Wang Chen, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), inspects public interest litigation work in the Supreme People's Procuratorate from Jan 12 to 13. [Photo/npc.gov.cn]

People's procuratorates should step up efforts to initiate cases of public interest litigation, safeguard the fundamental interests of the people and ensure social fairness and justice, better serving high-quality economic and social development, said Wang Chen, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC).

He made the remarks during an inspection tour to the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) on work related to public interest litigation. Zhang Jun, procurator-general of the SPP, also participated in the inspection.

Wang noted that establishing and improving the procuratorial system for public interest litigation is a vital means to practice a people-centered philosophy of development and maintain social fairness and justice.

Under the unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, public interest litigation work has been expanded in many key areas, such as environmental and resource protection, food and drug safety, protection of the rights of heroes and martyrs, and protection of the rights and interests of minors, he said.

The members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress fully affirmed the achievements that have been made in this area and put forward suggestions for improvement while reviewing relevant reports on the procuratorial work of public interest litigation, he added.

Wang said that since the establishment of the procuratorial system for public interest litigation more than four years ago, procuratorial organs across the country have filed and handled 567,000 cases, achieving positive legal and social effects.

At the same time, with the growing demands of the people for democracy, rule of law, fairness, justice, security, and environmental protection, the needs of the people cannot be fully met in this area, Wang stressed.

Legislative, law enforcement and judicial organs should strengthen communication and improve social fairness, justice and legal protection system, he said.

We should actively and steadily advance the work of public interest litigation with focus on key areas and further improve the quality and efficiency of public interest litigation, Wang said, adding that it is necessary to summarize experiences learned from practice, improve relevant legislation and give better play to the guiding, regulating and guaranteeing roles of laws.

During the tour from Jan 12 to 13, Wang led a research team and listened to an introduction of public interest litigation work carried out by the procuratorial organs. The Ministry of Veterans Affairs and the Ministry of Emergency Management briefed the team about their support for the development of public interest litigation.

The research team came to the SPP's Xiangshan office, learned about the handling of public interest litigation cases with assistance of procuratorial information technology, and inspected laboratories of electronic data and heavy metals, among others.  

The NPC's Constitution and Law Committee, the Supervisory and Judicial Affairs Committee, the Legislative Affairs Commission, and relevant responsible persons from Beijing participated in the inspection.