To prevent and stop domestic violence and mediate family disputes, the Taiyuan (capital city of North China's Shanxi Province) Women's Federation and the Xinghualing Police Station under the Taiyuan Public Security Bureau launched a coordinated working mechanism on anti-domestic violence on September 20, 2019.

According to the working mechanism, the city's women's federation will immediately contact the police upon finding or suspecting the clues of domestic violence.

If the circumstances are relatively minor, legal education will be given to the perpetrators as the community police officers, workers of the women's federations and the residents' or village's committees and the elders of the parties concerned (or their relatives and friends) are asked to be all present for mediation.

If the mediations succeed, the mediation agreements will be released on the spot and the warning documents on domestic violence will be issued to the perpetrators.

If the circumstances are serious and/or in emergency, the women's federations should cooperate with the public security organs to assist the victims to collect evidences and identify their injuries. If the case can't be solved at the site, the public security organs can summon the perpetrators for investigation and give punishments to them according to the law.

If necessary, workers of the women's federations and public security organs can also provide psychological counseling and follow-up visits to the perpetrators and victims.

The federation has devoted to the exploration of and research on curbing domestic violence and it has drawn up a draft of the Regulation on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests in Taiyuan, trying to protecting women in terms of legislation.

To raise people's awareness of the harm caused by domestic violence, the federation has organized female legal volunteers to give lectures in schools, enterprises, institutes, villages and communities, and staged scene plays on anti-domestic violence, so as to publicize the Anti-Domestic Violence Law of the People's Republic of China, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women and the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China.

(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)