China improves legal aid system: white paper

China's legal aid system was further improved in 2004, while courts throughout the country provided judicial aid in 263,860 cases, an increase of 15.6 percent from the previous year.

The information was released in a white paper on China's human rights progress in 2004, issued by the Information Office of the State Council on Wednesday.

The white paper says the Supreme People's Court adopted the " Decision on Providing Judicial Aid to Litigants with Real Financial Difficulties" in 2004 for improving the system of judicial aid.

Payment of lawsuit fees have been reduced, exempted or allowed to be delayed, so that the litigants with real financial difficulties in civil and administrative cases, especially senior citizens, women, minors, disabled people, laid-off workers, migrant workers from rural areas, as well as victims of traffic, medical and industrial accidents, can afford to seek justice from the courts.

In 2004, the judicial aid totaled 1.09 billion yuan, 3.1 percent more than in the previous year.

Lawsuit fees have been reduced or exempted for cases involving child-support payment, spouse-support payment and parent-support payment, and lawsuits brought by households in rural areas enjoying the "five guarantees", or guarantees of food, clothing, medical care, housing and burial expenses, and by people in urban areas being provided with the minimum living guarantee.

The issuance of the "Urgent Notice on Clearing Up Cases Concerning Delayed Payment for Construction Projects and Wages of Migrant Workers," in particular, provided judicial aid to migrant workers from rural areas in cases of labor disputes. As a result, 163,151 cases concerning demands for payment were concluded in 2004.

In 2004, governments at all levels throughout the country appropriated 217 million yuan in total for legal aid, 43 percent more than in the previous year. Throughout China, 3,023 legal aid organizations were set up, 249 more than in the previous year; and during the year, 190,187 legal aid cases were handled, 23,754 more than in the previous year, extending aid to 294,138 litigants.

People from all walks of life also actively participated in legal aid work. The All-China Women's Federation and local women's federations have officially opened 2,700 legal aid centers for women and agencies for protection of women's rights. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions and local trade unions have established 2,990 legal aid organizations for workers.

The China Disabled Persons' Federation and local disabled persons' federations have signed cooperation agreements with over 3,000 law firms for legal aid in cases concerning the protection of disabled people's rights.

Over 30 institutions of higher learning, including Peking University, Tsinghua University and Wuhan University, have provided legal aid services to people with difficulties by combining legal aid and clinical legal education.