On 25th November, 2014, the StateCouncil issued a draft “Anti Domestic Violence Law of People’s Republic of China” to collect the legislative proposals from various areas of society. Taking this opportunity,Beijing Zhongze women's Legal Advisory Service Center held a conference to train lawyers to resolve domestic violence cases more skillful and appropriate and meanwhile collected their proposals for the legislation of anti domestic law. The conference also invited Prof.Li Mingshun, the secretary of Chinese Communist party of China Women’s University, who represents as drafting experts of the legislation, and Ms. Feng Yuan, a noted expert in domestic violence issues in China, to have a indepth discussion on the pros and cons of the draft “Anti Domestic Violence Law” with 30 experienced lawyers who dedicate to eliminate such violence.
During the conference, Lawyer Xin Junhui and Lv Xiaoquan shared the particular cases their organizations are responsible for and revealed the problems reflected by the resolution of each case.
Later on, Prof. Li Mingshun explained the background,process, pros and cons of the draft provisions in depth. Ms. Feng Yuan generalized the process of legislation of anti domestic violence law as a brief but precise slogan “from bottom to top, women promote nation” , analyzed the advantages of civil society’s participation in propelling the legislation, gave suggestions in terms of reducing the barricade in legislative process, eventually shared the pros and cons of the draft with lawyers.
At the end of the conference, lawyers contrasted each clause of the draft with their own legal practices, discussed how to fill the gap between law in book and in actions and reached agreement on some proposals for legislation concerning the enforceability of clauses, accessory institutions to secure the enforcement of the law (for example, implementation regulations enacted by the State Council and judicial interpretation proposed by the Supreme Court), a more specific definition of domestic violence, adopting“zero toleration with domestic violence” and “state intervention”principles as guidance for legislation and law enforcement, and necessary clarification of the obligations of relevant governmental and non-governmental institutions. Besides the discussion underlined some pivotal clauses concerning warning order, compulsory case report, distribution of burden of proof, guardian of violated juveniles ,adjudication for victims’safety security and punishments of any forms of violation against this law. After the conference, our center will compile all the proposals in one text according to the agreements arrived and deliver it to the State Council as one of the suggestions that propel the enactment of comprehensive, informative, highly enforceable anti domestic violence law.
