For Immediate Release
- Contact:
- HERBERT J. HANSELL, 202-879-3986
or JOHN FRISBIE, 202-429-0340
China Rule of Law Grants Announced by
Business-Backed Legal Fund
WASHINGTON, DC, June 25, 2007 - The US-China Legal Cooperation Fund (the Fund), a charitable program supported by leading US companies engaged in trade and investment with the People's Republic of China, has announced the latest grants in its continuing program of support for joint US-PRC cooperation in China's legal development. The approved grants provide full or partial support of projects concerning an advanced program in judicial administration for Chinese judges, establishment of an HIV/AIDS legal aid center, development of a new law governing charities, legal rights of homeowners, and legal assistance for migrant workers.
The Fund is a program of the China Business Forum (www.chinabusinessforum.org), the educational and research arm of the US-China Business Council (www.uschina.org, USCBC). John Frisbie, USCBC president, offered the following comments about the Fund:
"China has made very important gains in the development of laws and institutions in recent years and US companies and law firms are assisting by helping to train people who can implement this important part of China's entry into the contemporary global system. Just this year we have seen passage of a new property law, for example. As the recent food and product safety issues indicate, however, China has much more work to do, meaning the work of the US-China Legal Cooperation Fund is all the more important. Rule of law does not emerge overnight, but programs such as the Fund play an important role in the process."
The Fund's trustees, chaired by Herbert J. Hansell of the law firm Jones Day, made the awards from a pool of applications at the Fund's recent semi-annual meeting.
Information on the projects supported by the latest Fund awards follows:
- Continuing an advanced program in judicial administration for Chinese judges sponsored by the East Asian Legal Studies Center of the University of Wisconsin Law School in cooperation with the Shanghai High People's Court.
- Establishing the first legal aid center for people living with HIV/AIDS in Beijing, China. The project is sponsored by Asia Catalyst, a New York-based nonprofit, in cooperation with China Orchid AIDS Projects, a Beijing-based nonprofit.
- Providing assistance to the PRC Ministry of Civil Affairs in drafting a new Charity Law to facilitate the development of a legal-enabling environment for charity organizations in China. The project is sponsored by the International Center for Civil Society Law together with Peking University Law School.
- Organizing monthly public forums in Beijing to bring together lawyers specializing in property rights and realty management, government officials, neighborhood officials, homeowners' associations representatives, urban planners, and legal and social science scholars to discuss community issues related to property management and elections of homeowners' representatives and committees. The project is sponsored by the University of Michigan in cooperation with Tsinghua University.
- Expanding a continuing program to provide community outreach, public education, and pre-employment training for migrant workers in several Chinese provinces. The project is sponsored by the Council of Overseas Chinese Services, Inc. (New York) in cooperation with the School of Social Work and Management, China Youth University for Political Sciences.
Through its website, www.uschinalegalcoop.org, the US-China Legal Cooperation Fund solicits project proposals from US and Chinese partners planning cooperative efforts in legal education, improvement of legal services, protection of legal rights, legislative and judicial procedure, and related areas. This initiative by USCBC members has been financed by the following US business supporters of a just, law-abiding, and accessible Chinese legal system:
GE Foundation; ExxonMobil Corporation; Time Warner, Inc.; FedEx Express; UPS; Motorola, Inc.; Ford Motor Company; Cargill, Incorporated; Chubb Corporation; CIGNA Foundation; Dewey Ballantine LLP; Mary Kay Inc.; Eastman Kodak Company; Payless ShoeSource, Inc.; Robert A. Kapp & Associates; and Jones Day.
Further information about the Fund and its grants program is available on its website shown above.