Australia is supporting work to address domestic violence in China through the China-Australia Human Rights Technical Cooperation Program (HRTC). Established following the inaugural China-Australia Human Rights Dialogue in 1997, the HRTC has focused on legal reform, women's and children's rights, and ethnic and minority rights. The All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) has been a key partner of the HRTC for more than 15 years, with addressing domestic violence a focus area. Key achievements include support for the drafting of China's national domestic violence legislation, currently being reviewed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; promoting the introduction of domestic violence protection orders in specialised pilot courts around the country; establishing four pilot domestic violence crisis intervention centres (in Beijing; Luquan County, Hebei Province; Changzhou, Jiangsu Province; and Changsha, Hunan Province); and establishing domestic violence emergency hotlines and complaints handling centres in a number of provinces.
The HRTC has supported a number of workshops for domestic violence survivors, including a workshop with UN Women China which focused on increasing access to justice for domestic violence victims. The workshop examined how to obtain necessary evidence for the courts in the form of police and medical reports and how to transform a dismissive response toward domestic violence by officials into a more proactive and effective one. More than 120 participants from ten provinces attended the workshop. The activity also provided the opportunity for participants to hear the personal stories of domestic violence survivors from both Australia and China. The training was conducted with Chinese lawyers, medical practitioners and police officers who have trained to respond to domestic violence cases.
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