Lawyers make great contributions to targeted poverty alleviation in Guizhou

Since the southwestern province of Guizhou launched its program of legal aid for targeted poverty alleviation three years ago, lawyers from the 20 involved local law firms have been contributing their legal expertise to the lifting of 20 extremely poor towns and two poor counties out of poverty.

"Over the past three years or so, these locally-stationed lawyers have been actively carrying out the six key actions for law-based poverty alleviation, putting the targeted poverty alleviation effort on a legal basis," said an official from the province's judicial department.

Legal publicity in villages 

On Dec 15, 2018, a performance themed on law-based poverty alleviation was staged in the county of Congjiang in an autonomous prefecture where ethnic minorities make up the majority of the population.

Explaining the purpose of the performance, Wu Qigang, head of a local law firm, said that they have been trying to draw on the approaches more appealing to the locals to gradually enhance their legal awareness.

"In addition to the lack of general knowledge, the lack of legal knowledge is also a reason for local people's poverty," said Li Zongqiang, general secretary of the province's lawyers' association.

To improve the effect of legal publicity in Guizhou's rural areas, lawyers have taken a variety of measures including setting up task forces to disseminate legal knowledge from door to door, distributing legal education publications, providing legal training, and lecturing at local fairs.

"The legal-aid lawyers draw on both collective and individual-based methods to publicize legal knowledge, helping people develop the mindset of using laws to solve problems," noted Bai Min, president of the provincial lawyers' association.

Resolving disputes for social harmony

The legal-aid lawyers have been taking mediation as their primary means when resolving disputes among villagers under the poverty alleviation program. A lawyer from Guiyang, capital of the province, for example, recently successfully resolved a work injury-related dispute, helping the family of the victim get fair compensation.

In addition to mediation, the lawyers also comb through the local population to identify residents in need of legal aid, especially those who have no income or children or suffer from chronic diseases, so that they can timely provide them with legal aid when mediation efforts fail.

"A work log has been established for every legal aid case so that lawyers can review and monitor the case in a dynamic way," said Pan Dengyong, head of a law firm who has participated in multiple legal aid-supported poverty alleviation programs.

All-round legal support

The lawyers participating in the program have also taken the responsibility of examining the legality of all kinds of documents such as business contracts and local village rules.

For instance, a Guiyang-based law firm was commissioned by the provincial government to develop over 150 contract templates for more than 120 economic activities such as the sale of agricultural products and e-commerce. Law firms have also held public hearings over matters of public interest and reviewed contracts on infrastructure projects.

As a result of their effort, local governance has been carried out in a standardized and lawful manner.

Data show that since the beginning of 2019, the lawyers joining the program have launched 7,528 legal publicity campaigns, provided legal aid service in 206 cases, and offered legal services 474 times in extremely poor towns.

“With the great support including non-scheduled inspections by the provincial judicial department and an annual funding of 1.1 million yuan ($155,100), lawyers from across the province have raised the legal awareness of impoverished people and provided the governments of extremely poor towns with legal opinions,” said Zhou Quanfu, deputy head of the province’s judicial department.