Editor's note

• Author: Lu Haina
• Position: (???) Ph.D. in Law, School of Law, Catholic University of Leuven (KUL), Leuven, Belgium; Associate Professor, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, School of Law, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China. Contact: luhaina123@sina.cn
• Pages: 1-2

FRONTIERS OF LAW IN CHINA

VOL. 16 MARCH 2021 NO. 1

DOI 10.3868/s050-010-021-0001-2

FOCUS

PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE GROUPS DURING COVID-19

EDITOR’S NOTE

LU Haina∗

While the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world with a huge impact on the economic,

social, and cultural life of almost everyone, it affects certain groups more than others.

This Focus looks at the situations of three vulnerable groups in the pandemic: victims of

domestic violence, persons with disabilities, and workers in the informal economy. There

are six articles examining some specific issues concerning these groups and discussing

how law should deal with them.

The first article focuses on the worsened situation of domestic violence during the

pandemic and the Chinese experience in tackling it. It examines the causes of the increase;

the types and features of domestic violence during COVID-19; and what makes it more

difficult to combat domestic violence at this particular time. The article also presents

good practices in some local areas of China, and it concludes with some

recommendations for the future in tackling domestic violence during public health crises

like the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second article examines how China has responded to the impact of COVID-19 on

the access to information by persons with disabilities. It reviews social regulatory and

redistributive policies in China that aim at fostering digital inclusion of persons with

disabilities. It examines the emerging Chinese policies and how China has responded to

the impact of the pandemic on digital inclusion in terms of redistribution, market

regulation, the involvement of persons with disabilities and their organizations, and

awareness-raising campaigns.

The third article also looks at the access to information by persons with disabilities,

but focuses on the role of social actors. After the outbreak of COVID-19, there was an

information gap due to a lack of legal norms on information accessibility and the lack of a

widespread popular concept of such accessibility. Social forces in China responded

quickly, however. Sign language videos have been widely circulated, and online

∗ (󳌛󰩌) Ph.D. in law, School of Law, Catholic University of Leuven (KUL), Leuven, Belgium;

Associate Professor, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, School of Law, Renmin University of

China, Beijing 100872, China. Contact: luhaina123@sina.cn