A set of guidelines for resolving social conflicts and disputes, has been jointly issued by 16 government departments and was made public on Wednesday.

The 16 government departments include the Central Committee for Improvement of Public Order Through Comprehensive Measures, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security.

The guidelines advocate mediation as the best way to resolve social conflicts, as compared to litigation, arbitration and other judicial means.

In accordance with the guidelines, early warnings and detections of social conflicts are necessary for disputes to be solved via mediation. And the mediation agreements could be legal binding after they are given judicial recognition by courts.

The guidelines also define respective roles of related government departments in preventing outbreaks of social conflict.

For instance, the human resource and social security authorities are responsible for settling labor disputes, health authorities for medical disputes, land resource authorities for conflicts resulting from land appropriation and land ownership disputes.

The public security authorities are asked to make offices available in their community branches for mediation work, and invite volunteers in.

The Central Committee for Improvement of Public Order Through Comprehensive Measures will oversee the performance of all government agencies in carrying out their conflict-solving duties, according to the guidelines.

(Xinhua News Agency May 4, 2011)