It has been 12 years since the Kunming Anti-Domestic Violence Women's Shelter was officially established; Chu Junxiu, deputy director of the Management Office of the Kunming Rescue Management Station, has also been the head of the shelter for 12 years.
In the past 12 years, Chu Junxiu has seen many women who have been hurt by domestic violence. In her office of about 10 square meters, victims of domestic violence often can't hide their excitement and talk about their misfortunes over the years: some people are dressed brightly and have a decent identity, but the skin covered by clothing is bruised; some people are broken by their husbands, but they are worried about affecting the future of their children and dare not call the police; and there are people who have nowhere to go after being knocked out of the house by their husbands, and come back to her with their children five times...
These women are not all from Kunming, "we also accept women inside and outside Yunnan Province." Chu Junxiu told Southern Weekend reporters.
In 1995, China's first anti-domestic violence women's shelter was established, and since then a large number of domestic violence shelters have appeared, mainly relying on the assistance or welfare institutions of the civil affairs department. As of 2016, there are more than 2,000 shelters in the country, but the awareness rate of these shelters is low, the number of asylums is very small, according to the All-China Women's Federation, in 2015, only 149 people provided shelter services in the whole year. To this end, the operation of the Kunming Anti-Domestic Violence Shelter, which has no establishment or allocation of funds, is extremely rare, and in 12 years, Chu Junxiu and 10 female employees of the rescue management station have received 1196 victims and provided anti-domestic violence consultation for more than 2700 people.
In the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in 2020, the Kunming Municipal Rescue Management Station took in many homeless homeless beggars and Hubei people stranded in Chuncheng, and the anti-domestic violence shelter also had to suspend the admission of women in need of shelter due to epidemic prevention requirements. During this period, Chu Junxiu received asylum requests from women from time to time, "We can only advise them to go to hotels, relatives' homes or friends' homes." ”
Chu Junxiu admits that she and her colleagues have helped this group within their capabilities, but the role of shelter is still limited. "After all, this is not our job." Chu Junxiu was a little helpless.
In November 2008, after the Kunming Municipal Anti-Domestic Violence Shelter was listed, the Kunming Municipal People's Government Rescue Management Station separated three rooms in the female shelter area and dedicated it to the shelter for domestic violence victims. In the first few years, the police station and community in Kunming City encountered women who had suffered domestic violence and would send them to the shelter, and some victims came to the door themselves. When women come to apply for asylum, Chu Junxiu will take them to the aid station to let them know the real conditions of the shelter.
The shelter has a total of eight beds, four of which are in one room. "Because some women come to seek asylum and bring their children with them." Chu Junxiu introduced.
Three separate cabins of about 20 square meters, a tin cabinet separated the normal containment room of the rescue management station. The windows and corridors of the cottage are equipped with iron railings to prevent falling, the windows are not curtains, the room is equipped with sofa coffee tables and tin cabinets that act as partitions, bypassing the tin cabinets, are beds placed in the depths of the room. In addition, sheltered women will share areas such as washing, dining and other areas with women in shelters.
For 12 years, the largest number of victims came to the shelter between 2010 and 2014, with an average of more than 100 people staying per year, and when there are fewer people, 50-60 people will be accepted a year.
The staff in charge of the female check-in of the shelter told Southern Weekend that after the victims came to the shelter, they were first examined by the medical staff of the shelter, usually doing some simple bandaging of the injured area. After the victim decides to stay, the shelter staff will register the basic information.
"Move in voluntarily, leave voluntarily." The staff member said. In her impression, 3-5 days is the length of their general stay.
Women who go to shelters are generally subjected to severe domestic violence and physical abuse. "In addition to the places where they need to shelter their bodies, they also need legal, medical, psychological, employment and other assistance." In the face of these requests for help, Chu Junxiu will also contact hospitals, women's federations, psychological and legal assistance for them, but she also acknowledges that the linkage of the formation mechanism between various departments needs to be established urgently.
Due to the limited living conditions in the shelter, Chu Junxiu will suggest that some victims of domestic violence with conditions choose another place to live, but she found that those who decide to stay are more "no other choice". They are usually foreigners, "women who marry kunming, come from the bottom of society, have no income, no education." Chu Junxiu believes that this group of women, who belong to a weak position in all aspects, are more likely to have "nowhere to go" after suffering domestic violence.
In the three or five days of living, victims of domestic violence often face many difficult problems in life: whether to repair or let go of this relationship, whether the marriage can continue, what to do with the children, how to divide the property... "When they are at a loss, we usually recommend them to go to the women's rights center of the women's federation. Chu Junxiu said.
Chu Junxiu (Nong Jian/Photo)
In 2008, when she first became the head of the anti-domestic violence shelter, Chu Junxiu knew very little about the concept of "domestic violence shelter", at first when the victimized women cried to her, she was always difficult to extract emotions from their tragic situation, and later, seeing more and more victims, she gradually understood the complexity of domestic violence and asylum, "It is impossible to expect a woman who has been subjected to domestic violence to come to live with me for a few days, I can chat with her, and I can solve the problem with her."
"If there is domestic violence for the first time, there will be a second time. After the first beating, the husband may kneel in front of them and cry bitterly, but the second time he drank, he began to act again. This is not a problem that can be solved by compromise. She found out.
Chu Junxiu was deeply impressed by a Guizhou woman who came to Kunming to work. She had been frequently beaten by her husband, who had drunk alcohol, he had an affair, and she had no boys, all of which could be a reason for the woman to enter the shelter. She walked out of the shelter again and again, and came back again and again. "After looking for me six or seven times, we can only advise her to keep her distance from her husband and go back to her hometown." Chu Junxiu said.
However, at the deeper level of anti-domestic violence intervention, she and her colleagues seem to be "incompetent", after all, their job is to rescue vagrant beggars, and anti-domestic violence work can only do their best "with a love".
At present, the main model of shelters in many places is the Women's Federation as the core, and the civil affairs departments, hospitals and judicial institutions are jointly constituted. However, the intervention and support for victims of domestic violence at the practical level is still relatively isolated. Chu Junxiu hopes to establish a fixed mechanism against domestic violence between various administrative departments and "establish the support mechanism in a stable form."
Yang Shujun, the relevant person in charge of the Rights and Interests Department of the Kunming Women's Federation, told the Southern Weekend reporter that because the shelter is managed by the Civil Affairs Bureau, there is indeed no fixed working mechanism at present.
According to Yang Shujun, after women are subjected to domestic violence, they generally need to call the police, and the police station will send out police to collect evidence and investigate, and take legal procedures to protect their rights and interests. If women also need psychological assistance or legal aid counselling, the Women's Federation provides it. At present, the Kunming Women's Federation maintains good relations with the Kunming Municipal Procuratorate and the court on the work of anti-domestic violence, and "often holds some coordination meetings."
Xiang Rong, an associate professor at the School of Ethnology and Sociology at Yunnan University, also believes that solving many problems such as anti-domestic violence does require multi-departmental linkage. Xiang Rong analyzed a set of ideal cooperation models to the Southern Weekend reporter, and the community social workers linked multiple resources.
Once domestic violence occurs, the victim finds a community social worker, who, after contact with her, evaluates her physical, mental and mental condition, and then formulates the victim's intervention plan, "after evaluation, and then determines whether she needs to leave the family or whether she needs to come to the shelter." Xiang Rong said. Throughout the intervention process, social workers are the centerpiece, and resources including the judiciary, women's federations, hospitals, and shelters are contacted to seek help for the victims.
For 12 years, Chu Junxiu has wanted to stay in touch with the victim group, but the vast majority of victims want to erase their experiences before and after the shelter from their memories after leaving the shelter. "For them, it was a secret and painful experience." Chu Junxiu said.
"The shelter is just a small harbor, temporarily giving these women some comfort to get them out of their original environment, and that's all." Chu Junxiu said that more often, each family still needs to face its own luck and misfortune.
Yang Shujun found that even in the Kunming Anti-Domestic Violence Shelter, the number of women who suffered domestic violence and asked for asylum in the past two years has decreased compared with previous years. Although anti-domestic violence shelters can provide a safe haven for helpless women in reality, they do face problems such as the environment is not private enough. In some places, victims of shelters have to live with ordinary rescued persons; many shelters are also trapped in staffing, limited funding and other problems, and are unable to provide more psychological, legal and other systematic support to victims.
On December 22, 2020, chu Junxiu will soon leave the post of head of the anti-domestic violence shelter due to work reasons, and she told Southern Weekend reporters that she hopes that in the future, the asylum can have better conditions to provide a warmer and more private shelter environment for women who have been victimized by domestic violence.
(At the request of the interviewee, Yang Shujun is a pseudonym)
Southern Weekend reporter Wang Xuqiulin