Law students recruited as legal aid volunteers in China's western regions

BEIJING -- A government-sponsored program recruiting university students majoring in law as volunteers to offer legal aid in remote and poor counties of China's western regions has played a role in improving local legal services, the Ministry of Justice said Monday.

Under the program, students are recruited each year in 11 provincial-level regions to work as legal aid volunteers for a one-year term, noted the ministry, which is also the initiative's co-sponsor.

Since its implementation in 2017, the program has seen a total of more than 270 such volunteers recruited.

Of them, 99 were recruited last year, who as of August 2020 have provided legal consultations to more than 22,000 people and helped draft over 2,200 legal instruments, showed ministry figures.