Seeking Happiness for People: 70 Years of Progress on Human Rights in China
Providing quality and more convenient public legal services. A sound legal aid system has been established. From 2013 to 2018, legal aid institutions handled some 7.79 million legal aid cases, helping 8.48 million people and providing legal consultancy services to 45.27 million people. The state encourages the development of the profession of lawyers. As of 2018, there were 423,000 lawyers and more than 30,000 law firms across the country. China has improved public legal services, and opened a physical platform for providing public legal services, the "12348" free hotline for legal advice, and online legal services. It is convenient to make an application for legal services, and the review process has been streamlined for public benefit. By the end of 2018, there were 2,917 public legal service centers in counties, cities and districts, and more than 39,000 service stations in towns, townships and sub-districts. About 650,000 villages and communities had legal counselors, and all provinces and equivalent administrative units had opened the "12348" legal service hotline. China has reformed the management of forensic assessment to enhance assessment quality and credibility. By 2018, there were 3,834 forensic assessment institutions approved by and registered with judicial administrative organs, with more than 45,000 forensic appraisers
Enhancing public awareness of legal protection of human rights. After the PRC was founded, the government made an intensive effort to enhance public awareness and understanding of the Constitution, the Marriage Law, and ideas such as gender equality and freedom of marriage were gradually accepted by the public. Since 1986, China has implemented seven nationwide five-year plans on enhancing public awareness of the Constitution and the rule of law. China has included education on the rule of law into the national education system and teaching of human rights into primary and middle school education. Human rights majors and other related courses are offered in universities to cultivate human rights professionals. Special human rights training programs are conducted for officials at all levels, staff of organs of public security, procuratorates and courts, and judicial organs, and those who work in the media. China has eight national human rights education and training bases. Professional periodicals including Human Rights, Human Rights Studies, and China Human Rights Review are published in China. The China Society for Human Rights Studies has consecutively published blue papers titled Development of Human Rights in China, to advance research and education on human rights and promote understanding of the subject.
