Security app designed to protect kids

Online system would allow public to notify authorities of harm or danger

China's first online system to report when children are suffering harms or facing potential dangers has been put into trial operation in Jiulongpo district of Chongqing municipality.

People can download the smartphone application or register at a mini program platform on WeChat, which would allow them to upload texts, pictures and videos if they find minors are being harmed or in danger, according to the Chongqing People's Procuratorate.

Police are required to respond to people who send them evidence of harm and tell them the results of any investigation within three months. Those who provide information can also follow the handling of evidence through the system, it said.

The move implements a guideline issued in May by nine authorities including the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security.

It states officials in government agencies and people close to juveniles, such as those working in schools, kindergartens and educational institutes, should bear responsibility for timely reporting when they find children are being harmed or face risks.

The harms and risks cover sexual abuse, assault, bullying, domestic violence, desertion, abduction, poisoning and forced begging, the guideline said.

Girls getting pregnant or having abortions after allegedly being sexually abused and minors who are found unconscious, malnourished or unattended for a long time are also included in the circumstances that require immediate attention from police, it added.

"The reporting system will give a 'red alert' if police don't respond to clue providers in the specified time, urging them to solve the reports in a timely manner," said Pang Chen, a prosecutor from the district's procuratorate. "We'll also supervise their clue handling online.

"We also welcome more residents, such as minors' parents, to join us to protect juveniles," he said.

Besides the harms and risks highlighted in the guideline, information or problems on children's custody, school security and the safety of minors' food and drugs can also be reported through the system, he added.

The app is expected to be expanded across Chongqing if the trial operation is successful.

Zhang Hesong, headmaster of Chongqing Yucai Secondary School, said: "It's a new quick channel for us to safeguard juveniles and prevent them from being harmed."

Lu Kaiquan, a police officer from the district's public security bureau, said putting the responsibility for protecting children in more hands will build a network to keep juveniles from being harmed and effectively fight offenders.