Farmers and herdsmen in the Tibet Autonomous Region, southwest China, are using their increasing knowledge of the law to safeguard their rights and interests.

Soinam, a farmer of Doilungdeqen County in Lhasa, the regional capital, has just won a law suit against a cement plant where he formerly worked. He won 70,000 yuan (US$8,460) compensation for his maimed right hand.

Soinam had his right hand seriously hurt when he was working in the cement plant in Lhasa in 2000. The plant only paid him 3,000 yuan (US$362) as compensation. After hearing that Soinam's hand was maimed, one of his relatives in Lhasa suggested he consult the regional legal assistance center to seek more compensation.

With the help of the legal assistance center, Soinam lodged a law suit against the cement plant and won.

"At first, I did not expect such a big compensation," he said.

With the wide popularization of laws in Tibet's rural areas, more local farmers and herdsmen like Soinam have learned to defend their own rights and interests through legal means, said Deqen, director with the regional legal assistance center.

The first legal assistance institution in Tibet launched in 2001, the center has so far helped clients involved in 149 cases, including 101 criminal cases and 48 civil cases.

In the past, knowing very little about laws, farmers and herdsmen in Tibet usually resolved disputes on their own. Sometimes, they invited lamas or local government officials to help solve the problems. In some instances, they even resorted to violence.

Now with a strong sense of defending rights and interests through legal means, people in Tibet are using legal proceedings to solve disputes, seek compensation, lodge complaints against shoddy commodities and report destructive activities against environment.

The regional consumers' right association received more than 2, 000 complaints about the quality of commodities in the past two years. The regional environmental protection bureau received 600 reports on destructive environmental activities in 2002, over 90 percent of them from the general public.

Basang Norbu, chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Regional People's Congress, said that the committee had enacted over 150 laws and regulations in the past 30 years, covering politics, economy, culture and education.

A legal system has been formed in Tibet, with courts and procuratorates functioning in all counties and administrative regions higher than the county level.

Currently, three prefecture-level legal assistance centers have been established in Tibet, and seven more city-level legal assistance centers are expected to be set up within this year, said Basang Norbu.

Tibet has more than 1,100 judicial workers, with Tibetans and people of other ethnic minorities accounting for 97.3 percent of the officials in courts and 73.3 percent of the officials in procuratorates.

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