China has made tremendous progress in its human rights cause over
the past 13 years, said the
Human Rights magazine launched
by the China Society for Human Rights Studies, in an article.
Entitled "Development of China's Human Rights Cause in the Past 13
Years", the article cited a great number of statistics and facts to
prove the achievements in the human rights cause.
China has scored a sustainable, rapid development in its national
economy and achieved a notable improvement in ensuring the rights
to subsistence and development, said the article.
China's gross domestic product (GDP) has since 1989 grown at an
annual average rate of 9.3 percent. In 2002, China's GDP broke the
10 trillion yuan (about US$1.21 trillion) mark for the first time,
making China the sixth greatest economic power in the world. The
figure was six times as great as for 1989.
Thanks to the development momentum of its national economy and the
constant improvement in its investment environment, China has
become increasingly attractive to investors from all over the
world.
China had an inflow of US$51 billion in foreign direct investment
(FDI) last year, replacing the United States as the greatest FDI
recipient among all countries in the world, said the article.
Big increases have also been registered in incomes of China's urban
and rural residents, resulting in significantly increased
consumption and improved quality of life, said the article.
From 1990 to 2001, the per capita net incomes for the rural
residents registered a real increase of 62 percent, and the
disposable incomes for the urban residents more than doubled.
Back in 1989, consumption was meant primarily to meet the basic
needs of the people, whose spending went first of all to food,
followed by clothing and housing.
Spending by residents on self-improvement and enjoyment of life has
grown year after year. Computers and private cars have found their
way into people's homes in increasing numbers.
The state has attached great importance to helping underdeveloped
regions in their endeavor to shake off poverty through development
and to assisting citizens living below the poverty line to improve
their living standard.
In
2001, a total of 29 million rural residents, or 3.2 percent of the
country's total rural population, were classified as poverty
stricken, 73 million less than in 1989.
The article said China has made active efforts to promote political
civilization, and the civil and political rights of citizens have
been guaranteed in an effective way.
In
China, all powers belong to the people. The Chinese people exercise
the state power through the National People's Congress (NPC) and
local people's congresses at different levels.
During the ten-year period for the terms of the Eighth and Ninth
NPC, delegations and individual deputies forwarded 8,108 motions
and 26,384 proposals, complaints and recommendations.
The NPC and local people's congresses have constantly intensified
their supervision over implementation of laws and government
work.
In
striving to improve the system of democracy and legality, China has
accelerated the process of law-making over the past 13 years. In
line with the principle of running the country in accordance with
the law, the NPC and the NPC Standing Committee have formulated 125
new laws, which account for 62.5 percent of the total currently in
force.
Importance has always been attached to protection of citizens'
rights in the process of law-making. A series of laws has been
promulgated to this effect, including the Organic Law of the Urban
Residents' Committees, the Organic Law of the Villagers'
Committees, the Trade Union Law, the law on Assemblies, Processions
and Demonstrations, and the Copyright Law.
Multi-political party cooperation and political consultation under
the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party is a basic political
system in China. It entered the Constitution in 1993 to represent
the will of the state.
Grass-root democracy in China has experienced an unprecedented
development. By 2002, four re-elections of villagers' committees
had taken place in most Chinese provinces, with a voter turnout
exceeding 80 percent in general.
This kind of self-government features democratic election of
village leaders, decision-making through a democratic process,
democratic management of public affairs and democratic supervision
over work of village leaders and public budgets. It has filled the
rural population with a soaring political enthusiasm and protected
democratic rights of farmers.
Also thriving is urban grass-root democracy. Self-government by
communities in Chinese cities and urban towns has become especially
popular since 1998.
Residents in a given urban community are able not only to select
their own leaders through direct election, but also comment on work
of civil servants and government departments in general. In short,
community autonomy has enriched urban grass-root democracy and made
it diverse in form.
To
sum up, Chinese citizens in either towns or countryside are
enjoying broad democratic rights.
China is a multi-religion country, with a total of 100 million
religious believers. It pursues the policy or principle that calls
for respect for religious beliefs and independence of religious
believers in running religious affairs.
The various religions are equal in status and their respective
believers are able to join hands in striving for mutual
development, and little religious strife has occurred. Religious
believers and non-believers are locked up in mutual respect, and
are able to live side by side in harmony.
The article also said China has been strict with law enforcement,
and its judicial organs have been carrying out duties according to
the principle of fairness, and have made breakthrough progress in
judicial protection of human rights.
In
the past 13 years, public security and judicial departments have,
in accordance with the law, dealt severe blows on crimes, and a
nationwide campaign has been launched to consolidate the market
order, and the people's procuratorates at different levels have
improved their work related to criminal prosecution.
China has been persisting in placing equal emphasis on cracking
down on crimes and safeguarding human rights, and has scored
notable achievements in judicial reform under the principle of
"justice and fairness". Efforts have been made to ensure that
administrative law enforcement is carried out as an institutional
practice, by following procedures prescribed in relevant laws and
in accordance with the laws applicable to the specific cases.
Improvement and development were also made in the system of lawyers
and legal assistance in China.
The article said in the past 13 years, the Chinese government
regarded employment as vital to the people's livelihood and has
always taken the issue of ensuring employment and social insurance
as a task of strategic importance to be accomplished through
national economic and social development. To this end, it has
adopted a series of measures and has achieved remarkable
successes.
Employment has increased rapidly. China's employment reform has
progressed smoothly, coupled with formation of a new kind of
relationship of labor in the country.
Some 650 million people were employed in 1990 and by 2001, the
figure had grown to 730 million, a net increase of 83 million. The
rate of registered urban unemployment was around 3 percent for the
most of these years. In 2002, the government was able to limit the
rate of registered urban unemployment to 4 percent.
The state follows a proactive employment policy under which work
has been done to appropriately readjust the employment structure.
As a result, a market-oriented employment system is now in place by
and large.
The state has intensified the reform of the system for social
security to make it conform to requirements of the market economic
system, strengthened the management of social security funds and
encouraged supervision by society over their use, and introduced a
wide range of measures to increase the source of social security
funds, along with the establishment of a social security system
featuring distinct Chinese characteristics.
Up
to now, the minimum subsistence guarantee system for urban
residents has been implemented in all cities and major towns in the
country, which has benefited 19.85 million people.
The article went on to say China has witnessed a rapid development
of educational and cultural understandings and Chinese citizens
have made obvious improvement in raising their educational and
cultural levels.
In
2001, China had 1.35 million schools of different levels, with a
combined enrollment of 320 million pupils and students. To put it
another way, 26.6 percent of the Chinese were studying in the year,
up from 22.2 percent in 1990.
In
2001, the length of schooling averaged 7.7 years for Chinese
citizens at six and older, which was 2.4 years longer than for
1990.
Among every 100,000 Chinese citizens, 4,087 people had by 2001
received junior college education or education at even higher
levels, nearly three times the figure for 1990.
The state has increased its input for education by large margins.
The 2001 expenditures on education came to 463.766 billion yuan,
six times the 1990 expenditures.
The past 13 years have also seen big progress made by China in
developing the mass media and cultural undertakings. Cultural
products have increased in quantity and kept improving in
quality.
Conditions in mass cultural venues have improved greatly over the
past 13 years. Literature, artistic and theatrical creations and
performances have been thriving, and China's physical culture and
sports, full of vigor. To sum up, Chinese people in both urban and
rural areas are able to enjoy an increasingly rich, colorful
cultural life.
The article said China has made particularly spectacular
improvement in protection of women and children's rights. China has
by now established a complete legal system for the protection of
women's rights and promotion of women's development, which takes
the Constitution as the basis and the Law on the Protection of the
Rights and Interests of Women as the core.
Progress has been made in work to ensure women's participation in
discussion and management of state affairs. Of the delegates to the
16th CPC National Congress, 382 were women, accounting for 18
percent of the delegates.
Besides, there are women in leading bodies of the Party and
government in all the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities on the Chinese mainland.
At
the end of 2001, women officials in the Party and government
numbered 14.88 million, accounting for 36.7 percent of the national
total. They were 4.06 million more than in 1990, representing a
proportional increase of 5.8 percentage points.
The state attaches great importance to protecting women's equal
right to employment and to access to resources. Women's rights and
interests in work are effectively protected.
The average length of schooling for Chinese women has increased at
a faster rate than for men, and the illiteracy rate for women has
dropped faster than for men. Chinese women's health, in general,
has improved constantly.
The article said China has stepped onto a new stage toward honoring
rights and interests of the disabled, and has formed a social
environment in which the disabled enjoy understanding, respect,
attention and help.
In
the past 13 years, China has introduced a host of major measures so
that an improvement has been made in the system for protecting the
legitimate rights of the disabled.
Significant results have been achieved in rehabilitation of the
disabled, and special education has developed rapidly.
Before 1990, less than 10 percent of the physically or mentally
handicapped children were able to go to school; by 2000, the figure
had shot up to 77.2 percent.
The state makes positive efforts to help the disabled get employed
as a part of the effort to protect their right to work.
Assistance to the disabled is included in all government plans for
poverty alleviation. Disabled citizens, in fact, are taken as
constituting a priority group under such plans.
With assistance from the government and society, an aggregate total
of 11.11 million disabled rural residents had, by the end of2001,
shaken off poverty. Disabled people in cities who live below the
poverty line are entitled to a subsistence allowance provided by
the state.
Some 2.01 million disabled people in cities and urban towns were
receiving a subsistence allowance and 530,000 others were able to
benefit from the social insurance programs.
The article said the Chinese government has always attached great
importance to protecting the rights of equality of the country's
ethnic minority groups and their rights and interests that are
special relative to those of the Han majority.
Ethnic minority groups and the ethnic majority Han group have equal
rights in participating in the management of state affairs.
The state fully respects and protects the freedom of ethnic
minority groups to religious beliefs, and protects all legitimate
religious activities undertaken by their people.
Protection of ethnic minority groups' rights has become even more
institutionalized under an even more complete legal system over the
past 13 years.
What merits special mention is the revision in February 2001 to the
Law of the People's Republic of China on Regional Ethnic
Autonomy.
The revised law, upgrading the system of regional ethnic autonomy
as part of the basic political system of China, has provisions on
increase in the capital input to accelerate the development of
regions under autonomy by people of ethnic minority groups.
The state policy calls for aid and assistance in the aspects such
as capital, technologies, professional talents to the autonomous
regions to promote their development and improve the living
standards of their people.
Education in the five autonomous regions, too, has developed
rapidly. The state set up in 1990 a fund to subsidize these regions
in developing education.
In
2001, a total of 560,000 ethnic minority students were studying at
universities and colleges, 189 percent more than in 1991. All the
55 ethnic minority groups, including those with a tiny population,
now have their own youths studying at universities and colleges,
and some of them even have people taking graduate or even doctoral
courses.
Ethnic minority groups have been able to carry forward their
cultural traditions. Since 1990, special funds have been allocated
from both the central and local government budgets for construction
of libraries, cultural centers, ethnic art centers, museums,
theaters and cinemas. Radio and TV programs are aired, films
dubbed, books, newspapers and magazines published in numerous
ethnic minority languages, in addition to Internet websites in the
Tibetan and Mongolian languages.
The central government has earmarked huge sums for restoration and
repairs of sites of ethnic minority cultural heritage. Included are
the Potala Palace in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region,
and the Ta'er (Kumbum) Monastery in Qinghai Province, which is the
holiest shrine of the Yellow Sect of the Tibetan School of
Buddhism. The three ethnic epics, the King of Gesar, Tsangg'er and
Manas have been translated into Chinese and many foreign
languages.
The state has taken pains to organize the collection, compilation,
translation and research of these and other intangible cultural
heritages.
In
the most recent years, traditional ethnic cultures have developed
even more greatly in step with the implementation of the state
strategy for developing the western regions and the development of
tourism there.
The article said that theoretical research on human rights
undertaken in China over the past 13 years has experienced the
fastest development in the Chinese history and been the most
fruitful.
Through work over the past decade, Chinese researchers have built
up a theoretical system on human rights, which is complete in
nature and has distinct Chinese characteristics, said the
article.
These years have also witnessed production of the most significant
results through dialogue and exchange between China and foreign
countries on human rights.
China has attended and organized numerous international human
rights symposiums and meetings.
For better understanding and greater cooperation, Chinese leaders
have on numerous occasions discussed human rights issues with
leaders and other VIPs from foreign countries.
Since 1999, dialogues on human rights, either bilateral or
multilateral, have been conducted, either on governmental or
non-governmental basis, by China with countries including Britain,
France, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Brazil, Japan and the
United States, the European Union, and some international
organizations.
Positive results were achieved through such dialogues. China
initiated the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, and has contributed to the strengthening of
cooperation between the member countries in fighting against
terrorism and protecting human rights.
(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2003)