What is the truth that children let their parents live in dangerous houses?

Although children who are not filial and violate the law should be punished according to law, the relevant departments are equally duty-bound to improve the living conditions of the elderly and provide social security assistance.

Recently, the People's Court of Yuexi County, Anhui Province, the People's Procuratorate, the Public Security Bureau and the Judicial Bureau jointly issued a notice, pointing out that the main flood season is coming. If the maintenance obligor has safe housing, but the dependents still live in dangerous houses, the maintenance obligor must take the initiative to connect them with safe housing life before May 3 1, and respect the living habits of the dependents, handle the family members well, and ensure the stability and comfort of the elderly. It is true that because the elderly are poor and cannot leave their hometown, their children must ensure that they have safe housing and food and clothing in their original place of residence. Otherwise, the political and legal organs will punish the maintenance obligor according to the circumstances from June 1 day.

In all fairness, this is not a red-headed document without warmth, but also takes into account the actual needs of the local elderly for a safe life. It is understood that before the visit, the relevant departments learned that there are still a large number of cases of unfilial to the elderly in rural areas of Yuexi County. Children live in spacious and bright new houses, but parents live in dark, dirty, chaotic and poor conditions for a long time. In a shabby house. As the main flood season in southern Anhui is coming, dangerous houses are prone to collapse, endangering people's lives. It is also a precaution to let children provide housing security for their parents. While advocating filial piety for the elderly, it eliminates the existing security risks.

From the legal point of view, it is not only a moral issue of filial piety, but also a legal issue for children to live in new houses but let their parents live in dangerous houses. China's Constitution clearly stipulates that "adult children have the obligation to support and assist their parents". More specifically, the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly stipulates that "family members should respect, care for and take care of the elderly at home", "supporters should properly arrange the housing for the elderly and must not force them to live or move to houses with poor conditions" and "supporters have the obligation to maintain all the housing owned by the elderly".

If a child "can do it but doesn't do it" and refuses to perform the obligation of support and assistance given by law, to the extent of "abandoning family members", according to the provisions of the Law on Public Security Administration Punishment, he can be detained for up to five days or given a warning. If "the circumstances are bad" and serious consequences such as casualties of the elderly in dangerous houses occur, this unfilial behavior of children may also constitute a crime of abandonment, and they will face "fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years, criminal detention or control". From this perspective, the "punishment" emphasized in the local joint notice is not alarmist.

The problem is that these seemingly "hard" punishments are still difficult to land in reality. Regardless of the age of the old people and the evaluation of dangerous houses, even if the children live in safe houses and their parents still live in dangerous houses, how can they be judged as "the old people are too poor to get home and it is difficult to get out of their hometown" under the traditional psychology of "washing their dirty linen in public"? If the elderly don't want to move out of the dangerous house, ask their children to ensure that they can "settle down and have food and clothing" in their original place of residence. Do their children have enough economic ability and whether they will go out to work or not? Moreover, if we look at the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, there is no corresponding penalty clause for poor housing security for the elderly. Just a minor violation of the law may not be enough as a threshold for administrative punishment and punishment. The local authorities have not issued a ticket so far, which is probably inseparable from the above reasons.

In fact, it is not enough to solve the problem of "children let their parents live in dangerous houses" by issuing notices and issuing tickets. In the final analysis, protecting the rights and interests of the elderly is not only the legal responsibility of family members, but also the responsibility of the whole society, especially the relevant departments. The Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly clearly stipulates that "the state and society shall take measures to improve various systems for protecting the rights and interests of the elderly, and gradually improve the conditions for ensuring the life, health and safety of the elderly and participating in social development".

Although children who are not filial and violate the law should be punished according to law, the relevant departments are equally duty-bound to improve the living conditions of the elderly and provide social security assistance. In fact, the reason why the local government issued such a notice is not only to remind children to bear legal obligations, but also to "combine the arrival of flood season and the promotion of poverty alleviation work that government departments pay special attention to" and "hope that the housing conditions of local elderly people will be improved to a certain extent". Under this circumstance, I am afraid that in addition to issuing notices, the relevant departments must really do a good job in flood control and poverty alleviation, renovation of dilapidated buildings, and love and respect for the elderly.