Strengthening legal support for volunteer service
2024-05-15
Not long ago, the General Office of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Improving the New Era Volunteer Service System" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which is the first central document to deploy and improve the new era volunteer service system. The Opinion clearly states that "providing legal support" and "actively promoting national legislation on volunteer services" fully reflect China's high attention to promoting the legalization of volunteer services, which is of great significance for promoting the long-term development of volunteer services. In recent years, China's volunteer service industry has made significant progress. Public data shows that currently, the number of registered volunteers in China has reached 236 million, and over 1.35 million volunteer service teams have been formed, basically achieving full coverage of grassroots community volunteer service positions. At the same time, the legalization process of volunteer service in China is also constantly accelerating. In 2017, the State Council issued the "Regulations on Volunteer Service", which proposed to protect the legitimate rights and interests of volunteers, volunteer service organizations, and volunteer service recipients. This provides a basic basis for the legal and standardized development of volunteer service in China. In addition, laws and regulations such as the Red Cross Society Law, the Wildlife Protection Law, the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, the Compulsory Education Law, and the Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities in China all involve volunteers and volunteer services, encouraging people to participate in and support volunteer service work in related fields. However, with the rapid development of volunteer service in China, relevant laws and regulations can no longer meet the actual work needs of volunteers, volunteer service organizations, and volunteer service workers at all levels and regions. For example, as a mass social and moral practice, volunteer service naturally has a mass and grassroots nature. Some regulatory requirements for registration are too strict for volunteer service teams, which can actually affect grassroots participation in volunteer service. After the issuance of the Opinion, the scale of volunteers, the number of volunteer service organizations, and the popularity of volunteer service activities will all reach a new level, and related issues will become more prominent. How to protect the legitimate rights and interests of volunteers, volunteer service organizations, and volunteer service recipients has become a major issue that grassroots workers must face. In addition, it is well known that volunteers inevitably encounter occasional risks in the process of serving society and others, and the service recipients of volunteer services may also encounter occasional risks in the process of receiving services. For example, emergency volunteers may put themselves at risk while rescuing others, and there is also a possibility of causing harm to the beneficiaries. However, in practical work, even small issues such as purchasing insurance for volunteers can easily lead to awkward situations where they cannot be executed due to the lack of operational rules and regulations. Therefore, the Opinion specifically proposes to "improve volunteer insurance products and services, and strengthen the basic insurance coverage of volunteer insurance". These measures related to safeguarding the rights and interests of volunteers still need to be clarified and implemented at the legal system level to effectively ensure that volunteers and volunteer service organizations have no worries. At the same time, with the increasing recognition of volunteer service by the whole society, there have also been some mixed use of "volunteer service". Some illegal elements use the name of volunteer service to carry out illegal profit-making activities, which seriously violate the spirit of volunteer service and harm it
Edit:Ying Ying Responsible editor:Shen Chen
Source:http://www.legaldaily.com.cn
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