'Bridge' bringing legal policies to the people

"Support" for the people

During the days before Lunar New Year, despite being busy, Mr. Tran Huu Q. in Trung Phuc Cuong commune (Nam Dan) still took the time to go to the Legal Aid Center (TGPL) under the Department of Justice to ask for help regarding his son who was slashed by a neighbor when he was only 3 years old, stemming from a conflict between adults.

Mr. Q. said this was the second time he came to ask for help.legal aid, before that the center also sent someone to provide legal support for his son and the case was brought to trial. At court, the defendant was sentenced to 3 years in prison and promised to compensate Mr. Q's family 60 million VND, but so far only 30 million VND has been provided.

A supporter of the Provincial State Legal Center provides legal advice to people. Photo: KL

Mr. Q. feels unsatisfied and wishes to continue to receive legal assistance to reclaim justice for his son. “Free legal aid activities are a “support” for poor people like us. With legal assistance, I have more confidence in the strictness of the State’s laws,” said Mr. Q.

According to Mr. Le Van Ly - Head of the Professional Department (Nghe An Province State Legal Aid Center), each case that comes to the center and its branches has different circumstances, but in general, they are all vulnerable people, so when they have access to the law and receive legal aid, everyone is excited and sees it as their "salvation". Every time we help people, we, the assistants, feel very happy.

For example, in the case of Mr. CVB - a person with meritorious services to the revolution in Lang Son commune (Anh Son), a civil dispute occurred over land use rights. Specifically, Mr. CVB's family was assigned 2 plots of forest land with green certificates in 1995. After Decree 163 issued to re-allocate the forest in 2000 - 2001, the commune took them back to make new certificates. In 2004, a dispute arose between Mr. CVB's family and Mr. CVQ (a relative) over the above plot of land. On March 23, 2004, the People's Committee of Lang Son commune made a record of conciliation and conducted field division, each side had to pay 1.5m for the 3m distance. The matter was resolved satisfactorily, but in 2007, Mr. CVQ continued to file a complaint. The matter became complicated when the dispute settlement file in 2004 in the commune was lost.

Accompanying the defendant's family, Mr. CVB, assistant Le Van Ly helped his family find the records still kept at the forestry department and the key detail was the police's appraisal conclusion that showed that Mr. Q's forestry land allocation records had traces of corrections and additional numbers. "Finally, the two sides agreed that Mr. Q would compensate Mr. B 65 million VND, and the settlement would be made in court," said assistant Le Van Ly.

In 2020, the Nghe An Provincial State Legal Aid Center received and handled 1,016 cases, including 101 consulting cases and 905 litigation cases. The total number of people receiving legal aid was 800, including 429 ethnic minorities, 54 children, 136 accused people from 16 to under 18 years old, and 7 people with revolutionary contributions...

It can be said that, along with the socio-economic development, legal aid is gradually becoming an indispensable need in people's lives, especially the disadvantaged. This activity also contributes to resolving problems and disputes at the grassroots level, reducing people's travel, and reducing petitions and complaints that go beyond the level and are prolonged.

At Nghe An Newspaper, since the beginning of 2015, the editorial office has coordinated with Trong Hai & Associates Law Office to organize free legal consultation activities every Thursday morning. The subjects who come to the Free Legal Aid Office located at Nghe An Newspaper No. 3, Le Nin Avenue are all groups of people with different ages, from poor workers, ethnic minorities to civil servants, public employees... The consulting field is also very diverse, but the most common is still consulting on issues related to land. Each person has a different situation and story, but they share the same desire and hope to be consulted, have their concerns and problems answered, and be guided on related legal procedures to ensure their rights. On average, each year, the Free Legal Aid Office at Nghe An Newspaper conducts more than 40 consulting sessions for dozens of citizens. In 2020 alone, 43 consultation sessions were conducted with 57 people.

Lawyers advise people at the Nghe An Newspaper Legal Aid Office. Photo courtesy

After 6 years of operation, the office has not only left a lot of affection for those who receive advice, but young lawyers like Minh Huyen, born in 1997, graduated from Hanoi Law University also expressed, "The process of participating in free legal aid, having access to many cases and situations is also an opportunity for us to gain experience, practice our skills and also see that we have to learn, improve, and research more to provide better advice, meeting the needs of the people...".

Towards the base

With the belief that "having one more person who understands the law is a joy", in 2020, despite being affected by two rounds of isolation and social distancing to prevent and fight the Covid-19 epidemic, the assistants of the Provincial State Legal Aid Center and its branches have taken many measures to overcome this, such as drafting and publishing, printing 560 audio tapes and discs on the content of the Law on Legal Aid in Kinh, Thai, and Mong languages ​​to enhance communication through loudspeakers of communes, hamlets, villages, and hamlets. In addition, 9 communication sessions were organized at the grassroots level of 96 communes, hamlets, and hamlets with special difficulties in Que Phong, Nghia Dan, Tuong Duong, Tan Ky, and Ky Son districts.

“Communication activities at the hamlet level for people in remote districts, remote areas, and areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions are relatively difficult because of difficult roads, sometimes there are language barriers and have to go through village and commune officials as interpreters, but the joy and happiness of the officials doing legal aid work are simply tight handshakes and sincere thanks from the people”, said assistant Vo Thi Hoa. In addition to participating in professional training courses, many assistants also voluntarily spend money to learn ethnic languages ​​​​to be able to do a good job of providing legal aid to ethnic minorities. In addition, the Center also coordinates well with competent authorities to effectively promote the activities of the Inter-sectoral Coordination Council on Legal Aid in provincial litigation activities, ensuring the rights and legitimate interests of litigants eligible for assistance.

Commune police force propagates the law to people in the highlands. Illustration photo: Duc Vu

However, Nghe An is a large province, the subjects eligible for legal aid account for about 50% of the population but are concentrated in areas with complex terrain, rugged natural conditions, and difficult travel. Therefore, legal propaganda has not reached many remote villages and hamlets. The level of legal awareness of the people (especially ethnic minorities living in 3 poor districts) is still limited. Therefore, access to and legal support is often difficult and prolonged.

In addition, local funding for legal aid activities is still limited, especially funding for professional activities is still too low; not enough to pay remuneration for legal aid cases for legal aid providers. “Previously, in addition to the team of 15 legal aid officers, there were also 18 lawyers who were collaborators of the center and received a part of the remuneration according to Decision 32/2016/QD-TTg promulgating the legal aid policy for the poor, ethnic minorities in poor districts, poor communes, and especially difficult villages in the period 2016 - 2020 and supporting complicated or typical litigation cases, but now by 2020 this funding source has run out, there is no additional funding”, said legal aid officer Le Van Ly.

Another reason why the current legal aid work does not meet practical needs is that some agencies, departments and localities are not interested in this activity. According to Dr. and lawyer Trong Hai - Head of Trong Hai and Associates Law Office: In fact, many localities are not interested in free legal advice and aid activities because they are afraid of touching "sensitive" issues at the grassroots level. The invited participants are mainly cadres, civil servants and block and hamlet cadres, so it is more or less a formality.

Nghe An Border Guard propagates and disseminates the law to people in border areas. Photo: Le Thach

In addition, those working in legal aid also expressed concerns and worries about the fact that there are cases that have been consulted and guided on procedures, but have not been considered and resolved by agencies and localities to protect legitimate rights or have not been resolved satisfactorily, condoning and covering up violations, causing people to be upset and have to go back and forth many times...

Although there are still many difficulties and many things that have not been as expected, the trust and expectations of citizens are the driving force for those working in legal consultancy and free legal aid to promote their spirit and responsibility, continue to be a legal "bridge" and "support", contributing to strengthening people's trust in the Party's policies and the State's laws.

Gia Huy