China Launches Legal Aid Fund-raising Project

Home>>Life

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 07, 2003

China Launches Legal Aid Fund-raising Project

A massive fund-raising project has been launched to enable China's poorer citizens access to justice and legal services.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

A massive fund-raising project has been launched to enable China's poorer citizens access to justice and legal services.

Only a quarter of the 700,000 legal cases requiring legal aid every year actually receive assistance because of insufficient funding, Ministry of Justice statistics show.

"Legal aid is an important part of the justice system and it isregarded by the international community as one of the key guarantees of judicial justice," said Zhang Fusen, Minister of Justice, at the project's launch on Wednesday.

China set up its legal aid system in 1994, and now has more than 2,600 agencies and over 100,000 lawyers providing legal aid services.

But with the acceleration of the development of China's legal system, the demand for legal aid was also increasing sharply, Zhang said. "Even though governments at various levels have kept increasing financial allocations in this regard, the legal aid system is still inadequate," he said.

Zhang said he hoped the charity project would raise awareness of the difficulties legal aid was facing and more people would help the cause.

Zhang Xiufu, chairman of the China Juridical Aid Foundation, promised that all the money raised would be managed transparently.

"The donations will be used to support legal aid work in China,especially in the western provinces," he said.

Questions?Comments? Click here

China's Major SOEs Urged to Improve Legal Systems

New Policy Enable Disadvantaged to Better Obtain Legal Services

DPRK's Kim Jong Il Elected Member of Parliament ( 2 Messages)

Main Party of China's First Euthanasia Lawsuit Dies ( 2 Messages)

For Whom Does Jackie Chan Feel Pity and Shed Tears? ( 5 Messages)

News Analysis: Bush's Political Fortune to Rise or Fall? ( 4 Messages)

Japan to Be Restored as China's Biggest Tourism Source ( 3 Messages)