(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-26 06:43

BEIJING -- China's State Council, or the cabinet, on Monday publicized a special ordinance draft to reduce illegalities by security guards who are expected to provide protection to the public.

The draft forbids guards to do the followings: restrict personal freedom of any individual and make body search, insult, assault, battery or induce others to commit battery, withhold individual's property or identification, interfere official performance.

It also bans guards to use violence or threaten to use violence to importune for payment, infringe personal privacy or leak out secrecy and other illegalities.

The draft has been released to solicit advice and opinions from the public.

Security guards have been widely hired in China in super markets and business offices and none of them, except for those working for treasury escort, have been authorized to use any form of law enforcement to maintain social orders.

Frequent malignant cases in which guards made physical injury or infringement of human rights to individuals have been reported in the nation, especially in factories and uptowns where the public are more easily to have conflicts with business owners or community service providers.

Many guards are dressed in uniforms which are very close to those of the Chinese police officers or military forces. However, sometimes the guards had been suborned by their employers to do illegalities, otherwise they could be threatened to be fired.

The State Council also admitted in the draft that it has been constituted to protect the rights of the public rather than the interests of the guard employers.

The draft orders that guards in all industries should wear uniforms with a standardized badge. The color and style of the guard uniforms should be distinctly different from those of the People's Liberation Army, Armed Police, police forces and other national administrative organs or judicial personnel.

The guards could only stop suspected illegalities when they are on duty and should call the police if determent is ineffective and should protect the venue and assist the police to deal with suspects, the draft said.

It has set more strict qualifications for candidates who want to be employed as security guards. Citizens with records of crimes, juvenile delinquent, compulsory detoxification could not act as guards.

And individuals who had been expelled from government or military are also disqualified, it said.