Posts
Jeremy D. Morley
China has substantially amended its Law on the Protection of Minors. The new law, passed by the 13th National Peoples Congress in October 2020, will take effect on June 1, 2021.
The amended law contains a list of
virtuous principles concerning the duties of parents and guardians, the
requirement to protect children, and the role of state organs, residents’
committees, villagers’ committees, public security units, civil affairs offices
and other “relevant departments” in supervising citizens’ behavior concerning
children.
The newly-specified duties of parents include
educating and guiding minors to abide by the law, to be diligent and thrifty,
and to “develop good ideological, moral and behavioral habits.” The new
requirements include provisions whereby “the state establishes a unified
electronic identity authentication system for minors in online games;” as well
as an obligation “to install minor network protection software on smart
terminal products … for minors, etc.”
A measure that could have a significant
impact on the parenting of children in China after parental separation is a
provision that, “it is not allowed to compete for custody rights by snatching
or hiding underage children.” Until now, a parent in China has generally been free
to take a child away from the other parent, often to a distant location. Indeed,
in my area of focus, which is that of international families, it is extremely
common that, when a Chinese and non-Chinese couple living in China separate,
the Chinese parent will exercise self-help by simply removing the child from
the other parent, often by taking the child to live with a grandparent or by
moving to an undisclosed location. Until now, this method has been
all-too-successful. It remains to be seen whether this practice will now change
as a result of the new law, or, even more unlikely, whether the new law will have
any impact when a Chinese parent abducts a child to China from another country.
A further significant development,
effective February 18, 2021, is that courts are now required to interpret the
law in compliance with the “Guiding Opinions on Deeply Promoting the
Integration of Socialist Core Values into the Analysis and Reasoning of
Adjudicative Instruments,” issued by the Supreme People’s Court of China. While
this rule applies in all cases, it is especially required in cases “of public
concern,” including matters as to which an important principle should be stated
for the purpose of the education of the public.
The “Socialist Core Values” that must
guide all court decisions comprise twelve qualities that should define the
relationship between citizens and the Chinese state. These values are:
prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, the rule
of law, patriotism, dedication, integrity and friendship. Their specific
application must comport with the guidance of the People’s Court as it, in
turn, interprets the guidance it receives from the People’s Congress. In this
context, it is critical to note that the
Chinese judiciary makes no claim to judicial independence. It acknowledges that it is strictly
subordinate to the Chinese Communist Party.
