The eighth annual meeting on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in China, hosted by Southern Weekly, drew to a successful close on July 29 in Beijing. Government agents, corporate representatives, NGO and media workers concerned with corporate social responsibility, and philanthropic and social enterprises from China and abroad gathered again this year to discuss how to create a consensus on the topic of CSR.
The mental health and protection of left-behind children was the most followed topic of the conference. Southern Weekly published a series of special reports on China’s left-behind children in March 2016, when the ideas of people from all sectors who care for these children were collected in a 28-page volume. Lu Zongshu, the coordinator of the special reports on left-behind children and the senior editor of the philanthropy section of Southern Weekly, hosted a debate on the topic, in which he got to exchange views with Wang Jinhua, the director of the Division of Social Affairs of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Zeng Jing, the academic dean of the Shenzhen International Philanthropy Institute, Liu Xinyu, the board chairman of the On the Way to School Philanthropy Development Center, and Tan Jing, a singer and philanthropic celebrity.
Wang Jinhua stated in his speech that China has passed laws for the protection of minors, the protection of women and children, and on preventing minors from committing crimes, but doesn’t have a special department to promote the implementation of children’s rights. He added that the Ministry of Civil Affairs will advise the government to establish a special institution to protect children’s rights and build a platform available to all social groups that engage in the protection of left-behind children.