China has started a campaign to recruit volunteers to provide legal aid in remote regions in an attempt to ease barriers to regional development.

In the past few years, legal aid services in different regions have developed in an imbalanced way. Some counties have no lawyer at all, which is seriously limiting local economic and social development.

Zhang Xiufu, president of the China Legal Aid Foundation, said Thursday the campaign would recruit lawyers and law school students every year to work in the regions on a rotating basis.

Every volunteer would be required to deal with at least 20 cases in a year without payment. Students would be given work in accordance with their knowledge and abilities.

The first batch of volunteers will include 30 lawyers and 70 college students. After special training, they will work in 70 counties, mostly in western regions, starting from early August. Their service period ranges from 1-3 years.

Every volunteer will be paid 30,000 yuan (4,386 U.S. dollars) a year.

Zhang said the campaign would gradually expand recruitment quotas and the scope of the service.

Gu Xiulian, former vice-chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said the campaign was essential to solve a shortage of legal aid workers in regions where economic development was comparatively slow.

Gu said the plan would also provide a channel for legal practitioners to contribute to the country's legal system.

The campaign is being jointly launched by six organizations including the Ministry of Justice, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League and the China Legal Aid Foundation.

(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2009)