Jul 21, 2008

Karen I. Tse: Legal Reform in China

The legal system's quiet revolution

By Karen I. Tse International Herald Tribune
Friday, February 11, 2005

Justice in China I

GENEVA This week's Chinese New Year celebrations honored the Year of the Rooster, an auspicious time signifying achievement and new hopes. But while one of China's achievements, its economic success, is well known, another transformation has received far less attention: a revolution in legal rights that has a groundswell of popular support and is poised over the next few years to completely reshape Chinese society.

The two are in fact related: Economic progress and globalization are major forces that help explain the legal changes that are afoot. Over the past few years, China's desire to play a more prominent global role through international institutions - joining the World Trade Organization, hosting the Olympics in 2008 and the like - has thrown a spotlight on its criminal judicial system. The rule of law in support of contracts and the rights of citizenship and property, among other things, is a cornerstone of economic progress and a stable social system. Importantly, as in the opening of the economy under Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s, the overarching strategy has been provided from above, but there is flexibility in how to achieve the country's goals on the ground, where there is greater local, hands-on knowledge.

In a little under a decade, China has established more than 2,800 legal aid centers - an unprecedented accomplishment for any country - whose basic mission is to provide fair and competent legal representation to all of China's citizens regardless of ethnicity, gender or economic status. Given opportunities to participate in national information campaigns and roundtables on new laws, Chinese from all levels of society - government, law enforcement, lawyers, and ordinary citizens - have embraced the basic concepts of legal fairness and justice. These developments, in turn, have created a very significant opportunity for ordinary citizens to take China's growing body of law and demand that it is better enforced.

Though many laws already exist on the books - covering the rights of defendants and prisoners, and the safety of lawyers - they are not always upheld, particularly in rural and remote regions. Indeed, there have been complaints that lawyers sometimes become the targets of the very abuse that they are fighting against.

Part of the reason has been a lack of education about new laws, and a sense of professional isolation (and indeed intimidation) among lawyers, who are reluctant to insist on their enforcement. Aware of this, the Chinese Ministry of Justice and other governmental departments, with an outpouring of backing from China's own indigenous legal community, have welcomed the support of international players who will work with them in reaching their goal of establishing a country ruled by law.

My organization, International Bridges to Justice, was invited by the Ministry of Justice in 2001 to assist in the development of legal aid and defender services. Our experiences suggest the range of efforts China is undertaking.

In December, for instance, in our joint project with Peking University, more than 3,000 students, members of the Communist Youth League from 14 of the most prominent law schools nationwide, organized a "Rights of Detainees" campaign to "publicize the spirit of the Constitution and enhance the concept of the rule of law." Another joint project, with National Legal Aid of China, involved the creation and nationwide distribution of 500,000 posters and brochures describing the new legal rights of the accused, including versions in Chinese, Tibetan, Mongolian and Uighur.

Local legal aid lawyers in Tibet took it further, partnering with local police and prison officials to visit prisoners and explain their legal rights. In Guangxi, local theater troupes created a Chinese-style opera that they performed on the streets to illustrate new rights of Chinese citizens.

Not all of the national conversations, however, have been easy. In one of a series of roundtable meetings among lawyers, prosecutors and judges, lawyers spoke of intimidation by the judicial system aimed against lawyers themselves. Indeed, at one meeting, a prosecutor broke the ice at a tense moment by exclaiming: "Perhaps we need a lawyer to defend the poor prosecutors here!" Some judges, put on the defensive, replied that they were not trying to hurt lawyers. As the frank dialogue ensued, some people were moved to tears - yet many bridges were built.

China's' legal reforms will not be completed overnight, but the door has been opened for international support for the country in this process. As one lawyer remarked poetically after our international training session in Gansu Province, "It is medicine for the heart, a fresh wind in the desert."

This support is critical, and it is up to us as an international community to have the courage to respond. In this auspicious Year of the Rooster, Chinese citizens are sowing the seeds of hope for many generations to come.



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IHTCopyright © 2005 The International Herald Tribune |

Yu Xiaogang:2006 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner

The Power of the Individual in a Land of Many Voices

Environmentalist Yu Xiaogang is creating groundbreaking watershed management programs in China, a country that has spent decades trying to tame its powerful river system by building hydroelectric power plants.

Yu, 55, created the Lashi watershed project after writing a social impact assessment on the effects of a dam built at Lashi Lake for his Ph.D. thesis. The dam had destroyed the local ecosystem, severely disrupting the lives of fishermen and farmers in the area. As farmland was destroyed by the dam, villagers turned to fishing. Then, as fish stocks dwindled, birds ate the seeds and grain from the remaining fields, further jeopardizing the people’s well-being.

Yu brought together residents, the local government authorities and private entrepreneurs to rebuild the area, which today is acclaimed as one of the top 10 sustainable developments in the country. Among the project highlights were establishing a township watershed management committee, a lake-based community fishery association to protect wetland ecosystems and fish resources, minority women’s schools and micro-credit loan programs, poverty reducing projects and road-building projects. All involved the participation and empowerment of the local villagers. It was the first watershed project in the county to involve NGOs, residents and the local authorities.

In 2002, Yu submitted a report to the central government on the social impact of the Manwan Dam on the Lancang (Mekong) River, which prompted the government to give the local community 70 million yuan ($8.7 million) in additional resettlement funds to mitigate the negative social impact of the dam.

In the past, dam-building plans were simply dictated by government officials, but today, thanks to the advocacy efforts of Yu and others, the Chinese government now includes a social impact assessment in the decision-making process for all proposed major development projects.

Taming the Three Parallel Rivers

While Yu’s work has illustrated dams’ potential negative impact on communities, huge dam projects still are being proposed. As China’s economic health improves, pressure increases to supply more power by building hydroelectric power plants on the country’s river system.

In 2003, the Yunnan provincial government announced plans to construct 13 new dams on the Nu River, one of the Three Parallel Rivers – the Nu, the Jinsha (Yangtze) and the Lancang (Mekong.) The Three Parallel Rivers and surrounding watersheds are a World Heritage Site, the epicenter of Chinese biodiversity containing virgin forests, 6,000 species of plants and 79 rare or endangered animal species.

The dams would forcibly displace 50,000 people, indirectly affect the livelihoods of millions living downstream in China, Burma and Thailand, and negatively affect the flora and fauna in the surrounding areas. Yet, development continues, despite the lack of river management plans, public input and participation by affected villagers.

The Legacy of the Lashi project

Yu used the story of Lashi Lake and Manwan Dam to educate villagers in the Three Parallel Rivers area, taking them by bus to dam-affected communities on the Mekong River. There, villagers saw men and women, their way of living wiped out by the dam, picking through garbage dumps for scrap to sell. Yu also worked with CCTV on a television program about the effect of dams that aired nationwide.

In 2004, Premier Wen Jiabao suspended plans for the dams on the Nu River, saying more research and scientific analysis was needed. The project still is on hold, but the provincial government, intent on building the dams, has proposed a scaled-back version with four dams.

Yu is particularly interested in empowering the local villagers in the dam decision-making process through workshops and training programs. In 2004, he took five village representatives to a United Nations symposium on dam issues in Beijing, where they met with high-level government officials, dam company CEOs and experts on dam construction. Yu’s goal is for Chinese NGOs to advocate for the institutionalization, implementation and practice of social impact assessments for the interests of communities that are threatened by dam construction.

“Having villager participation forever changed the history of the dam decision-making process,” Yu said about the experience. “In the past, affected peoples were silenced. They had no voice in what happened to them and had to accept decisions made by the government and dam companies.”

He Ping and International Fund for China’s Environment (IFCE)-Washington DC

The International Fund for China’s Environment (IFCE) is an international environmental organization based in WashingtonDC, with branch offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan. Founded in 1996 by a group of scientists and professionals concerned with China’s environmental problems, IFCE aims to ensure a healthy global environment and continued economic development by helping China solve its environmental problems.

Since its founding, IFCE has developed a range of influential programs facilitating partnerships and building capacity in China’s environmental movement. Specifically, we work with companies and other NGO’s to improve China’s access to green information technology, with policy makers to influence China’s environmental policy, and with grassroots environmental organizations and environmental education programs to improve Chinese peoples’agency in the environmental movement.

In 2002, IFCE was named one of several significant global environmental organizations by the United Nations. IFCE has been able to play a significant role in protecting the environment because of its numerous experts in the natural and social sciences. Our staff not only have a profound understanding of Chinese culture, they also have many professional connections within China.

Our Objectives:

  1. Promote the development, use, and popularity of new environmental technologies in China.
  2. Facilitate bilateral and multilateral cooperation among NGOs, governments, and corporations in solving environmental problems.
  3. Influence government actions on environmental restoration and resource conservation programs.
  4. Develop a program for public environmental education.
  5. Contribute to an increasing global awareness of the interrelations between environmental problems and human well-being.

Please contact us at:
2421 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20037-1718
USA
TeL 202-822-2141, 703-222-1280
Fax 202-457-0908
Email: ifce-adm@cox.net

IFCE-Beijing Office (Mr. Michael Zhao)
Suite 1005, Huixin Building
#8 Beichen East Road, Chao Yang District
Beijing 100101, China
Phone: 8610- 84974540.
Fax: 8610-65307918
E-mail: ifcechina@gmail.com

IFCE-Shanghai Office (Ms. Jane Ye)
Suite 3502,building 4,
88 Huichuan Road,
Shanghai, China 200042
Tel. +86-21-52738396
Fax. +86-21-52725792
Email: jye@easen-china.com

Ping He is the founding president of the International Fund for China’s Environment (IFCE) based in Washington,D.C., coordinating IFCE’s activities in public relations, fundraising and project development since 1996. He has developed cooperative relationships with international environmental and conservation organizations and programs, US and Chinese government agencies, NGOs and the private sector. In 2002, he helped organize three caucus meetings for Chinese NGOs at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. He launched the bi-annual NGO Forums on International Environmental Cooperation in China in 1999. He also chaired the international conference on “China Environmental Reform and Strategic Alliance” in Beijing in 2000 and “New Environmental Technology International Conference 2001” in Hangzhou, China. A Chinese citizen and permanent resident of the U.S., he holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison.