Let more people in need of legal aid get the help they deserve, and make high-quality legal services available to everyone
Many years ago, Fan Moumou, who was injured in a traffic accident, received compensation through legal aid. In 2023, Fan Moumou's 10-year nursing period has expired but still needs to continue nursing. Considering the reality, the local legal aid center will again lend a helping hand to win a 10-year post nursing fee for him. Over the past 10 years, it has solved problems for people in need and provided timely assistance, reflecting the unique role of legal aid and the value pursuit of benefiting people's livelihood and warming people's hearts.
Legal aid is a system established by the state to provide free legal services such as legal advice, agency and criminal defense for citizens in financial difficulties and other parties who meet legal conditions. It is an important livelihood project and popular support project. China attaches great importance to legal aid, constantly expanding its coverage and improving its service quality. The Law of the People's Republic of China on Legal Aid, which was formally implemented in January 2022, is the first time to comprehensively regulate the legal aid work in China in the form of law. Not long ago, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued the Measures for the Implementation of the Law on Legal Aid to further strengthen the cooperation of the people's courts, the people's procuratorates, public security organs and judicial administrative organs in the process of handling legal aid cases. The construction of relevant systems has been continuously improved, providing strong support for safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of recipients.
Legal aid aims to open the door to legal services for people in need, and it is vital to improve the accessibility of services. By the end of 2022, China has established more than 70000 legal aid workstations relying on township (sub district) judicial offices, and more than 260000 legal aid contact points relying on village (neighborhood) committees to facilitate people's access to legal aid locally. We should better help people in need to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and further expand the application channels. Many places have carried out beneficial explorations, such as accepting mail, online applications, etc., to implement the "one-time notification" requirements for incomplete application materials, so that the masses can run less errands; Simplify the acceptance procedures, accept and review the qualified applications of minors, the elderly and the disabled on the same day, and handle them quickly. Only by establishing and improving measures for the convenience and benefit of the people, unblocking application channels and enriching service content can eligible citizens receive legal aid in a timely manner and bring conflicts and disputes involving difficult groups into the legal track.
Quality is the lifeline of legal aid. Legal aid is a free service, but the level of protection of the legitimate rights and interests of the masses cannot be discounted. On the one hand, we should actively promote the standardization of legal aid, further standardize all aspects of business, rely on existing resources to strengthen the construction of legal aid institutions, equip and strengthen personnel, and improve the professionalism of services. On the other hand, we should focus on migrant workers, the elderly, the disabled, women, minors and other key groups, remote areas where legal aid service resources are relatively scarce, and remote rights protection where costs are high, so as to improve the accuracy of services. In addition, with the process of social development, we should constantly innovate the work concept, work mechanism and methods, and strengthen the protection of the rights and interests of workers in the new employment form. Putting quality in a more prominent position, making more people in need of legal aid get the help they deserve, and making high-quality legal services available to everyone, will help strengthen people's confidence in legal aid and strengthen the whole society's belief in the rule of law.
When the judicial needs are fully met, the people can really feel that fairness and justice are around. To ensure that people in need can obtain necessary legal services is an essential part of promoting social fairness and justice. In the process of promoting the comprehensive rule of law, we will continue to improve the standardization, institutionalization and rule of law of legal aid work, make applications fast, review simple, and serve zero distance, actively respond to people's livelihood demands, and strive to solve the most direct and realistic interests of people in difficulty. The sunshine of the rule of law will warm everyone's heart.
People's Daily (February 1, 2024, Version 5)
(Editor in charge: Yuan Bo, Qu Yuan)
Share to let more people see
