelters in about 100 cities in nearly 20 provincial-level jurisdictions . The Ministry of Health has piloted projects for medical intervention against domestic violence. And the ACWF has established a national legal assistance center, coupled with women's rights hotline "12338" and the domestic violence hotline "16838198" throughout the country.

4. Progress has been made in combating violence against women

Achievements have been made in research on domestic violence, sexual harassment, trafficking in women and children, sexual assaults, in-marriage rape and other fields, providing a basis for legislation in this regard. For instance, by pooling the insights of scholars and experts, the ACWF, the Anti-Domestic Violence Network / Beijing FanBao and other women's organizations repeatedly recommended the NPC and the CPPCC to introduce an anti-domestic violence law, and even submitted the draft proposals for the Anti-domestic Violence Law and the Law on Prevention and Control of Domestic Violence for deliberation. Professionals with the Maple Women's Psychological Counseling Center Beijing, the Women and Gender Study Center of Sun Yat-sen University and the Social Sciences Institute of Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences jointly drafted the Act on Prevention and Control of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace and submitted it to the competent authority for deliberation. All these efforts have contributed to the establishment of relevant laws combating violence against women as valuable insights.

The ACWF also worked with the Australian Human Rights Commission to launch the "Sino-Australian Technical Cooperation Project for Human Rights" (2013-2016), establishing the "National Crisis Intervention Center against Domestic Violence" backed by the China Women's University to provide targeted technical support for anti-domestic violence work across China. Thus, a service model of anti-domestic violence advocacy and crisis intervention has been created at the grassroots level in line with China's realities . Cooperation was also conducted with the UNFPA on the project for combating violence against women (2011-2015), which was piloted in Liuyang City of Hunan Province and Chengde City of Hebei Province through training of key groups and distribution of service manuals, etc., in the pursuit of a government-led referral service mechanism featuring multi-sectoral cooperation to combat violence against women via a hotline as the platform. In 2006, Beijing Zhongze Women's Legal Consulting Services Center started the program "urging businesses to establish mechanisms for prevention and control of sexual harassment in the workplace", which has so far encouraged seven companies to set up relevant measures, setting a good example for others.

On each International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Women's Day, the 16-day action against gender-based violence, and legal publicity days, various women's organizations at all levels will organize forums, initiate a public signature program, distribute brochures or launch other forms of campaigns against women trafficking, domestic violence and sexual harassment.

(B) Gaps and Challenges

1. Legislation on combating violence against women needs to be further strengthened

There is no specific national law against gender-based violence so far. The over-narrowed definition of domestic violence as well as the ambiguous definition of sexual harassment makes it difficult to effectively protect battered and offended women through clear identification of the perpetrators. The contradiction between the crimes of raping and having paid sex with underage girls has resulted in law enforcement problems, leaving legislative loopholes in combating crimes of forcing girls engaged in sexual services and raping underage girls.

2. The referral service mechanism for combating violence against women remains to be further improved

The government-led multi-agency mechanism for combating violence against women has taken shape and made progress, but the referral mechanism is yet to be perfected, and there are still some obstacles hindering effective communication between as well as within the various departments, such as the prevention and rehabilitation sections in the anti-trafficking work, which need further improvement; Functionality and effectiveness of domestic violence shelters are yet to be enhanced, coupled with the lack of targeted systems providing counseling and treatment services for battered women and children who have witnessed violence. Social assistance for battered women is not institutionally guaranteed, and mechanisms should be set up for prevention, control and relief of sexual assaults and other violence against migrant and left-behind women and girls in rural areas.

3. The whole community must raise awareness of violence against women

Gender equality has not been internalized across legislation, justice, enforcement and mass media sectors, resulting in biased perceptions of violence against women. Conventional gender-based cultural norms and double standards for the same conduct of different genders prevail to some extent. As a result, victims of sexual violence and sexual harassment are often blamed, leaving perpetrators free from penalties.

4. There are not sufficient gender-disaggregated statistical data and studies on violence against women

There is a lack of gender-disaggregated statistical data about the incidence, intervention, assistance and other information about violence against women. In addition, comprehensive, long-term follow-up research into the seriousness and hazards of violence against women and the effectiveness of intervention are still not available.

(C) Suggestions in Response

1. Enhancing the legislation

First, the development of the Anti-domestic Violence Law should be stepped up, with clearly definition of domestic violence and the corresponding penalties and a comprehensive system of civil protection order endowed with preventive functions. Second, legislation should be strengthened to prevent and curb sexual harassment by clearly defining "sexual harassment" and " sexual harassment in the workplace," specifying the liabilities of the employer, punitive terms and the scope and amount of compensation for victims, and stipulating the burden of evidence in sexual harassment cases. Education and institutional infrastructure in preventing sexual harassment should be redoubled across campus, enterprises and institutions. The Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law should be modified, abolishing the crime of "having paid sex with underage girls" and including mental damage in the compensation for victims of sexual crimes.

2. Perfecting the government-led mechanism for integrated prevention and control of violence against women

The leading role of the government shall be brought into full play; involving governments, community institutions and civil organizations at all levels to establish a  prevention and control mechanism, specify duties for respective agencies, develop well-established assessment criteria, and improve the mechanisms for referral and relief of battered women. The relevant laws should provide special relief procedures for victims of domestic violence, sexual violence and sexual harassment, with a one-stop mechanism for integrated services, including case filing, legal aid, medical assistance, psychological counseling and material assistance. The privacy of victims should be respected, avoiding repeated damage resulting from media coverage and judicial process. Governments at all levels should provide necessary and specialized financing to secure the related work.

3. Making efforts to promote publicity, education and training to constantly improve the gender awareness of practitioners

Legal literacy campaigns should be rolled out across the entire community on promoting advanced gender culture and combating violence against women to correct traditional prejudices, gender stereotypes and practices in treating violence against women as well as to restore gender equality, human rights and legal awareness in civil servants and the general publicOfficers from the legislative, executive, health, civil affairs and other relative authorities shall be trained on knowledge of gender equality and prevention of gender-based violence so that they can grow more gender sensitive and capable of intervention in gender-based violence.

4. Enhancing statistics and relevant studies

Collection of gender-disaggregated statistics of information on violence against women in all forms should be intensified. Statistics of domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment and other types of sexual violence should be included into the annual national judicial statistics. Policy preference, financial support, project cooperation and other measures should be adopted to encourage non-governmental organizations to carry out survey and theoretical research on all forms of violence against women.

(Women of China)