"There are not a few minors who have encountered and witnessed domestic violence, and I hope to speed up the family education legislation and create a good family atmosphere for their healthy growth." Peng Jing, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the chief lawyer of Chongqing Jingsheng Law Firm, once again walked into the two sessions with relevant proposals for safeguarding the rights and interests of women and children.
She was heartened and relieved that the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of women, children, the elderly and the disabled was once again written into the government work report.
This year, she is concerned about anti-domestic violence, exploring new models of childbirth cost sharing, and promoting women's equal employment. Peng Jing, 53, who has been a lawyer for 30 years and is always energetic, has been called "someone who does not take a lunch break" by her colleagues. For many years, she has been advocating for anti-domestic violence and defending the rights and interests of women and children.
It's a story of defenders who work hard and reap hopes.
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An ordinary day in 2020 is something she remembers. A woman in Chongqing who has been married for 4 years has approached her law firm to entrust her with divorce. At the same time that the client handed over the basic materials, he also gave the lawyer a letter of guarantee that her husband would not commit the crime in his own handwriting after domestic violence, and gave it to the lawyer as evidence of domestic violence.
This made Peng Jing feel relieved. In recent years, although domestic violence has gradually broken away from the "shackles" of domestic affairs and become a hot topic of social concern, it is not common to take the initiative to collect evidence when encountering violence.
"Violence at home and between families is inherently hidden, and evidence of soft tissue injuries, especially mental injuries caused by cold violence, is difficult to collect." Peng Jing said that her law firm set up the Ministry of Marriage and Family Affairs more than 20 years ago. Over the years, lawyers, including her, have tried their best to popularize methods of retaining evidence such as calling the police and going to the hospital for injury examinations to women who consult, but in fact, many victims are afraid, unwilling, and will not collect evidence."
Domestic violence has been in her sight since she was commissioned for divorce in 1992. At that time, the concept of domestic violence was not yet widespread, but violence based on intimate relationships was often accompanied by the idea of "not wanting to go to the step of divorce", and constantly "relapsed" in forgiveness, remorse and anger, bringing lasting harm to the victim's body, spirit, and even children.
"Most of the victims in the cases I came into contact with were women, and as a woman, I felt it was my responsibility to help them with my professional strengths." Peng Jing said that for many years, she has encouraged victimized women to stand up bravely, telling them over and over again not to "close the door" and treat domestic violence as a "household chore.".
On March 1, Peng Jing (center) and colleagues conducted a case study at the law firm. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Wei
In 2012, she joined hands with the Chongqing Women's Federation and the Women's Lawyers Association to establish the "Chongqing Women and Children's Rights Defense Lawyers Group" and served as the head of the group to provide legal publicity, professional consultation, legal aid and other services for women and children in need of help.
"At the beginning of going to the village, many women were particularly shocked, and it turned out that they could defend their rights when they encountered domestic violence." Peng Jing said that when visiting the women's prison, a considerable part of it was also serving sentences for domestic violence and "countering violence with violence". "It's a pity that many women miss out on a better life because they lack legal awareness."
In recent years, as everyone's awareness of rights protection has gradually increased, when popularizing the law, she will also explain to women how to apply for a personal safety protection order when encountering domestic violence. On March 1, 2016, the Anti-Domestic Violence Law of the People's Republic of China came into effect. According to data from the Supreme People's Court, from 2016 to 2020, courts across the country issued a total of 7918 personal safety protection orders, showing an upward trend year by year.
In her performance of duties as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, she found that easy-to-ignore forms of domestic violence, such as economic control, abandonment, and verbal violence, are also worthy of attention.
At this year's two sessions, Peng Jing opened the draft outline of the "14th Five-Year Plan", strengthened family building was listed separately, and increased the implementation of the anti-domestic violence law.
As a professional, Peng Jing has a clear mind, and also understands that the next task is not easy: "It is necessary to specifically study how to solve the problems that have existed for many years, such as the difficulty of identifying domestic violence, the difficulty of presenting evidence, and the difficulty of enforcing personal safety protection orders, and how to establish a multi-departmental linkage mechanism to improve the efficiency of domestic violence handling and prevent the recurrence of violence." ”
In May 2020, Peng Jing (sixth from left) attended the opening ceremony of the children's home donated by her law firm.
In addition to paying attention to domestic violence between husband and wife, Peng Jing has also been calling for legislation to protect minors who have experienced and witnessed domestic violence.
"Still hurt the child!" This able lawyer finally revealed his "soft underbelly".
"In the cases I came into contact with, I suffered mild verbal violence from my parents, and my parents insulted each other or dropped my children, causing a lot of psychological pressure to my children, and even physical abuse." She said that family education is very important, not only how parents educate their children, but also how parents deal with the relationship between husband and wife and their children. Children should not "carry the pot" for their parents' bad feelings.
In the hidden corners behind the door, violence occurs from time to time, and family education is missing or improper, directly harming women, children and the elderly in the relatively vulnerable family. In 2016, she wrote a proposal to accelerate family education legislation, proposing to standardize and promote family education, especially for families with orphans, disabilities, left-behind, single parents and other difficult children to provide family education assistance and services. Today, the draft outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan once again proposes to promote the legislative process of family education.
On the afternoon of March 7, at the meeting of the Women's Federation of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Peng Jing issued a three-point proposal to accelerate the exploration of a new model of cost-sharing and promote women's equal employment, hoping to improve the unfair treatment faced by different groups of women in employment.
"The draft 14th Five-Year Plan specifically mentions the promotion of gender equality and the all-round development of women, which gives us hope." Peng Jing said, "Society should form a consensus on equality between men and women. The solution of domestic violence not only requires legal norms, legal popularization and rights protection, and social support, but also important discourse and strength support to protect the rights and interests of women and children and let them have better development. ”
Peng Jing, who "does not take a lunch break", is now leading the same energetic young lawyers to write a public account article on the legal knowledge of women's and children's rights, hoping to help more people on the Internet.
"I hope that the warmth behind every door will overflow and the violence will not be more." Peng Jing said.
Producer: Zhao Cheng
Producer: Zhang Xudong, Ling Weijia, Dong Jun
Co-ordinator: Huang Yao
Main writers: Huang Yao, Zhou Wentao
Video: Zhao Xiaoshuai
Poster: Li Muzi
Editors: Nie Yan, Shao Yibo
Produced by Xinhua News Agency