Ordinary Chinese citizens access more legal aid
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-10-01 01:03

More than half a century ago when the People's Republic of China was established, the country had no legal aid system in any form.

Then, only a handful of low-income earners who were accused of crimes could afford for a lawyer to defend them.

Whereas in 2004, China has approximately 3,000 legal aid organizations and about 10,000 legal aid professionals. More than 1.3 million Chinese who were in economic difficulties have been provided with legal aid over the past 10 years.

In the last 55 years, an increasing number of ordinary Chinese, who are in dire need, have acquired free legal help, said Sang Ning, deputy director of the Legal Aid Centre under the Ministry of Justice. "We exist for the sole purpose of offering legal aid in order to safeguard human rights and maintain judicial justice. China has built a comprehensive legal aid system since 1994."

Some major cities around the country, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Qingdao, began instituting legal aid organizations in 1994.

Relevant clauses on legal aid were added to the Criminal Procedural Law and the Lawyer Law in 1996 and, in the following year, China's Legal Aid Foundation and the China Legal Aid Centre were officially established. Regulation on legal aid was formerly promulgated in 2003.

In 1998, the Chinese Government earmarked a sum of some 40 million yuan (US$4.8 million) to offer legal aid to those defendants who are of a poor economic status . The figure rose drastically to 150 million yuan (US$18 million) in 2003.

Moreover, the China Legal Aid Foundation in 2003 collected 70 million yuan (US$8.4 million) from the public for legal aid work.

Sang noted that China is the only nation in the world enacting a special law to guarantee legal aid. The money for the programmes comes mainly from three sources: government funds, private donations and lawyers' free service.

Regulation on legal aid requires every lawyer to undertake the duty of offering free legal aid if designated. If they fail to do so, they will be penalized.

China's lawyers have so far provided free legal services in more than 200,000 criminal and civil cases during the past decade.

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