Civil conciliation refers to a process of alternative dispute resolution in which specialized committees meet separately with each side to ask for concessions, improve communication, and explore ways of bringing about an amiable end to the conflict.

It is an important component of China's socialist legal system. At home, the practice is called "the first defense line" of social stability, and it has been hailed by the international community as well.

The traditional and time-honored democratic and legal conciliatory system is a crucial tool for defusing conflicts and maintaining social stability during the course of China's rapid development.

The Civil Conciliation Law of the People's Republic of China came into effect in 2011, ushering in a new era for the practice. There are 811,000 civil conciliation committees and more than 4.3 million civil conciliators in China now. In 2011, this system received more than 8.9 million disputes and successfully solved nearly 97 percent of them.

Civil conciliation is a form of self-governance that has functioned well in China since the nation's founding. This system gradually developed into a legal system with Chinese characteristics after functioning for more than 60 years. It is a system by the people, of the people and for the people.

The organizations that engage in civil conciliation are formed by local committees of urban and rural residents, making the practice an expression of grassroots self-governance.

The Constitution of China and regulations on civil conciliatory activities are the legal bases for self-governance, self-education and self-service, and they are the basic guarantees for the long-term vitality and popularity of the civil conciliation system.

Although the system's organizational forms, methodologies, applications and guarantee mechanisms have continued to evolve over the past decades, the system's foundations have never changed.

Civil conciliation has a broad base among the people. Civil conciliation committees are civil organizations. There are no hierarchical relations among these committees and none of them is affiliated with any government departments or other social organizations.

The committee members are all recommended and elected from the people according to the job requirements and legal procedures. All members are elected from among the common people, represent the people and serve the people.

The committees solve people's disputes through equal negotiations. The relevant parties and the conciliators are all on equal footing in the process.

The disputes cover a wide range of common issues, such as marriage, inheritance, financial support for the elderly and minors, neighborhood disagreements, small debts, and small infringement of rights. The disputes also include some more serious conflicts, such as those over land contracts, land requisition and the demolition of houses, environmental protection and medical care.

These problems occur among common people as well as between people and the other legal persons or organizations. The parties usually have the right to resolve these disputes themselves.

Civil conciliation respects the parties' willingness to solve the problems themselves, and it combines legal procedures with moral rules. The process takes a holistic approach that takes into account rationality, emotions and laws.

Three principles

Civil conciliation has three principles. First, the process must be equal and voluntary in nature. Second, conciliation must follow the law. Third, the process must respect the legal rights of all parties involved.

The first principle means that the parties must enjoy absolute autonomy of will and not be coerced or discriminated against throughout the whole process. The parties can apply for civil conciliation or refuse it. The parties are also free to abort the process at any time and choose other means of solving the problems.

The parties can either accept the conciliators arranged by the committees or choose conciliators themselves. The parties are allowed to choose between the conciliators' dispute resolution schemes or propose schemes themselves. They are also permitted to make their own written agreements or oral agreements .

This principle of conciliation originates from the equality principle of civil legal relations. Parties are on equal footing, and they have equal rights and obligations in the process of conciliation.

Nobody has privileges that other parties do not. The civil conciliation organizations and conciliators are obliged to respect and defend the parties' voluntary principle of equality throughout the process.

According to the second principle, the country's laws, rules and policies are the main foundations for civil conciliations. In civil disputes, relevant parties have the right to deal with the related issues of their own accord.

So long as the conciliation does not violate the laws, rules or policies, the conciliators can help to resolve the disputes according to social ethics, civil agreements, social traditions and customs, and industrial conventions. The parties are expected to know the boundaries of the law as well as their responsibilities and obligations.

This process can raise the people's awareness of rule by law and also foster the healthy development of social morality.

According to the third principle, the parties' rights must be respected. The rights refer to not only the parties' entity rights, but also their rights to solve disputes through arbitration, administration and judicial manners and to demand a rescue process.

Civil conciliation is not the only solution to civil disputes and should not replace or be regarded as a prerequisite procedure of arbitration, administrative and judicial solutions. The initiation, implementation and conclusion of the conciliation all depend on the willingness of the parties.

The conciliators can use various means to persuade or propose solutions in the process of conciliation. But it is up to the parties involved to decide if they will accept the results in the end.

If the parties do not accept the conciliation, regret the conciliation agreements or do not intend to carry out the agreements, they can lodge lawsuits in the court or take other approaches to defend their legal rights. The conciliation committees cannot prevent parties from seeking other means of redress if they do not choose civil conciliations or the conciliations fail.

Civil conciliation committees do not charge any fees, making them popular among people in China.

Civil conciliations are a service for the people. It encourages people to solve conflicts as early and efficiently as possible, thereby avoiding the escalation of disputes and conflicts.

Because more and more people are choosing civil conciliations to resolve their disputes, it is also easing pressure on judicial and administrative departments.

The author is working in the Department of Guarding the Grass-root Work with the Ministry of Justice of China.

For China Daily