On December 1st, the Dongguan People’s Mediation Committee for Disputes Involving Persons with Disabilities was officially inaugurated. As the first of its kind in Guangdong Province, the committee is registered and operates in Guancheng. It will provide more equal, adequate and convenient litigation guarantees for persons with disabilities, enhance the legalization level of resolving disability-related disputes, and promote the in-depth development of mediation work for persons with disabilities in Dongguan.
On the same day, relevant leaders and guests from the municipal and Guancheng Sub-district governments attended the inauguration ceremony of the committee. During the ceremony, the No.1 People’s Court of Dongguan and the Dongguan Disabled Persons’ Federation signed a cooperation intention agreement, establishing a normalized judicial guidance mechanism. Through the “court + disabled persons’ federation” linkage and under the model of “disabled persons’ federation providing the platform, social workers offering services, and court providing protection”, resources will be integrated and processes optimized to deliver professional and caring mediation services for persons with disabilities. This will bridge the “last mile” of rights protection, ensuring that persons with disabilities feel fairness and warmth in judicial cases.
It is reported that the mediation committee is located at the Dongguan Zhaneng Social Work Service Center, which has jointly set it up with Guangdong Shibaiqian Law Firm. This forms the city’s first professional mediation team for disability-related disputes, consisting of social workers, lawyers, judicial staff and community workers.
During the event, judges from the No.1 People’s Court and outstanding mediators from the mediation association conducted pre-job training for newly appointed mediators. The training content focused on professionalism and practicality, effectively improving the legal literacy and practical capabilities of the mediators, and laying a solid foundation for the standardized and efficient development of subsequent work.
As the first specialized mediation committee for disability-related disputes in the province, its establishment is of great significance: at the national level, it explores the implementation path for the “national-to-national” mechanism and contributes Dongguan’s experience; at the municipal level, it fills the gap in special mediation for disability-related disputes, building a “doorstep” rights protection platform through an “online + offline” model to ensure that disputes “have a place to be reported, someone to handle them, and can be resolved”; at the service level, it integrates the forces of the disabled persons’ federation, judicial departments, social workers and lawyers to form a team that understands policies, is proficient in laws, has compassion and excels in mediation, effectively transforming institutional advantages into service effectiveness.
Moving forward, the Guancheng Judicial Branch will continue to optimize legal services for persons with disabilities, support the development of the cause of persons with disabilities in Dongguan, ensure that persons with disabilities truly feel social care and judicial justice, and provide more “Dongguan experience” for the whole country.
