While Covid-19 brought towns and cities across China to a standstill in February, one woman and her children walked for five hours in an attempt to return to the mother's hometown.
Despite pleas from government to stay indoors, Front Line Defenders said the woman had no choice but to make the journey after she was beaten by her abusive ex-husband.
The Irish human rights organisation said she had called the police who refused to dispatch officers to help but instead told her to ask family to collect them.
However, authorities did not issue the special permit needed to travel between counties during lockdown. In the end, her relatives were left with no choice but to convince her ex-husband to drive the mother and children to the county border