Xu Dongmei (left) and her fellow migrant worker take receipt of their legal aid cards. The 1.88 million legal aid cards the Fujian Provincial Judicial Bureau and the Fujian Workers' Union have jointly distributed to migrant workers in the province. enable them to circumvent the bureaucratic procedures hitherto required for legal aid applications at local workers' unions and judicial institutions. [Xinhua]

Legal aid protects the rights and interests of people in economic or other difficulties. It includes legal counseling, drafting legal documents, criminal, civil and administrative litigation, non-litigation legal issues, and notarization.

Liu Nan, deputy inspector of the Legal Service Center under the Ministry of Justice, made known at a recent Forum for the protection of the rights and interests of women in celebration of the 30th anniversary the Reform and Opening up Policy the many achievements in legal aid for women and children. 

The forum was jointly held by the Legal Affairs Department of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), the Legal Services Center of the ACWF, the Marriage and Family Research Institute under China Law Society, and China Women's University.

Expanded Protection Network

Data shows that at the end of June 2008 there were 3,261 provincial, municipal and county institutions providing nationwide legal services, and 34,950 county legal service centers providing legal counseling, litigation and assistance to local applicants. By the end of June 2008 the All-China Women's Federation had established 2,828, and the Communist Youth League 1,749 local legal service centers.

Civil organizations and volunteers also provide legal services that help safeguard the rights and interests of women and children.

Since implementation of the Regulation on Legal Aid in 2003, legal aid centers nationwide have been providing services to 410,708 women and 338,030 minors.

The State Council issued the Regulation on Legal Aid in 2003. Cases relating to women and children, such as alimony and domestic disputes, have since been incorporated into the legal aid sphere.

In 2007, legal aid centers handled 83,942 cases involving legal aid for women and 77,286 cases involving legal aid for minors. Services provided to 117,932 women and 87,830 minors in criminal, civil, or administrative litigation accounted for 38.38 percent of total cases in 2007.

Ever-greater numbers of women and children can now legally protect their rights and interests. Legal aid centers provide free legal counseling to 1,204,908 women and 191,680 minors. Women receiving legal aid have increased 82.9 percent -- a yearly growth of 16.3 percent, and there has been an overall 91.04 percent rise in the level of minors receiving similar help -- a 17.6 percent yearly increase.

Domestic Violence Included in Legal Aid

With the growth of social awareness and promulgation of the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women and Regulation on Legal Aid , legal aid has expanded to cover domestic violence. The service also helps women who have been subjected to abuse, desertion, who seek divorce on the grounds of bigamy, and in cases of defaults in compensation payments. Legal aid is also applicable to child custody and illegal adoption.

Ministries jointly issued this July the Opinions on Preventing and Deterring Domestic Violence which promote legal aid for victims of domestic violence. The Opinions encourage and support legal service institutions in the reduction or waiving of legal fees for those in straitened economic circumstances.

The Ministry of Justice gives women and children the "three priorities," as regards case acceptance, attorney assignment, and cases heard.

Improve the System and Integrate Resources

Although legal aid for women and children has improved greatly, there is scope for progress. Criteria for "economic difficulty" sometimes disqualifies women from the legal aid they need.

Applicants are assessed on the basis of their entire household income thus failing to take into account that they have no independent economic resources. This puts victims of domestic violence at a tremendous disadvantage because abused women seldom have any say in use of the family property, and their husbands are hardly likely to help finance lawsuits against themselves.

Economic restraints on legal aid need to be reexamined and adjusted to cover this type of situation, and a more gender-specific perspective included in the reexamination and adjustment process. One expert suggests that the economic status of an applicant be determined on basis of the individual's own possessions, rather that of the household.

(Source: China Women's News/Translated by womenofchina.cn)