Guideline promotes legal aid services

A guideline issued recently by three departments in China aims to encourage and guide university teachers and students to participate in legal aid volunteer services.

The Social Work Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Justice released the guideline to provide support for the development of legal aid work and safeguard the rights and interests of the people, the guideline said.

By next year, the construction of legal aid service centers at universities will be basically completed. Volunteer services will become an important method of practical education for university law faculty and students, and a system with Chinese characteristics will be initially formed by 2035, it said.

Personnel engaged in legal education and research, law students and students in related fields such as sociology and psychology with legal knowledge can register to become legal aid volunteers.

The volunteers can provide legal consultation, draft legal documents, and offer other legal aid services to economically disadvantaged people and other eligible groups according to their professional knowledge and skills.

Universities are encouraged to work with legal aid agencies to tailor services to local needs by establishing legal aid volunteer groups, forming university legal aid alliances, and conducting academic practice projects, according to the guideline.

These initiatives aim to organize volunteers to provide legal aid in areas lacking legal professionals and to promote the cross-regional flow of legal service resources, it said.

More than 400 legal aid service centers have been established in universities across the country, with 62,000 legal aid volunteers registered nationwide.