Legal aid activities for women in china
2 min readA Socialized Work Mechanism
The state has established a national coordination group for the protec-tion of women’s and children’s rights and interests，composed of membersfrom 19 govermment departments.Some courts have established specialized tribunals to accept and adjudicate civil cases involving the protection of women’s rights and interests，and people’s jurors from women’s federations and other relevant organs are invited by the courts to participate directly in the hearing of such cases.The state has made positive efforis to culivate gender awareness among law enforcement and judicial officials，bringing into full play judicial officials’role in safeguarding women’s rights.The state also sets store by increasing the number of female judicial officials and their ratio in the total number.In 2004，female judges and procurators accounted for 22.7 percent and 21.7 percent of the total numbers，up 5.9 percentage points and 5 percentage points，respectively，as compared with 1995.
Hoiding Legal Aid and Publicity Activities
To ensure that women’s legitimate rights and interests are properly protected，the relevant department of the Chinese government issued a special notice，stressing that no legal aid institutions，law firms，notarization institutions or grassroots legal service institutions may decline to handle or postpone without proper reason an accusation，appeal or prosecution that involves infringement on women’s rights and interests.Moreover，legal service fees should be reduced or exempted for women：in straitened circumstances.The Regulations on Legal Aid，put into effect in China in 2003，expressly stipulates that it is the government’s responsibility to provide legal aid，and citizens in straitened circumstances can obtain legal aid free of charge，which therefore provides material aid to impoverished women against infringement of their rights.By the end of 2004，3 023 governmentallegal aid institutions had been established in China.In addition，the Chi-nese government also supports NGOs’efforts to set up hotlines to protect women’s rights and legal consultation centers to provide legal aid and similar services for women.Highlighted in the publicity activities are the Law on Protection of Rights and Interests of Women，the Labor Law，the Marriage Law，the Population and Family Planning Law，and the Law on Rural Land Contracting，all of which are closely related to women’s rights and interests.
