SHENZHEN, July 25 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Justice will use people's mediation, legal publicity, lawyers and notarization to better resolve disputes and maintain social stability, according to the Minister of Justice Fu Zhenghua on Wednesday.
Judicial and administrative organs will work on upgrading people's mediation, a method used to resolve civil disputes outside judicial proceedings, ensuring disputes be handled and resolved where they take place, Fu said.
The organs will also improve the dispute resolution system in which different methods, such as people's mediation, legal assistance, arbitration as well as administrative adjudication and reconsideration, are all connected to and coordinated with others.
China has 766,000 people's mediation committees and 497,000 full-time mediators. About 9 million cases are settled through mediation every year.
Fu also said the ministry would use law to further assist poverty relief work, expand and better regulate legal assistance, and strengthen protection of the legitimate interests of the impoverished.
He added that the ministry would improve legislative work related to environmental protection and use law to tackle prominent environmental problems.
