China's procuratorial authorities enhance efforts to safeguard public welfare in 2025

China's procuratorial authorities intensified efforts in 2025 to safeguard people's livelihoods, deepening the "procuratorial protection for people's livelihoods" initiative and strengthening judicial protections in key public welfare areas, according to the work report of the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Ying Yong, the prosecutor general of the SPP, delivered the report on Monday at the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

According to the report, food and drug safety remained a priority in the past year as prosecutors charged 12,000 people for producing or selling harmful food and counterfeit or substandard medicines, and handled 27,000 public interest litigation cases. Authorities also prosecuted 461 people for producing or selling counterfeit agricultural supplies such as seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides.

Efforts were intensified to protect public welfare funds, as stated in the report. Prosecutors charged 5,256 people for fraud involving social security and medical insurance, and corrected 573 cases of false litigation.

In the healthcare sector, 108 people were prosecuted for crimes against medical workers. Prosecutors also charged 4,494 people for crimes including major liability accidents and dangerous operations at work.

Authorities also strengthened oversight in areas such as prepaid consumption and livestream e-commerce to better protect consumers.

Protecting workers' rights also remained a focus, according to the report. Prosecutors charged 1,190 people for refusing to pay labor remuneration, supported 28,000 wage recovery lawsuits filed by migrant workers, and helped recover 1.35 billion yuan ($195 million) in unpaid wages. They also handled 690 public interest litigation cases related to workers in new forms of employment.

Judicial protection for vulnerable groups was also strengthened. Prosecutors charged 43,000 people for crimes infringing on women's rights, 50,300 people for crimes against the elderly, and handled 4,723 public interest litigation cases related to barrier-free environment construction.

Prosecutors supported the filing of 42,000 civil cases for vulnerable groups who faced difficulties pursuing legal action. Under the national judicial assistance program, 620 million yuan was granted to 43,000 individuals facing financial hardship due to legal cases.