Law school graduates extend legal aid

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 25, 2004

Law school graduates extend legal aid

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Liu Yan, a senior student at the China University of Political Science and Law, has given up seeking a job in China's capital Beijing for two years of free service in a legal aid center in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

She is one of the 62 graduates and eight postgraduates from lawschools in Chinese universities funded by a program called China Recent Graduates Legal Aid Fellowship run by the China Legal Aid Foundation (CLAF).

This summer the 70 young people will go to work for 46 legal aid centers in 12 Chinese provinces, including northwest China's Gansu Province, southwest China's Sichuan and Yunan provinces.

The program held its launch ceremony here Wednesday. In its first year, it received donations from the US-based Ford Foundation but did not release the exact amount of the donation.

Each postgraduate is required by the program to work at least 15 legal aid cases in his two-year service while each graduate is to complete at least 10.

"The program will help relieve the shortage of personnel and money in legal aid centers in less developed areas and more needy people will gain help to protect their legal rights and interests," said Deng Jiaming, director of the Legal Aid Center under the Ministry of Justice.

Last year the Chinese government invested 150 million yuan (18.14 US dollars) in legal aid, about one fifth of the money needed. Parties in some 500,000 cases did not get the legal aid they were entitled to, accounting for 70 percent of the total cases in need of legal aid, according to Deng.

"In my hometown, it is expensive and troublesome to hire a lawyer and go to court. No ordinary family can afford it," said Liu Yan, who comes from poverty-stricken Dingxi in northwest China's Gansu Province. "I am very glad to have such a chance to help people."

As a developing country with 1.3 billion population, China now has 102,000 lawyers and there are still 206 counties without lawyers.

"China's legal system has evolved rapidly and a few days ago China amended the Constitution adopting the concept of human rights," said Deval Patrick, trustee of the Ford Foundation. "All this will be meaningful to poor people if some lawyers are willingto stand up in some court somewhere to give the law life."

"The young people are using their training and compassion to give hope to despairing people," he said.

The program will go on every year if enough donations are forthcoming, and organizers hope to expand the program. The total number is expected to rise to 200, said Zhang Xiufu, president of the CLAF.

"We hope more organizations and individuals at home and abroad donate to the program," he said.

Donors can choose to give money to fund the living cost of graduates or to a special type of legal aid case, such as legal aid to migrant workers or a certain poverty-hit area.

Source: Xinhua

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