The Information Office of the State Council issued Monday a white
paper on human rights, elaborating the achievements China scored in
its human rights cause during the past year.
The white paper, entitled Progress in China's Human Rights Cause
in 2000, says that the year 2000 marked a milestone in China's
march to modernization, as the country witnessed both sound
economic performance and continued advance in its human rights
cause.
The 14,000-word white paper consists of seven parts:
1.The improvement of the people's rights to subsistence and
development
In
2000, implementation of the Ninth Five-Year Plan for National
Economic and Social Development was successfully completed, the
development of the western region got off to a good start, the
economy developed in a healthy way, democracy and the legal system
were continuously strengthened, and the human rights situation
maintained a good momentum of development.
The white paper says that the Chinese government continued to
improve people's access to subsistence and development by
developing the economy and enhancing the comprehensive national
strength.
China rid itself completely of the influence of the Asian financial
crisis in 2000 as its national economy growth rate apparently
increased. The gross domestic product (GDP) of China surpassed
US$1,000 billion for the first time, reaching 8,940.4 billion yuan.
The GDP per capita exceeded US$800, a symbol of realizing the
second-step strategic goal set for China's modernization drive.
The white paper notes that the income of urban and rural residents
has gone up steadily, and their standards of living have continued
to improve. People across the country as a whole are living a
relatively well-off life.
The Engel's coefficient, indicating the proportion of food
expenditure in the total consumption expenditures, was about 40
percent for urban residents and about 50 percent for rural
residents last year, down nearly 10 percentage points and 8
percentage points respectively over those of 1995. The decrease
shows that the life quality of people is further upgraded. While
improving the people's living standards across the board, the
Chinese government has attached great importance to ensuring that
people from poverty-stricken areas have enough to eat and wear,
says the white paper.
A
systematic and large-scale poverty elimination drive initiated by
the Chinese government has been going on since China started reform
and opening up to the outside world in the late 1970s.
The rate of those in poverty among rural people has dropped to
around 3 percent from 30.7 percent in 1978, forming a sharp
contrast with the increase of absolutely poverty-stricken
population in the rest of the world.
The United Nations Development Program holds that China's aid-
the-poor efforts in a development-oriented way have provided a
model for other developing countries, and even for the whole
world.
2.The guarantee of citizens' political rights
On
the guarantee of citizens' political rights, the white paper notes
that the system of people's congress is a fundamental political
system in China, in which all power in China belongs to the people
and the people exercise state power through the National People's
Congress (NPC) and the local people's congresses.
At
the Fourth Session of the Ninth NPC held in March, 2001, the
deputies put forward 1,040 proposals, a record high since 1983 when
the first session of the Sixth NPC was convened.
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the
top advisory body of the Chinese government, actively participated
in the deliberation and administration of state affairs in 2000.
The CPPCC National Committee submitted more than 10 reports to the
decision-makers on mapping out the Tenth Five-Year Plan
(2001-2005). It also raised many opinions and suggestions, which
served as important reference, on issues such as speeding up the
project of diverting water from the south to the north, perfecting
the social security system, and further reform of the judicial
system.
The white paper says that building democratic politics at the
grassroots level in rural China has been promoted in an all-round
way and developed steadily.
The villagers' committees in 27 provinces, autonomous regions, and
municipalities have been re-elected since the revised Organic Law
of the Villagers' Committees was enforced in 1998. About 600
million farmers took part in the direct election of their village
heads, accounting for a vote rate of more than 80 percent.
Meanwhile remarkable progress has been made in the building of
democratic politics at the township level. The practice of making
public the township political affairs has been promoted nationwide.
About 35,000 townships, or over 80 percent of the total townships
in China, have made public their political affairs.
3.Judicial guarantee for human rights
On
judicial guarantee for human rights, the white paper notes that
China pays much attention to safeguarding human rights through
perfecting legislation, ensuring an impartial judicature and
strictly enforcing the law.
It
says in 2000, the public security and judicial organs cracked down
on gang-related crimes and crimes involving guns and explosives.
They also punished, according to law, a handful of criminals who
caused deaths or gathered people to upset the public order by
organizing and using the "Falun Gong" cult, effectively
safeguarding social stability and people's lives and property.
The Supreme People's Court formulated in July 2000 the Regulations
on Providing Judicial Assistance for Litigants Actually in
Financial Difficulty, in an effort to guarantee that poor people
can exercise their legal litigation rights.
Litigants of more than 190,000 cases across country therefore were
allowed to have their payment of litigation costs postponed,
reduced or remitted.
4.The economic, social and cultural rights of citizens
The Chinese government made more efforts in 2000 to further protect
the economic, social and cultural rights of citizens.
According to statistics, employees in China totaled more than 710
million by the end of 2000, an increase of 5.64 million over the
previous year. China has basically established a social security
system, mainly covering basic pension insurance, basic medical
insurance and unemployment insurance for workers in cities and
towns.
China has virtually made nine-year compulsory education universal
across the country, and eliminated illiteracy among people who were
born since 1949.
The number of Internet users in China has skyrocketed to more than
22.5 million from 10,000 in 1994, when China joined the Internet
network.
5.Protection of women and children's rights
The white paper says that the number of women employed has grown
continuously, women's education level has risen further and women's
health improved, too.
In
order to curb domestic violence, bigamy and taking concubines,
perfect family property system and protect women's rights in
marriage and the family, the NPC encouraged people of all walks of
life to do research for a revision of the Marriage Law, and
publicized the draft amendments in January, 2001 for public
discussions.
Chinese children's rights are effectively protected as well. The
child mortality rate dropped by one third and the rate of
malnutrition among children fell by 50 percent over the 1990
figures.
A
program for the safe and healthy development of Chinese children
was launched in October, 2000, aimed at forging a healthy social
climate for children, helping them stay away from dropout, disease,
injury and crime.
6.Equal rights and special protection for ethnic
minorities
The white paper notes that in China, ethnic minorities enjoy not
only all citizens' rights entitled by the Constitution and laws as
the Han people do, but also some special rights stipulated by laws
for ethnic minorities.
The Standing Committee of the Ninth NPC made amendments to the Law
Governing Regional Ethnic Autonomy in February, 2001, upgrading the
system of regional ethnic autonomy as part of the basic political
system of China. The white paper says that the decision further
strengthened the legal guarantee of autonomy in the autonomous
areas.
While implementing the system of regional ethnic autonomy, the
central government assists the economic and social development of
these areas by providing funds, technology, and professionals. The
white paper notes that the GDP of the autonomous regions increased
by 8.1 percent in 2000, surpassing that of the national average for
the fourth consecutive year.
Besides, the state made effective efforts in supporting ethnic
minority areas in developing education, ensuring the ethnic
minorities can use and develop their own languages, respecting and
protecting their religious beliefs, traditional customs and
cultures.
The campaign of developing the west where ethnic minorities are
concentrated will forcefully promote economic and social
development in these areas and the full realization of the equal
rights of ethnic minorities.
7.Actively carrying out international exchanges and cooperation
in the realm of human rights
The white paper says that the Chinese government always respects
the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations
for promoting and protecting human rights, supports the UN efforts
in this regard and actively participates in the UN activities in
the realm of human rights.
The Ninth NPC Standing Committee ratified the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in February, 2001.
The white paper says this fully demonstrates the Chinese
government's positive attitude toward carrying out international
cooperation in human rights as well as China's firm determination
and confidence in promoting and protecting human rights.
The white paper notes in the end that the progress of human rights
is an important aspect of the social development of all countries.
It is a historical process of continuous advance.
In
the light of China's national conditions and according to people's
wishes, and with the aim of building a democratic, modernized
country with advanced culture and under the rule of law, the
Chinese government will accelerate development and continuously
push forward the development of human rights cause in China while
maintaining social stability.
(Xinhua 04/09/2001)