On April 7, 2024, a team from the Beijing Internet Court (BIC) visited the primary people's court of Weishan Yi and Hui autonomous county of Dali Bai autonomous prefecture in Yunnan province and signed a cooperation agreement on the judicial protection of minors in cyberspace with the court.

This collaboration aims to enhance regional cooperation and coordinated development, achieve complementary advantages, resources sharing, and mutual benefits, as well as to cultivate and improve minors' legal awareness and protect their legitimate rights and interests.

Executive Vice-President of the intermediate people's court of Dali Bai autonomous prefecture Xi Yuncheng, President of the Weishan court Tie Hong and Vice-President Qiu Zexian, standing member of the BIC's adjudication committee Sun Mingxi, and judge from the BIC’s third Comprehensive Division (juvenile tribunal) Jing Wenjie, among others, attended the signing event. 

Xi extended congratulations on the signing of the cooperation agreement between the two sides, expressing appreciation to the BIC for the support. The agreement entails liaison and joint-meeting mechanisms in a bid to improve the professional abilities of both sides in the adjudication of juvenile cases, the legal education and social protection of minors in both regions, and to jointly foster a favorable law-based environment for minor protection.

Tie said that the signing marks a concrete step toward solid collaboration between the two courts in the judicial protection of minors. Both parties will jointly explore and establish a comprehensive cooperation mechanism, aiming to form a new pattern of cooperation that is all-dimensional, multi-faceted and highly efficient, she said, pledging to fully tap the BIC's advantages on legal education and strive to provide strong legal guarantee for the healthy growth of minors. 

Sun noted that in internet-related cases handled by the BIC, there is a large proportion involving left-behind children in remote mountainous areas. Issues to be addressed include children's lack of self-protection awareness, inadequate educational and guardian responsibilities of schools, parents and the society at large, according to Sun. She pointed out that Weishan court has distinctive regional and ethnic characteristics in the judicial protection of minors given that Weishan county is home to a large population of minority ethnic groups in Southwest China. The BIC hopes to take this cooperation as an opportunity to strengthen regional judicial coordination and form a joint force to enhance minors' awareness of using the internet safely, improve their legal literacy, and jointly foster a favorable law-based environment for the protection of minors, she said.

At the symposium held after the signing ceremony, Qiu introduced the Weishan court's work in judicial protection of minors, and Jing introduced the BIC's experience in this area.

The signing of the agreement marks the in-depth cooperation between the BIC and the Weishan court, which is conducive to further tapping the BIC's advantages in minor protection in cyberspace and Weishan court's regional and ethnic characteristics in minor protection, and enhancing the joint work force in this area to promote the improvement of minors' legal literacy in cyberspace and foster a sound atmosphere in society to better care for minors.