Great Britain China Centre Insights Briefing
GBCC launched the project ‘Improved justice in child sexual abuse cases in China’ in December 2020, in partnership with the College for Criminal Law Science (CCLS) at Beijing Normal University and the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse (the CSA Centre) in the UK. This project will work with three local procuratorates in China to establish a prosecutor-led, child-friendly criminal justice procedure in child sexual abuse (CSA) cases.
Despite initial delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, project activities resumed from March 2021. A series of online international exchange sessions with European experts took place between March and June 2021.
Three exchange sessions were held online in March, April and June 2021. In total, 91 participants attended these sessions, including GBCC, the CSA Centre, Professor Gavin Oxburgh from Northumbria University, the CCLS research team and local practitioners including prosecutors, police officers and justice social workers. The first three sessions covered an overview of child sexual abuse cases in England and Wales as well as the situation in China, the initial response to and the statutory process of dealing with CSA cases in England and Wales, and finally the framework, approach and technics of interviewing child victims.
One of the key messages from the experts during these sessions was the need to have a child-centred approach in dealing with CSA cases. This insight from UK experts was insightful for the CCLS research team, and the project will reflect this principle throughout the design and implementation of three pilot projects across China.
By holding online exchange sessions online, this project was able to engage with more participants than initially anticipated, enabling international best practice sharing with wider audiences for greater impact.
