Domestic violence shelters mostly ignored in China

(Ecns.cn)--When the Law Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body, declared in late February that anti-domestic violence legislation had been placed on the NPC's legislative agenda, the country's domestic violence shelters--most of which are left unused--also got the public's attention.

According to a survey by the All China Women's Federation (ACWF) in 2007, domestic violence occurred in 30 percent of the 270 million families sampled, and over 85 percent of the victims were women.

A Xinhua report cited the latest statistics from the Anti-Domestic Violence Network of the China Law Society, revealing that between 2004 and 2008, women's groups across the country dealt with an average of 40,000 to 50,000 domestic abuse complaints every year, and that the number has been growing.

In September last year, Li Yang, founder of Crazy English, became notorious after his wife posted pictures online showing injuries he had allegedly inflicted upon her.

The posting stirred a huge wave of public outrage against domestic violence and forced Li to apologize to his wife and three daughters.

"Society is now paying more attention to family violence, which has long been neglected," Zhen Yan, a political advisor and vice chairwoman of the ACWF, pointed out.

Yet domestic violence shelters have done little to curb the abuse, with most of them lying idle, noted the Beijing News.

The Changsha Domestic Violence Shelter in the capital of Hunan Province has yet to receive a single victim since it was established more than a year ago, said Li Feng, director of the city's Social Assistance Center.

Similarly, the aid center in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, which was established in 2003 as a sample shelter for victims of family abuse, is also slack, with 48 beds only being used by an average of six visitors every month.

That aid center, reportedly the most frequented in the Chinese mainland, is dwarfed in comparison to Harmony House, a domestic violence shelter in Hong Kong which maintains an occupancy rate as high as 94.5 percent in its 70 beds.

Statistics show that the violence is most likely to escalate within the 24 hours after spousal abuse occurs, which might result in the wife being seriously injured or the husband being killed.

A survey by a foreign aid center added that female victims of domestic violence are still in danger during the first 18 months after they run away from home, a period when murder is likely to occur.

At this, Wu Meirong, director of the Research Center at the Women's Federation of Hebei Province, noted that if the victims can be provided with shelter and professional treatment in time, many violent crimes can be averted.

Wu conducted a survey among female victims who had committed crimes after suffering domestic abuse, and found that many of them had tried to seek help from the police, women's institutions or local officials before deciding to break the law, but were given a cold shoulder.

Nobody wants to have a hand in domestic violence cases, which are usually treated as private affairs, Wu explained.

Domestic violence is a complicated issue that involves society, culture and law, Wu analyzed, adding that the best way to prevent harm is to separate the perpetrators and the victims as soon as possible.

As the saying goes, it's an ill bird that fouls its own nest. The traditional idea that family abuse is shameful and should be hushed up has prevented countless victims from asking aid centers for help, said Li Feng.

Some victims choose to keep the suffering within their family in order to save face and overcome the crisis, added Wu Meirong.

Complicated application procedures and demanding requirements for lodging in domestic violence shelters also deter victims from seeking help.

For example, an aid center in Shaanxi requires that female victims get a medical appraisal of their injuries from the local women's federation before checking in, while a shelter in Chongqing only accepts those who are not only victims of family violence, but are also homeless.

The Changsha Family Violence Shelter requires a police report of family abuse and proof of identity of the victims, and stipulates that the stay should be no longer than seven days and the postponement less than three days.

Another problem confronting shelters in the mainland is that they are not concealed, pointed out the scholar Rong Weiyi.

Rong said the addresses of such shelters in Denmark, Thailand and Hong Kong are not known to the general public, which better protects the victims.

Financial support alone is not enough, Rong added.

In the past, shelters were mostly initiated by women's federations and supported by companies, yet few of them survived due to financial straits and other social challenges.

Rong noted that many shelters in foreign countries are non-governmental organizations, and called for the government to encourage NGOs to establish domestic violence aid centers in China.