Jilin steps up efforts to provide legal aid services for the elderly in need

Judicial administrative authorities of Northeast China's Jilin province have ramped up efforts to safeguard the rights and interests of the elderly in need. To date, Jilin has achieved full coverage of criminal legal aid for the elderly with a total of 79 legal aid stations.

China's legal aid law officially came into force on January 1 this year. Measures have been taken by judicial authorities in the province to continuously promote the construction of legal aid windows for the people. A legal aid green channel for the elderly has been established and publicized in a visible way and the mechanism of prioritizing the elderly in accepting, reviewing, assigning and handling rights protection cases was also displayed publicly to keep the elderly well-informed.

The province has also built a legal aid emergency service circle that can reach out to the people in need within half an hour in cities, one hour in rural areas and two hours in remote areas, to provide such services as legal consultation, mediation, and representation.

Statistics show that legal aid institutions in the province have handled 9,854 legal aid cases in the first half of this year, including 241 cases for the elderly, involving 245 elderly people.