Volunteer lawyers offer legal aid to thousands in Tibet

BEIJING -- Volunteer lawyers have provided free legal consultations to more than 15,000 people in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region over the past year, the Ministry of Justice said on July 22.

Since last July, 68 volunteer lawyers from 22 provincial-level regions have handled 1,540 legal-aid cases for vulnerable groups, including disabled people, the elderly and minors, with the result that economic losses of more than 97 million yuan (about 13.9 million U.S. dollars) were avoided or recovered, said the ministry.

The lawyers held over 200 lectures to publicize the rule of law, making use of various venues, including enterprises, villages, and school campuses, the ministry said, noting that they also offered training to local legal-service workers.

The ministry launched the project in July 2019, recruiting volunteer lawyers to provide legal services to those areas of Tibet with insufficient legal-service personnel, and it is set to continue into the future.

It is an extension of an existing project, launched in 2009, to provide legal aid to under-developed areas in the central and western parts of the country.