Children are the future of the motherland, and caring for the healthy growth of minors is the common responsibility of the whole society. Allowing minors to live safer and happier lives is a major issue involving thousands of households, and it is also a hot topic of general concern in society. The newly revised Law on the Protection of Minors, which came into effect on June 1, 2021, amends and improves the original Law on the Protection of Minors from six aspects: family protection, school protection, social protection, online protection, government protection, and judicial protection. Together, we learn about the protection of minors.
Family Protection
Parents, as the first guardians of minors and the first teachers of their children, shall create a healthy and comfortable environment for minors to grow up. But what many parents don't expect is that some of their behaviors may inadvertently also bring harm to their children. Below, let's learn through the scenario:
1. It is forbidden to allow or instigate minors to drink alcohol
Article 17 of the Law on the Protection of People's Republic of China Minors clearly stipulates that the parents or other guardians of minors shall not allow or instigate minors to smoke (including e-cigarettes, the same below), drink, gamble, wander and beg, or bully others.
2. Children under the age of 8 cannot stay at home alone
Article 21 stipulates that the parents or other guardians of minors must not leave minors under the age of 8 or who need special care due to physical or psychological reasons unsupervised, or hand them over to temporary care by persons who have no capacity for civil conduct, have limited capacity for civil conduct, suffer from serious infectious diseases, or are otherwise unsuitable.
3. The child safety seat is introduced into law for the first time
Article 18 stipulates that the parents or other guardians of minors shall provide minors with a safe family living environment, and promptly eliminate potential safety hazards that cause injuries such as electric shocks, burns, and falls; Measures such as equipping minors with child safety seats and educating minors to obey traffic rules are adopted to prevent minors from being harmed by traffic accidents.
4. Educate children not to use violence
Article 17 stipulates that the parents or other guardians of minors shall not abuse, abandon, or illegally give minors for adoption or commit domestic violence against minors.
School Protection
The school is a harbor for students to receive education and grow happily. Let's take a look at what the school's safeguarding responsibilities are!
Article 27 stipulates that teachers and staff of schools and kindergartens shall respect the personal dignity of minors, and must not carry out corporal punishment, covert corporal punishment, or other acts that insult the personal dignity of minors. Article 29 stipulates that schools shall care for and care for minor students, and shall not discriminate against students on the basis of family, physical, psychological, or academic ability. Care shall be provided for students with family difficulties or physical and mental disabilities; Students with abnormal behavior or learning difficulties should be patiently helped.
Article 38 stipulates that schools and kindergartens must not arrange for minors to participate in commercial activities, and must not sell or require minors and their parents or other guardians to purchase designated goods and services. Schools and kindergartens must not cooperate with off-campus training establishments to provide paid course tutoring for minors.
Article 39 stipulates that schools shall establish a work system for the prevention and control of student bullying, and carry out education and training on the prevention and control of student bullying for faculty, staff, students, and so forth.
Schools shall immediately stop students' bullying conduct, and notify the parents or other guardians of the minor students who were bullied and the minor students who were bullied to participate in the designation and handling of the bullying conduct; Provide psychological counseling, education and guidance to relevant minor students in a timely manner; Give necessary family education guidance to the parents or other guardians of the relevant minor students.
Schools shall strengthen discipline of minor students who carry out bullying in accordance with law based on the nature and extent of the bullying conduct. Schools must not conceal serious bullying conduct, and shall promptly report it to the public security organs and administrative departments for education, and cooperate with the relevant departments to handle it in accordance with law.
Social Protection
Article 1 of the opening chapter of the Social Protection Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors states: "The whole society shall establish a good practice of caring for and caring for minors. It shows that the protection of minors depends not only on families and schools, but also on the joint efforts of the whole society.
Case: Xiao Zhang and Qiangzi are both junior high school students, the two are good buddies, Xiao Zhang is a good student in the eyes of the teacher, but Qiangzi is not very good at learning, and often skips school, one day Qiangzi pulled Xiao Zhang to the school grove and said mysteriously: "I have good things, do you want to try?" Xiao Zhang asked, "Where did you get this cigarette from?" Qiangzi swallowed the clouds and spat out the fog and said proudly: "The commissary opposite our school." Come on, isn't it a man, my dad said, manhood is to smoke and drink. As he spoke, he put the cigarette he lit into Xiao Zhang's mouth. Later, the relevant authorities investigated and dealt with the shops that sold cigarettes to the hadron.
Article 59 stipulates that tobacco, alcohol and lottery sales outlets shall not be set up around schools and kindergartens. It is forbidden to sell cigarettes, alcohol, lottery tickets to minors, or to redeem lottery prizes. Tobacco, alcohol, and lottery operators shall set up signs in conspicuous locations that do not sell tobacco, alcohol, or lottery tickets to minors; Where it is difficult to determine whether they are minors, they shall be required to present their identity documents. No one is allowed to smoke or drink alcohol in schools, kindergartens, and other public places where minors gather for activities. The Law on the Protection of Minors in People's Republic of China has added a special chapter on "Internet Protection", which clearly stipulates for the first time that "the state, society, schools, and families shall strengthen publicity and education on minors' Internet literacy, cultivate and improve minors' Internet literacy, and enhance minors' awareness and ability to use the Internet in a scientific, civilized, safe, and reasonable manner".
1. To prevent Internet addiction, the state is to establish a unified certification system
Article 75 stipulates: "The State is to establish a unified electronic identity authentication system for minors in online games. Online gaming service providers shall require minors to register and log in to online games with their real identity information. "Online gaming service providers must not provide online gaming services to minors between 22 p.m. and 8 p.m. the next day."
2. Platforms should restrict minors from spending and tipping online
Article 74 stipulates: "Online service providers such as online games, online live broadcasts, online audio and video, and online social networking shall set up corresponding functions such as time management, authority management, and consumption management for minors' use of their services. ”
3. Strengthen protection and say "no" to cyberbullying
Article 77 clearly prohibits cyberbullying of minors: "No organization or individual may use text, pictures, audio, or video to carry out cyberbullying against minors, such as insulting, slandering, threatening, or maliciously damaging their image, through text, pictures, audio, or video. Minors who have been cyberbullied and their parents or other guardians have the right to notify the network service provider to take measures such as deleting, blocking, or disconnecting links. After receiving the notice, network service providers shall promptly employ necessary measures to stop cyberbullying and prevent the spread of information. ”
4. Those under the age of 16 are not allowed to open online live broadcasts
Article 76 provides: "Online livestreaming service providers must not provide minors under the age of 16 with services for the registration of online livestreaming publisher accounts; When providing online livestreaming publisher account registration services to minors who are at least 16 years old, their identity information shall be verified, and the consent of their parents or other guardians shall be obtained. ”
Government Protection
In the chapter on "Government Protection", the responsibilities of the government and its relevant departments in areas such as education, safety and security, health care, and social assistance are integrated and refined, and the responsibilities of civil affairs departments for comprehensive guardianship are clarified.
Scene 1: At Xiao Ming's school, every semester, especially in the summer, uncles and aunts from different departments will come to the school cafeteria and around the school to inspect the school. Article 87: Local people's governments and their relevant departments shall ensure campus security, supervise and guide schools, kindergartens, and other such units in implementing campus security responsibilities, and establish mechanisms for reporting, handling, and coordinating emergencies.
Scene 2: Whenever she goes to and from school, packed around the campus, Xiaoli can always see her uncle police maintaining law and order, and she feels safe and relieved. Article 88: Public security organs and other relevant departments shall lawfully preserve public security and traffic order in the vicinity of campuses, set up monitoring equipment and traffic safety facilities, and prevent and stop illegal and criminal conduct against minors.
Scene 3: Xiao Tian is 6 years old this year, his parents died in an accident, and he has no other relatives, what will Xiao Tian do in the future?
Article 92: In any of the following circumstances, the civil affairs departments shall conduct temporary guardianship of minors in accordance with law: (1) minors are vagranting and begging or their identities are unclear, and their parents or other guardians cannot be found temporarily; (2) The whereabouts of the guardian are unknown, and there is no one else who can serve as the guardian; (3) Guardians are unable to perform guardianship duties due to their own objective reasons or due to the occurrence of natural disasters, accidents, public health incidents, or other emergencies, resulting in a lack of guardianship of minors; (4) Guardians refuse or neglect to perform guardianship duties, causing minors to be left uncared for; (5) Where guardians instigate or exploit minors to carry out illegal or criminal conduct, and minors need to be taken out of their placement; (6) Minors who have suffered serious harm from their guardians or face threats to their physical safety, and need to be placed in an emergency placement; (7) Other circumstances provided for by law.
Judicial Protection
1. Xiao A: My good friend Xiaobao stole a motorcycle because of a moment of confusion, and now the case has been transferred by the Public Security Bureau to the procuratorate for review and prosecution, Xiaobao feels very scared every day, and I am also very worried about him.
Article 101 stipulates: Public security organs, people's procuratorates, people's courts, and judicial administrative departments shall designate specialized agencies or designate specialized personnel to be responsible for handling cases involving minors. Personnel handling cases involving minors shall undergo special training and be familiar with the physical and psychological characteristics of minors.
2. The presence of legal representatives and appropriate adults is a system
Xiao B: But Xiaobao's parents have been working outside for a long time, and if the prosecutor notifies him to go under investigation, he will definitely be very scared if he goes alone.
Article 110 provides: Public security organs, people's procuratorates, and people's courts interrogating juvenile criminal suspects or defendants, and questioning juvenile victims or witnesses, shall notify their legally-designated representatives, adult relatives, school representatives, and other appropriate adults to appear, and employ appropriate methods and conduct them in appropriate venues, to protect minors' rights to reputation, privacy, and other lawful rights and interests.
3. Little C: Xiaobao's family is very difficult, what should I do if I can't afford to hire a lawyer?
Article 104 stipulates: Legal aid institutions or public security organs, people's procuratorates, people's courts, and judicial administrative departments shall provide assistance to minors in need of legal aid or judicial assistance, and provide them with legal aid or judicial assistance in accordance with law. Legal aid institutions shall appoint lawyers familiar with the physical and psychological characteristics of minors to provide legal aid services to minors.
4. Xiao D: If Xiaobao is sentenced by the court for theft, can he still go to college and find a job in the future?
Article 113 stipulates: Implement the policy of education, reform, and rescue for juveniles who violate the law and commit crimes, and adhere to the principle of education first, supplemented by punishment. After juveniles who have violated the law or committed crimes are punished in accordance with law, they must not be discriminated against in areas such as advancement to higher education or employment.
5. Little E: The Internet celebrity crystal plasticine toys recently sold at the gate of our school are fun, but they always smell weird, and they feel that there is a problem with the quality, who should we ask for help?
Article 106 provides: Where the lawful rights and interests of minors are violated, and relevant organizations and individuals fail to initiate litigation on their behalf, the people's procuratorate may urge and support them in initiating litigation; Where the public interest is involved, the people's procuratorate has the right to initiate public interest litigation.
6. Little F: After my good friend Bin Bin's parents divorced, his father beat him every time he drank, and Bin Bin was injured in many places, how can we help him?
Article 108 provides: Where a minor's parents or other guardians do not perform guardianship duties in accordance with law or seriously infringe upon the lawful rights and interests of the minor under guardianship, the people's court may, on the basis of an application by relevant persons or units, issue a personal safety protection order or revoke guardianship qualifications in accordance with law. Parents or other guardians whose guardianship qualifications have been revoked shall continue to bear the cost of child support in accordance with law.
Source: Yueyang Political Science and Law
Editor: Zhang Yi
Proofreading: Zhang Siyu
Review: Zhong Qiongru, Liu Zhiguang, Li Haiwei