Government and Policy

Personal protection decrees introduced in more courts

By Wang Huazhong (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-13 07:45

BEIJING - Personal protection decrees are now available for victims of domestic violence in 20 local courts in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality and 21 courts in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, local high courts said.

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Courts in Chongqing and Shaanxi are the latest to provide such protection to plaintiffs before and throughout the trial process. Jiangsu and Hunan provinces adopted such measures in 2008.

According to Chongqing courts, plaintiffs of lawsuits involving marriage, custody rights, inheritance rights and human rights can apply for the decree 15 days before and six months after the trial.

The definition of domestic violence has also been broadened, from physical and verbal abuse to sexual violence, mental torture and economic control, local media reported.

Applicants for a protection decree should present evidence to show they have suffered, or are likely to suffer, domestic violence. If a protection decree is issued, alleged abusers will be banned from following or spying on applicants, entering the applicants' residence or disposing of jointly owned property without permission. Disturbing the applicants by phone, mail or via the Internet is also forbidden.

"The decree makes domestic violence the fight between public power and abusers, and prevent serious crimes from happening thereafter," said Liu Qun, a judge from Yuelu district court in Changsha of Hunan, a pilot court that introduced such a practice in 2008.

Liu said victims are usually accustomed to, or mentally under, the control of domestic abusers. "The decree can help victims break the dominance and prevent more such violence."

But she said few women used the decree as it was difficult to collect evidence of abuse to support the application. Her court has issued only 11 decrees so far.

The duration of a protection decree is from 15 days to a year.

An official survey shows that domestic violence exists in about 30 percent of Chinese families, and that the frequency tends to increase during and after domestic-violence-related trials.