"Stay (Un)safe at Home": la legge contro la violenza domestica della Rpc

After two drafts, the first Law against-domestic violence of the People’s Republic of China has been released by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on 27th December 2015 and entered into force on 1st March 2016. Many countries have adopted new policies and regulations to face the phenomenon of domestic violence, which affects a vast number of families daily throughout the world. Furthermore, the recent lockdown, due to the widespread of Covid-19, has exacerbated this situation, forcing millions of people within the home. In the People’s Republic of China as well, domestic violence has been a hot topic in the legal and social debate in the last few years and Chinese lawmakers have issue several legally binding and non-binding documents to tackle the increasing phenomenon of violence among family members; however, this body of regulations only represents the first ad hoc law on this topic. In fact, this law emerged as a response to the numerous calls from scholars, NGOs and other players for a specific legislation governing the issue of domestic violence. This paper will provide an overview of the recent legal developments in China on the topic of domestic violence and the most interesting features of this new law, especially those concerning the legal definition of domestic violence, the protection orders system and its implementation scope.