BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Women's rights advocates Sunday said there is a need for new legislation to protect victims of domestic violence and to punish offenders severely.
About 100 advocates from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan back a draft proposal during a two-day seminar organized by the Anti-Domestic Violence Network of China Law Society (ADVN), a Beijing-based NGO.
The organization has been pushing for women's rights and gender equality since its founding 10 years ago.
"The existing laws and regulations can't effectively deal with the problem of domestic violence, therefore unified anti-domestic violence legislation is urgently needed," said Chen Mingxia, the founder of ADVN.
Official statistics revealed that about 36 percent of families have experienced violence, especially women, children and the elderly, the Xinhua News Agency reported last year.
The problem appears to be more severe in rural areas where about 62 percent of women in 31 provinces were victims of domestic violence, the All China Women's Federation (ACWF) said.