'10 Major Cases' of Protecting Women, Children's Rights,
held a press conference on March 27 to publicize its latest list of Ten Major Cases of Safeguarding the and Interests of Women and Children According to Law.
The Ten Major Cases relate to the major issues of current importance in the protection of women and children's rights and interests.
These include: domestic violence, minor sexual assault, marital joint debts, divorce property division, rural women's land rights, special labor protection and women's reproductive rights.
The first list of Ten Major Cases was published by the ACWF in December 2015, as selected by officials and members of relevant organizations, inspiring a widespread reaction at home and abroad.
One of the cases listed was the identification of common debts shared by a husband and wife in a civil lending dispute. It involves a woman surnamed Xu, who was charged with 1.5 million yuan of marital debts two years after her divorce.
Her ex-husband, surnamed Zhou, had borrowed the money from a lender surnamed Zhang and signed a letter saying he would pay it back. But, later, Zhou still failed to pay the debt, even after a court order was issued.
Therefore, the creditor sued Zhou in court and asked to reclassify the sum as the joint marital debt of Zhou and Xu.
According to Article 24 of the Interpretation of Certain Issues of the Marriage Law, though, the loan is a debt of Zhou solely, since Xu did not know about the debt beforehand and not share the benefits of its receipt.
In this case, a retrial rejected the common practice of mechanically applying the meaning of Article 24, and thus protected the legitimate interests of a women as a non-borrower according to law.
The publication of the list provides typical models for solving similar cases and problems involving the rights and interests of women and children in the future.
Here is the list of the 10 Major Cases in full.
1. The First Division of the Zhejiang Provincial Higher People's Court made a ruling on a joint debt dispute between Zhang and the couple Zhou and Xu.
2. The Xiuying District People's Court of Haikou City, Hainan Province, made a ruling on a dispute over the rights and interests of a married woman surnamed Xiao who was stripped of land compensation.
3. The women's federation and People's Procuratorate of Minhang District in Shanghai jointly undertook a case of a man surnamed Qian who sexually assaulted a juvenile.
4. The Wenzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate of Zhejiang Province made a ruling on a child trafficking case which involved over 35 people.
5. The Zhejiang Zhiren Law Firm took on a case of a divorce dispute in which a husband had fabricated a joint marital debt.
6. Yu Aiping Studio of Ruian Women's Federation in Zhejiang Province and Zhejiang Xintai Law Firm jointly took on a case in a divorce dispute in which the husband denied that he had illegally cohabited with another woman and had a son and he asked to get a divorce.
7. The Henan Provincial Federation of Trade Unions took on a case where female high school teachers were made to put their names on a waiting list to give birth.
8. The Zhu Xueqin Staff Legal Assistance Office of Putuo Federation of Trade Unions in Shanghai took on a case in a dispute over maternity benefits in which a woman's company paid less maternity insurance.
9. The Hebei Provincial Women and Children’s Legal Aid Center took on a case where a woman had long suffered from domestic violence and the center finally helped her get a personal safety protection order.
10. Beijing Shangheng (Hohhot) Law Firm took on a case where a woman had suffered domestic violence from her ex-husband. The law firm helped her get a personal safety protection order.
(Source: Women Voice/Translated and edited by )
