A ‘Legal Aid Station for Migrant Workers’ in Beijing is the first beneficiary of a new Fund established in by the China Legal Aid Foundation and the China Bar Association.

The Beijing ‘station’ has been awarded CNY 200,000 (USD 25,000) from the Legal Aid Fund for Migrant Workers, which was launched in January with initial capital of CNY 1 million. The donors hope over the next two years to see legal advisory services for migrants established in each of China’s 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province, is reported to have just opened a legal aid station of its own, and Ningxia is about to follow suit.

The Beijing station was founded in September 2005 under the auspices of the Beijing Justice Bureau and is staffed by eleven full-time lawyers. Over the last four months, according to Executive Director, Shi Fumao (时福茂), the station has received more than 2,000 phone calls and visits and provided legal aid in over 200 cases, winning 95% of them. Plans for future work include offering pre-departure rights trainings for intending migrants from labour-exporting areas.

Lawyer Shi notes the importance of assembling a specialist team with thorough knowledge of employment law and regulations. The field, he says, is complicated by the many regulations and policy circulars issued by government agencies in recent years, especially in the construction industry.

Nevertheless, the government appears to be encouraging migrant workers to use legal channels to protect their rights. Last year, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security compiled a Rights Protection Manual for Migrant Workers, including practical information on dispute resolution and contact information for Labor and Social Security supervising agencies in every province.

The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Construction have also issued a joint circular calling for prompt settlement of wage arrears and underlining migrant workers’ entitlement to legal aid. Incomplete statistics from the All China Federation of Trade Unions show that, as of November 2004, migrant workers across the country were owed more than CNY 100 billion (USD 12.5 billion) in wage arrears.

The Beijing Legal Aid Station (www.zgnmg.org) shares premises with the Zhicheng Law Firm and Beijing Youth Legal Aid and Research Centre, both led by Lawyer Tong Lihua (佟丽华), a pioneer in child rights protection in China and Deputy Director of the Bar Association’s Legal Aid Committee.

Report by Tina Qian, January 26 2006