2nd Ld: Legislators approve China's first law against domestic violence

Chinese top legislature on Sunday adopted the country's first bill against domestic violence in a landmark move to bring traditionally silent abuse victims under legal protection.

The legislation was approved Sunday afternoon by a landslide majority at the end of a week-long bimonthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

"The country prohibits any form of domestic violence," reads the new law, which formally defines domestic violence and streamlines the process for obtaining restraining orders - measures long advocated by anti-domestic abuse groups.

Domestic violence is defined as physical, psychological and other harm inflicted by family members with beatings, restraint or forcible limits on physical liberty, recurring invectives and verbal threats listed as examples.

An earlier draft, submitted in August this year, included only physical abuse, but many lawmakers have since argued that the definition was too narrow, Su Zelin, deputy director with the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, said earlier this week when briefing lawmakers on the legislation.

They also argued that cohabitation should be covered, Su said, so the new law stipulated in a supplementary article that those who are not related but live together are also subject.

It enables individuals and organizations to prevent domestic violence, and allows legal guardians and close relatives of abuse victims, in addition to the victims themselves, to report abuse. Police will be obliged to step in immediately when such a report is filed.

NO LONGER A PRIVATE MATTER

Up till this week, China did not have a specialized law on family abuse. References to the matter were only made in other laws and regulations such as the Marriage Law, the Law on the Protection of Minors and the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women.

Family violence has remained in the shadows for a long time in China, where family conflicts are treated as embarrassing, private matters. Less than two decades ago, physical abuse was not even acceptable as grounds for divorce in China. In 2001 the Marriage Law was amended to explicitly ban domestic violence.

But without a legal definition of the term, many victims - if they reported abuse at all - have been shuffled from police to women's federations to neighborhood committees, with authorities reluctant to intervene unless serious injury is involved.

Only in recent years has the issue become a subject for serious public discussion, thanks to increasing public awareness and media reports on high-profile abuse scandals. In 2011 Kim Lee, wife of celebrity entrepreneur Li Yang, who founded the hugely popular English learning program "Crazy English", posted pictures of her bruised face on Sina Weibo and accused Li of domestic violence. Many people were shocked and urged Kim to use the law as a weapon.

Li Yang's response, however, was even more shocking. He admitted to beating his wife but blamed her for breaking the Chinese tradition of not disclosing family affairs to the public. In 2013, Kim was granted a divorce, alimony and compensation by a Chinese court.

According to the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), nearly 25 percent of Chinese women have suffered domestic violence in their marriage. More than 40,000 complaints of domestic violence are lodged with the ACWF each year. Victims resorting to the ACWF for help are mainly women, children and the elderly, and 88.3 percent of cases received in 2014 involved abuse by husbands of their wives.

PERSONAL PROTECTION ORDERS

According to the new bill, victims and those in immediate danger can file for a personal protection order that the court must grant or deny within 72 hours. In urgent cases, decisions must be made within 24 hours.

Police, women's federations and social service organs, in addition to close relatives, would all be able to apply for orders for those with no or limited civil capacity or those who cannot do so themselves as a result of physical force or threats.

Once the order is granted, courts may prohibit the abuser from harassing, stalking or contacting the applicant and his or her close relatives, order the abuser to move out of the home, or adopt various other measures to protect the applicant.

Should the abuser violate the protection order, they may be fined up to 1,000 yuan, detained for up to 15 days or face criminal charges in serious offences. Endi