To promote the spirit of the 20th CPC (Communist Party of China) National Congress (held in Beijing in October 2022), and to promote the revised Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women (which took effect on January 1, 2023), the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) recently issued a notice to promote, this year, the campaign of providing legal assistance to women in need as their cases are being handled by prosecutors. Since the procuratorate and the federation initiated the campaign, in March 2022, prosecutorial organs and women's federations, at all levels across the country, have worked together to promote the campaign.

The notice makes clear the law provides a solid legal basis — and higher requirements — for the judicial assistance of women facing difficulties. The notice stipulates the organs and the federations should increase efforts to provide legal assistance to women in need, including rural women who face the risk of falling back into poverty, and women who have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, and/or abductions and trafficking. The notice also stipulates recipients of legal assistance should include women, especially those whose families' providers lose their lives or the ability to work, as they are victimized by illegal acts. Also, the women have to shoulder the heavy responsibility of looking after their aged parents and in-laws and their children. Also targeted are disabled women or those who suffer from serious diseases, and elderly women who are virtually unprovided for.

As the organs handle cases involving the infringement of women's rights and interests (including domestic violence and sexual discrimination/sexual harassment in the workplace), the notice suggests procuratorial organs, at various levels and in different regions of the country, should work with local women's federations to provide legal assistance to the women, especially those who are financially strained due to the cases.

The notice requires prosecutorial organs and women's federations, at all levels across the country, to identify women who are eligible to receive legal assistance, as the organizations handle women's letters, calls and cases involving the infringement of women's rights and interests.

The notice also stresses the organs should establish a work mechanism, through which the organs' procurators and the federations' women cadres work together to provide legal assistance to women who are facing difficulties.

(Women of China English Monthly March 2023 issue)