Staffs at the All-China Women's Federation and the Supreme People's Court (SPC) hold a seminar on judicial work of women and children protection on Dec 21. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Courts' work on protection of women and children's rights and interests and trials of domestic disputes was reported on at a seminar between staffs at the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) and the Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Dec 21.

At the meeting, ACWF's President Shen Yueyue agreed that the SPC is concerned about employment and career development for women and carrying out the basic state policy of gender equality.

The SPC had made efforts in policy-making and implementation of the Anti-Domestic Violence Law, punishing offenders against women and children, perfecting trial procedures and judicial mechanism in cases related to domestic affairs and adopting big data into judicial work to offer judicial support for protection of women and children's rights.

Shen expressed her willingness to increase cooperation between the ACWF and the SPC.

She pointed that the cooperation should be in four aspects.

First, women's rights and interests should be considered when making judicial interpretations to build a gender equality assessment mechanism jointly.

Second, the two sides must deepen cooperation in making proposals concerning land rights of women in rural areas and gender discrimination of employment to push forward the optimization of China's legal system for protection of women's rights.

Third, deepening reform of domestic affairs trial system, improving alternative disputes resolution and encouraging local mediation commissions to play a role must be key points in prevention and settlement of domestic affairs.

Finally, Shen said the two parties should work together to efficiently handle important problems involving women and their concerns.

SPC President Zhou Qiang said the SPC had worked with the ACWF and released a series of regulations which help promote judicial reform of domestic affairs, handle matrimonial debt problems and protect the rights of women in areas with regional per capita consumption lower than the national average level.

He stressed that courts at various levels in China must continue to strengthen protection of women and children's rights and interests and strengthen cooperation with the women's federations to promote family harmony and social stability.

Zhou also required that courts must improve judicial enforcement to create a fair employment environment and a safe social environment for women.

He encouraged building of a network to protect women and children focused on cases related to sexual assault, abduction and trafficking and bullying.

Also present at the meeting were Huang Xiaowei, secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and vice-president of the ACWF, Tan Lin, vice-president of the ACWF, Liu Guixiang, full time member of the SPC's judicial committee and related staff of the two sides.