China is mulling scrapping its controversial birth restrictions, reversing nearly four decades of family planning policies as birth rates fall.
Chinese couples are limited to two children at present, after rules were relaxed from the infamous one-child policy that was in force from 1979 to 2016. Now officials are poised to enact a wide-ranging civil code that would end a policy that has been enforced through fines but was also notorious for cases of forced abortions and sterilisation in the world’s most populous country.
The Procuratorate Daily, a newspaper affiliated with the country’s prosecutor’s office, said the draft code omitted any reference to “family planning” – the current policy which limits couples to having no more than two children. The report did not indicate whether the new policy would raise the limit or allow an unlimited number of children.
The draft civil code, which is being discussed by the standing committee of the National People’s Congress this week, is set to be completed by 2020.
The draft code also includes “clear rules” to tackle the “intense problem of sexual harassment” reflected throughout society, state-run news agency Xinhua said on Tuesday, in an apparent nod to China’s growing #Metoo movement. Victims can demand perpetrators “assume civil liability” for committing sexual harassment through words or actions, or exploiting someone’s subordinate relationship, Xinhua reported.
The Communist party began enforcing a one-child policy in 1979 to slow population growth. The limit was raised to two children in 2016 as the nation scrambled to rejuvenate its ageing population of 1.4 billion.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
