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About the
Beijing Children’s Legal Aid and Research Center
In August 1999, Beijing’s Zhicheng Law Firm and the China
Association for Research on Juvenile Delinquency established the
Juvenile Legal Aid and
Research Center (the
Center). In 2003, the Center formally registered with the Beijing
Department of Civil Affairs as the Beijing Children’s Legal Aid and
Research Center. It is China’s first and, at this point, only public
interest non-governmental organization dedicated to providing legal
services to children and young people and conducting research on
issues affecting the young. Currently the Center has four full-time
staff attorneys, four staff members and one director of external and
foreign affairs.
The Center is primarily engaged in the following programs:
1) Providing direct legal services to children and young
people
The Center has two nationwide hotlines (010-6381-3995/
6383-5845) providing advice and consultation to youths on issues
concerning their legal rights and interests and offering legal
assistance and representation in cases meeting certain requirements.
Since it was established, the Center has provided advice and
consultation to over 20,000 young people and has represented over
200 young people in cases across the country. Many of these cases
have received nationwide attention and high praise for successfully
protecting the rights of China’s youth.
2) Advancing the field of children’s law
The Center has issued over 30 publications, 21 of which have
received awards from the Ministry of Justice. In 2007, Director Tong
Lihua published the series of books “Science o f Children’s Law” to
aid the implementation of the new Children’s Protection Law in the
People’s Republic of China. This series is one of the foundational
publications in the field of child protection law. The Center has
also participated in many important taskforces on the subject of
children’s law. For example, in 2003, the Center completed a study
commissioned by the National Working Committee on Children and Women
aimed at creating legislation addressing the needs of children and,
in 2004, the Center completed a study commissioned by the National
Population and Family Planning Committee on the legal system’s
protection of the rights of girls. The Center’s attorneys have also
written reports and papers on specific topics within the field which
have been reprinted in many newspapers and magazines.
3) Using legislative advocacy to strengthen children’s
rights
While direct legal services can reach only one person at a time,
legislation can have a much more wide-ranging effect. Therefore in
order to achieve the protection of the rights of as many young
people as possible, the Center has always worked hard in the area of
legal reform and advocacy. Director Tong Lihua was heavily involved
in the revision of the Beijing Act on Children’s Protection and, he
was not only commissioned by the Youth League Central Committee to
conduct early-stage research into proposed amendments to Children’s
Protection Law in People’s Republic of China, but also to serve as a
member of their draft working group. Center attorneys Zhang Xuemei
and Zhang Wenjuan also took part in this drafting work.
4) Encouraging more attorneys to engage in children’s rights
protection
In order to encourage more attorneys to engage in the work of
children’s rights protection, the Center began a campaign in May
2003 to urge the All-China Lawyers’Association
as well as each provincial lawyers association to create a committee
on children’s rights protection. By 2007, 25 provincial lawyers
associations had created such committees, bringing the number of
volunteer children’s rights lawyers to over 6,600. Many of these
volunteer lawyers have already made significant contributions to the
field of children’s rights protection in their localities.
5) Promoting general awareness about children’s rights
For many years the Center has promoted public awareness of
children’s rights through lectures, a bi-monthly publication, media
interviews and its own Chinese children’s rights protection website.
Over 80,000 people have heard Center attorneys speak in person on
the topic of children’s rights. Countless additional people have
also seen or heard about the Center’s activities through television
or other media.
“If
the children are strong, then society will be strong. As children’s
situations improve, the country’s
situation improves.”
How children regard the law and legal institutions has a direct
bearing on China’s ability to establish a society where the rule of
law is respected. This social responsibility to contribute to
Chinese development of the rule of law is what drives the Center to
continue, in the face of both praise and difficulties to provide
expert and professional legal services and advocacy on behalf of
children and youth..
Add: Annex Building 4th Floor,21#,Zhouzhuangzi,Fengbei
Road, Fengtai District, Beijing P.C: 100073
Tel: (8610)63813995
Fax: (8610)63835279
Website:
www.chinachild.org
Email: iiccp@126.com
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