Project sees an improvement in women's safety at home

A volunteer depicting a victim of domestic violence shows pictures of abused victims during a lecture against domestic violence in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, in September. Long Wei / for China Daily

A pilot project to stamp out domestic violence in Shenyang is being expanded to cover more communities after signs that it has made a positive impact.

Police in the Liaoning provincial capital teamed up with the Shenghuayuan residents' committee in August to set up an intervention center.

The center has handled 50 cases since August, and about half of the victims who received assistance reported no further violence, according to the committee.

With the help of public security authorities, the model will now be rolled out to all 124 neighborhoods in the city's Shenhe district, Yang Xiaodan, chairwoman of the district women's federation, said at a launch ceremony on Sunday, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

"In recent years, emergency calls related to domestic violence have accounted for 20 percent on average," said Lu Zhenwei, deputy director of Wulihe police station, which ran the initial pilot. "Domestic violence happens from time to time, and cases often deteriorate without effective intervention."

In the past, perpetrators continued to beat their spouses once the police left, as they believed it was a family problem rather than police business, he said.

In August, the station set up a domestic violence intervention center staffed by Shenghuayuan residents' committee that could be contacted through the 110 emergency hotline.

"We realized that police can only step in when a victim dials 110, but a lot of women choose to suffer in silence, so we believe it's better to involve the neighborhood committees as they are more familiar with the more than 3,700 households there," Lu said.

"In our daily work, we often confront cases of violence at home, but traditional measures of persuasion and education did not make a big difference," said Zhou Fengmei, director of the residents' committee. "But thanks to the center, we can go to mediate with the police, and together we keep records for domestic violence cases and conduct home visits regularly. The situation is improving."