New rules depriving guardianship promised this year

China has pledged to implement stricter supervision over the protection and guardianship of minors within the year, after a number of abuse cases targeting juveniles over the past few years.

Those who have violated juveniles' rights will be deprived of custody, in accordance with more specific administrative and legal procedures, authorities announced in a Monday seminar attended by the Supreme People's Court (SPC), the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) and the Ministry of Public Security.

"Local courts could file lawsuits against those who fail to fulfill their guardianship duty under the administrative intervention system, which would serve as a legal deterrent for similar conduct," said Zhang Shifeng, an MCA official. The MCA also announced that it would shoulder ultimate responsibility for the process, reported the Xinhua News Agency.

Tong Xiaojun, vice director of the China Social Work Research Center at the China Youth University for Political Sciences, said that the supervision system would mark pioneering work in the protection of minors in China.

"Although guardianship could be deprived under present laws, the vague definition of child abuse has left it merely a punishment on paper. The minor protection system can only be complete with the specific introduction of guardianship deprivation," Tong explained.

Huang Ermei, vice president of the SPC, also noted at the seminar that several cases have revealed China's loose supervision over the protection and guardianship of minors.

Yang Shihai, a father from Jinsha county in Southwest China's Guizhou province, was sentenced to 18 months in jail in July 2013 for the physical abuse and torturous assault of his 11-year-old daughter. Elsewhere, five children were found dead in a dumpster in which they had lit a fire to keep warm on a cold night in Guizhou in 2012.

A mother from Nanjing, Jiangsu province was sentenced to life imprisonment in September last year for intentional homicide after she left her two young daughters to starve to death.

"Child abuse, including physical and sexual abuse, as well as negligence, is not uncommon in China. Our traditional culture believes that family members have the sole duty to care for children, which then blocks out government intervention and aid from civil organizations," said Chen Lan, founder of the Home of Little Hope, a Shanghai-based non-profit child abuse prevention organization.

Chen said that the decision to strengthen protection for minors suggested that authorities have acknowledged their guardianship duty and prioritized juveniles over adults.

However, Tong warned that such punishment should be carefully applied, as it would be better for children to grow up with their birth families. She added that professional teams should be set up for supervision and evaluation of possible abuse on a case-by-case basis, which would take a long-term effort.