The Ministry of Public Security confirmed yesterday that police
will handle cases of domestic violence differently to regular
family disputes.
The move is part of a regulation to be issued by the ministry on
how to deal with family violence, and it aims to better protect
victims, a document from the ministry's public security management
bureau, said.
The document said the setting of a new case type would help the
police better understand the severity of such incidents so they
might take appropriate and timely action.
Police generally treat domestic violence as a family dispute,
and are therefore sometimes slow to react. To redress that, the
regulation places a legal duty on the police to assist victims and
stipulates that police response must be immediate or they will face
punishment.
Figures from the All-China Women's Federation show that about 30
percent of Chinese families, some 80 million, have experienced
domestic violence. About a quarter of the 400,000 divorces
registered each year result from family violence.
Besides, the federation has received about 50,000 reports of
domestic violence over the past two years, with an annual growth
rate of 70 percent.
"Women are the victims in most cases," Mo Wenxiu, the
federation's vice-chairwoman, said.
Figures from police in Shenzhen, south China, show that in the
first half of this year, 26 people died as a result of domestic
abuse - 13 percent of all the deaths resulting from crime.
However, although China has laws and regulations concerning
domestic violence, they lack details for prevention and
punishment.
The traditional idea is that family violence is a private matter
and the variables involved prevent effective policing, Liu Bohong,
deputy director of the Women's Studies Institute of China,
said.
"But violence is not a private issue, it is a crime."
Liu said the regulation to be issued takes a practical approach
to how police should handle family violence.
Li Meijin, a professor with the Chinese People's Public Security
University, said the new rules send a clear signal: "Those who
commit domestic violence must be punished."
However, Liu said police intervention alone was not enough. She
said many victims were unwilling to turn to the police, so
communities should play a bigger role.
She said the country should also consider how to help victims
escape abuse, and pointed to the shelter that was set up by the
Ministry of Civil Affairs last year in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, to
offer temporary help for run-away female victims.
Liu said that sexual, emotional, psychological and economic
abuse should also be classed as domestic violence.
(China Daily August 2, 2007)