China – 2014 results

Amendments to the Marriage Law in 2001 and the Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights in 2005 incorporated provisions that prohibit domestic violence,^[13] and in 2008 the Institute of Applied Laws under the Supreme People’s Court issued a trial Guidance on Marital Cases Involving Domestic Violence, providing for protection orders.^[14] The Government also reports that 28 out of the country’s 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have promulgated local anti-domestic violence laws and regulations.^[15] However, some experts complain that the stipulations are too general, fail to define domestic violence, and are difficult to implement. For example, the Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests 1992 prohibits domestic violence but does not prescribe a punishment for offenders.^[16]The US State Department also reports that the standard of evidence requires that, in order to be convicted, the abuser must confess to the crime, even if the judge is certain that domestic violence has occurred.^[17] Moreover, in 2013 the Chinese Supreme People’s Court conducted a review of the anti-domestic violence legislation, finding that the lack of a clear guidance on the conditions under which investigations and prosecutions should be initiated resulted in extremely few investigations and prosecutions, as well as unreasonably light punishments for those cases that do come before the courts.^[18]

In an effort to strengthen sanctions against domestic violence, the All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF) has been advocating for the promulgation of a dedicated anti-domestic violence law, submitting a first draft to the National People’s Congress in 2011. In 2013, the bill was submitted for the fifth time, although there is still no indication of when the law would be passed.^[19] Public support has also increased in the fight against domestic violence. A recent survey found that more than 85% of respondents believed that further anti-domestic violence legislation was needed.^[20]

In order to prevent domestic violence and assist victims, the Government reported to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 2012 that more than 10,000 police stations and community policing offices have been established, as well as helplines and emergency accommodation.^[21] According to the All China Women’s Federation’s (ACWF) statistics, nationwide in 2008 there were 400 shelters and 350 examination centres for victims of domestic violence.^[22] However in practice, the US State Department reports that many of these services have inadequate facilities, require extensive documentation, or were generally unused.^[23]

Rape is a criminal offence in China,^[24] although there is no specific crime of marital rape.^[25] The Government does not publish official statistics on rape or sexual assault, making the scale of sexual violence difficult to determine.^[26]Nevertheless, it appears that rape remains a problem in China, with migrant women being particularly vulnerable.^[27] In its report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Government of China reported that in 2009, 26,404 cases of rape were solved by the police. However, this may represent only a fraction of the actual cases. A 2013 comprehensive UN survey reports that 22.2% of men surveyed admitted to committing rape in their lifetimes; with 8.1% admitting to have committed rape of a non-partner^[28], and 2.2% to gang rape of a non-partner. ^[29] The most common motivation given by respondents for having committed rape was sexual entitlement. ^[30]

There are no official figures on the rates of domestic violence in China. According to a survey conducted from 199-2000, 15% of women reported experiencing physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime.^[31] In addition, according to the same survey, only 7% of rural women who said that they had experienced domestic violence reported going to the police for help;^[32] and rural women were twice as likely to suffer physical assaults as women living in urban areas.^[33] There is also some evidence that these figures may not represent the full extent of the problem. According to a 2013 UN survey, the proportion of men who reported ever having perpetrated physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime was 51.5%, while 38.7% of women surveyed said they had experienced intimate partner violence.^[34] Overall, the survey found that physical violence is more common than sexual violence in China.^[35]

Amendments to the Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights in 2005 included provisions banning sexual harassment, making the wrongdoer subject to administrative penalties as well as civil claims.^[36] Since then, the number of complaints of sexual harassment has increased significantly, according to the US Department of State.^[37] However, the problem appears to go largely unaddressed by the courts. For example, the ILO cites a survey conducted by Women’s Watch-China, showing that 23.9% of employees who responded had heard of or seen colleagues suffer sexual harassment, and 19.8% had been sexually harassed themselves. ^[38] Although the same survey found that fewer than 20% of victims called the police or took civil action. There are no official figures on the numbers of perpetrators successfully prosecuted.

There is no evidence to suggest that female genital mutilation (FGM) is practised in China.

Trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation has been reported as a significant problem in China. Due to the lack of official figures, it is difficult to ascertain how many trafficking cases the government has actually investigated and prosecuted. However, trafficking organizations estimate that China is a significant destination country for victims from outside the country; as well as a source of internal trafficking trade from rural to urban centres.^[39] The US State Department reports that the skewed overall sex ratio of boys to girls of marriageable age in China, linked to the Chinese government’s birth limitation policy and a cultural preference for sons, has served as a key source of demand for the trafficking of foreign women as brides and for forced prostitution: citing the example of girls from the Tibet Autonomous Region reportedly trafficked to other parts of China for domestic servitude and forced marriage.^[40] China has written anti-trafficking language and provisions into seven different national laws that aim to combat abduction and forced prostitution of women and young girls. However, the wide scope of the problem makes it difficult to implement and enforce these provisions.^[41] Overall the US State Department’s 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report has deemed China to have made insufficient efforts to fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, and has categorized it as a Tier 3 country (the lowest designation).^[42] Although the Government reported to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that it had put in place numerous anti-trafficking policies and victims’ services^[43], law enforcement and judicial officials reportedly continue to punish forced prostitution victims and expel foreign victims in violation of immigration law.^[44]

Abortion is available on request in China.^[45] The US State Department cites a National Population and Family Planning Commission reported that 13 million women annually underwent abortions caused by unplanned pregnancies.^[46]Women and men have equal rights to use and access information about contraception, and the State has a legal responsibility to provide family planning services. As such, there is a comprehensive network of family planning and reproductive health clinics across the country.^[47] In 2012 the Government reported that 85% of women of childbearing age used some form of contraception. ^[48]However, under the one-child policy, couples do not have the right to choose the number of children they wish to have. The 2002 National Population and Family-planning Law (which replaced earlier legislation) stipulates that couples may only have a second child if they reach certain criteria (e.g. if both parents are themselves only children), although the way the law is applied varies significantly.^[49] According to the US Department of State, in urban areas it is strictly enforced, whereas in rural areas, implementation is more relaxed, with couples generally permitted to have a second child if the first is a girl.^[50] Couples who had an unapproved child faced disciplinary measures such as social compensation fees (which can be as much as 10 times the person’s annual disposable income), job loss or demotion, loss of promotion opportunity, expulsion from the Communist Party (membership is an unofficial requirement for certain jobs), and other administrative punishments, including in some cases the destruction of private property.^[51] In some provinces, regulations requiring women who violate family-planning policy to terminate their pregnancies or undergo unspecified “remedial measures” to deal with unauthorized pregnancies still exist.^[52] It is also reported that intense pressure to meet birth-limitation targets set by government regulations resulted in instances of local family-planning officials’ using coercion, such as mandatory use of birth control and forced sterilization. ^[53]These one-child policies, combined with a social preference for sons, are also reported to result in sex-selective abortions, where women may be forced by their family or community to have an abortion when it is discovered that they are carrying a female foetus.^[54]In almost all provinces, it is illegal for an unmarried woman to give birth, and doing so can result in a fine.^[55]