New legal aid volunteer program boosts grassroots services

China has recently launched a legal aid volunteer program, with the goal to expand legal services across the country and establish a college-based system within three to five years.

The initiative was jointly announced in a notice issued on Tuesday by the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League.

Legal aid volunteers serve as an effective way to improve the legal aid framework with multiple providers, refine the public legal service system, and advance the equality of basic public legal services, the notice stated.

Such volunteer services also play a key role in advancing legal practice education, enhancing legal talent training, boosting the volunteer service sector, and improving public wellbeing, it added.

The document requires legal aid institutions to formulate recruitment plans based on local realities, recruiting a broad pool of volunteers including law educators, law students, and undergraduates from related majors such as sociology, social work, psychology and special education, as well as professionals proficient in specialized languages or sign language. Practicing lawyers, retired teachers and former legal professionals are also encouraged to provide professional guidance as volunteers.

Focusing on the livelihood needs of key groups, including the elderly, children, new workers and persons with disabilities, legal aid institutions will provide core services such as legal consultation, legal document drafting, criminal defense and representation, and civil and administrative litigation representation. Extended services will cover legal publicity, dispute mediation, language translation, psychological counseling and barrier-free support.

Local authorities are encouraged to prioritize public demands, develop distinctive legal aid volunteer service brands, and deliver targeted assistance to vulnerable groups.

Judicial, administrative and education departments are tasked with coordinating local universities and arranging law schools to partner with grassroots legal aid institutions in underserved areas, to provide regular and long-term volunteer legal aid services.

The notice also promoted legal aid cooperation between eastern and western regions, calling for volunteers to launch targeted initiatives in rural, border and ethnic minority areas. These activities should be tailored to local customs and characteristics, to drive the flow of legal aid resources to grassroots communities in the regions in western part of the country.

Additional measures include tightening the management of volunteer service activities and organizations, establishing inter-agency collaboration mechanisms, and encouraging broad participation from all sectors of society.

According to the Ministry of Justice, over 400 universities and colleges nationwide, with the participation of more than 100,000 faculty members and students, have engaged in legal aid volunteer services. To date, they have carried out over 240,000 activities, benefiting more than 10 million people.