The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) and the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) issued a document on January 7, 2020, to cooperate to strengthen the punishment for crimes against the rights and interests of women and children, and promote the building of a social support system of the minors' judicial protection and the improvement of the legal system of protecting women and children.

The document points out that the procuratorial organs and women's federations should establish a joint mechanism to protect the rights and interests of women and children.

If women's federations at all levels discover clues of women or children who have been exposed to domestic violence, sexual assault, or violations of civil or administrative lawful rights and interests, or receive letters or visits involving procuratorial organs and/or their personnel, the federations should promptly transfer the case clues or materials to the procuratorates at the same level, according to the document.

The procuratorates that accept the cases shall deal with them in a timely manner and report the results to the women's federations. For cases of sexual assault on minors, the procuratorates should supervise the public security organs to ensure cases are filed without delay. "One-stop" evidence collection should be implemented to ensure effective punishment.

If the procuratorial organs find that it is necessary to deprive the guardianship, change the custody or demand repayment of maintenance in the handling of the cases involving the minors, the procuratorial organs may entrust the women's federations to conduct investigation or evaluation of financial status, guardianship will and custody conditions.

The document noted that the procuratorial organs may issue prosecution suggestions or file public-interest litigations for suspected gender discrimination in employment in the process of recruitment of staff members in the state organs and public institutions, or cases that organizations and individuals devalue women's personalities through the mass media or other methods.

More efforts should be made to implement the judicial protection system for minors. When handling the cases involving the minors, the procuratorial organs may entrust or cooperate with the women's federations or professional organizations recommended by the women's federations to carry out the work as required.

In addition, the document requires the SPP and the ACWF to establish a regular meeting mechanism, a liaison staff system to solve the problems related to the protection of the rights and interests of women and children in time, and a training mechanism to improve the staff's capacity of doing the work of protecting women and children's rights. The SPP and the ACWF should also explore to establish a personnel exchange mechanism to optimize personnel structure and improve the staff's capacity of performing duties.

(Source: China Youth Daily/Translated and edited by Women of China)