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It is only appropriate that, as China's leading societal forces celebrate the 100th anniversary of its organization as the Communist Party of China, that this vanguard consider carefully its own progress and the way it meets its responsibilities as the leading force charged with the guidance of the Chinese nation toward the establishment of a communist society. To that end the vanguard engages in a constant dialectic in which it must identify the current historical contradictions and seek the means to overcome that contradiction in the contemporary social and historical conditions in which they may arise (Mao Zedong, On Contradiction (1937). To that end it is necessary to align the expression of the core ideological foundations of the vanguard in terms that align theory to the times and the conditions in which society finds itself in this (what for them) is an an inevitable progress toward the ultimate goal for which this vanguard has been vested with superior authority to lead the nation. For that purpose the key principles of Leninist governance are deployed with Chinese characteristics--the mass line, democratic centralism, consultative democracy--in the service of the development of a contemporary political line consistent with current historical conditions and developed to overcome the central contradictions of the times. In contemporary China the central contradiction--"What we now face is the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life," (Xi Jinping, Report to the 19th CPC Congress). To overcome this principal contradiction, the vanguard must develop and governmentalize a series of policies that better distribute the fruits of prosperity and stability (the later the core measure of the effectiveness of meeting and overcoming contradiction successfully). But a "better life" as the core of the current central contradiction may not be understood in the context of the prior contradiction--the necessity to develop the nation's productive forces. Instead, the vanguard now understands that the meaning of "better life" includes much broader and culturally significant aspects: As articulated by Xi Jinping: "The needs to be met for the people to live a better life are increasingly broad. Not only have their material and cultural needs grown; their demands for democracy, rule of law, fairness and justice, security, and a better environment are increasing,"(HERE). And with this there is some important cultural baggage re-interpreted for the New Era: including the ancient cardinal virtues (禮), righteousness (義), integrity (廉), and shame (恥). The Eight Virtues are loyalty (忠), filial piety (孝), benevolence (仁) love (愛), honesty (信) justice (義), harmony (和), and peace (平).
That, anyway, is the theory.
It is in this context that one can perhaps better understand the context, meaning, and objectives of the recent publication by the State Council Information Office of China's Human Rights Action Plan (2021-2025). Read, as it would tend to be by foreigners, against the desire and expectation of conformity with international consensus values and presumptions, most of them incompatible with the core objectives of Chinese Marxist Leninism, and a distraction from the fundamental task of establishing for the Chinese nation a Communist society as a model for the rest of the world to follow, the Human Rights Action Plan will be found to be wanting. But that substitutes gibberish and political-psychological projection for analysis appropriate for the context and meaning universe for which this was developed in the first place. This is not to suggest that the State Council, as the delegated institutional organ charged by the vanguard with the task of relating the task of overcoming the current principal contradiction in its "human rights" aspects, were not looking over their shoulder at how the rest of the world would read and interpret the document. And there is enough ambiguity in it to satisfy in that respect. Moreover, there are substantial spaces where the trajectories of the development of liberal democracies (as they meet the challenges of their own core contradictions) and those of Chinese Marxist Leninism overlap. And in those areas of course there is much that can be done to encourage convergence of result if not of the theory supporting the policies. In that respect the Human Rights Action Plan serves Chinese Leninist internationalism, realized, for example, through its Belt and Road partnerships and otherwise through aid to developing (and some developed) states.
But Chinese approaches to human rights must first and foremost be usefully read as undertaken in the service of the task of overcoming the principal contemporary contradiction. And that challenge itself is focused on the forward movement along the "socialist path"--that is on a path that is meant, eventually, to come closer to the establishment of a communist society in China. And that final goal can only be reached when, as Deng Xiaoping once suggested, the nation is so rich and materially stable that issues of wealth become irrelevant in the operation and constitution of society. That path then significantly cuts off the possibilities of alternatives--reflected in the continuing emphasis of Chinese human rights on economic development and its deep suspicion of civil and political rights that can be corrupted to impede the fundamental task of the vanguard (we leave to one side the internal corruption of the vanguard itself..a problem that Chinese Leninism confronts by a different path). It is here that the Chinese and liberal democratic path to human rights diverge--and diverge substantially. That divergence is irreconcilable.
The text of the Chinese Human Rights Action Plan (2021-2025) follows. It is worth studying closely for tits points of convergence and divergence with the trajectories of human rights and sustainability ideology deeply embedded within the values and principles of liberal democracy against which it will be analyzed and judged, and from out of which appropriate engagement may be undertaken in a rigorous and enlightened way fully conscious of the form and substance of the possibilities of convergence and of the dangers of false assumptions of convergence where divergence is unavoidable.
Human Rights Action
Plan of China(2021-2025)
The State Council Information Office of
the People’s Republic of ChinaSeptember 2021
Contents
Introduction
I. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
1. Right to Basic Standard of Living
2. Right to Work
3. Right to Social Security
4. Right to Property
5. Right to Health
6. Right to Education
7. Cultural Rights
II. Civil and Political Rights
1. Right to Life
2. Personal Rights
3. Individuals’ Information Rights and Interests
4. Freedom of Religious Belief
5. Rights to Vote and to Stand for Election
6. Rights to Be Informed and to Participate
7. Rights to Be Heard and to Exercise Public Scrutiny
8. Right to a Fair Trial
III. Environmental Rights
1. Pollution Prevention and Control
2. Eco-Environmental Information Disclosure
3. Public Participation in Environmental Decision-Making
4. Public Interest Environmental Litigation and Eco-Environmental
Damage Compensation5. Territorial Eco-Environmental Restoration and Protection
6. Response to Climate Change
IV. Protecting the Rights of Particular Groups
1. Rights of Ethnic Minority Groups
2. Women’s Rights
3. Children’s Rights
4. Rights of the Elderly
5. Rights of Persons with Disabilities
V. Education and Research on Human Rights
1. On-Campus Education
2. Specialized Research
3. Workplace Training
4. Promotional Activities for the General Public
VI. Participating in Global Human Rights Governance
1. Fulfilling Obligations to International Human Rights
Conventions2. Engaging Substantially in the Work of UN Human Rights Bodies
3. Joining in Constructive Dialogue and Cooperation on Human
Rights4. Contributing to the International Cause of Human Rights
VII. Implementation, Supervision and Assessment
Introduction
China has formulated and implemented three action plans on human rights since 2009. During this period, the Chinese people have prospered, their rights have been better protected, the policies and legal measures protecting the rights of particular groups have improved, and the legal safeguards for human rights have been strengthened. China has fully participated in global human rights governance, making a major contribution to the international cause of human rights.
The First Centenary Goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects has been realized. The five-year period from 2021 to 2025 will see China set out on a new journey towards the Second Centenary Goal of building a modern socialist country.
This period will also witness a new beginning for human rights in China. China’s economy has moved to a stage of high-quality development, so the country now has more favorable conditions to advance the cause of human rights. The principal challenge facing Chinese society is now the gap between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-growing expectation for a better life, including higher expectations for the protection of their human rights. In the international arena, the world today is undergoing a scale of change unseen in a century, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The international situation is becoming ever more complex, with mounting instability and uncertainty. The cause of human rights is encountering new challenges not only in China but throughout the world .
The Chinese government has reviewed the implementation of the previous three human rights action plans and summarized the experience gained. Now it presents the Human Rights Action Plan of China (2021-2025) (the Action Plan) to define the objectives and tasks of respecting, protecting and promoting human rights in the period from 2021 to 2025.
This Action Plan adheres to the constitutional principle of respecting and protecting human rights, and the Outline for the 14th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035. It follows the spirit embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights conventions.
The guidelines for formulating and implementing the Action Plan are:
• Following the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era;
• Staying committed to a people-centered philosophy of development, believing that a happy life for the people is the most important human right;
• Promoting well-rounded development of and common prosperity for all the people as the ultimate goal;
• Developing whole-process people’s democracy, safeguarding social fairness and justice, and resolving the most pressing difficulties and problems which are of great concern to the people;
• Ensuring a higher level of human rights protection for all, so that they will have a stronger sense of gain, happiness and security.
The basic principles in formulating and implementing the Action Plan are:
• incorporating the development of human rights into the legal framework;
• promoting all-round and balanced development of all human rights;
• integrating the general principles of human rights with the real conditions in China;
• fully guaranteeing all social members’ rights to equal participation and development;
• pooling the efforts of governments, enterprises, public institutions, and social organizations;
• tapping the potential of digital technology in expanding the free and well-rounded development of every person.
The targets of the Action Plan are as follows:
• Promoting the free, well-rounded and common development of all individuals as the general goal. The Chinese government will hold fast to its people-centered approach, and exert itself to meet the people’s growing expectations for human rights protection. It will guarantee the principal position of the people, and ensure that development is for the people and relies on the people, and that development benefits are shared by the people.
• Protecting the people’s economic, social and cultural rights to meet their expectation for a better life, and creating more favorable economic, social and cultural conditions to achieve this goal.
• Safeguarding the civil and political rights and promoting effective participation in social affairs, thus laying a sound democratic and legal foundation for well-rounded development of the people.
• Cherishing clear waters and green mountains as invaluable assets. China will continue to respect, work with, and protect mother nature, and promote the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature. It will promote eco-environmental progress and work to build a beautiful China, in order to create a sustainable environment for human beings and later generations.
• Reinforcing the equal protection of the rights and interests of particular groups and providing them with extra assistance, to ensure all have an equal share in the fruits of development, and to provide policy support for the well-rounded development of all.
• Conducting extensive research, education, and training, and building awareness in this field, to create a social atmosphere of respecting and protecting human rights.
• Participating in global human rights governance. China will engage itself in all work relating to the UN human rights mechanisms, propel the international community to establish a more just, fair, reasonable and inclusive governance system, and work together to build a global community of shared future.
Compiled under the leadership of the State Council Information Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and reviewed and approved by the joint meeting for the National Human Rights Action Plan, the Human Rights Action Plan of China (2021-2025) is hereby released by the State Council Information Office.
I. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
China will work to promote common prosperity for its people and protect their economic, social and cultural rights through the following: consolidating its achievements in poverty alleviation, carrying out the strategy of rural revitalization, prioritizing employment, implementing the Healthy China Initiative, improving the social security system, promoting equal access to education, and improving public cultural services.
1. Right to Basic Standard of Living
China will support further development of formerly impoverished areas, by ensuring access to affordable and safe housing, clean water, safe and secure supplies of food, and convenient transport.
– Connecting poverty alleviation with rural revitalization. Assistance mechanisms for low-income rural populations and undeveloped areas will be improved, and major alleviation policies and financial input will remain steady. Follow-up measures will be taken to help people relocated from inhospitable areas to places with better economic prospects, by accelerating urbanization of the resettlement sites.
– Strengthening food security. The government will secure the supply of major farm produce, including grain, cotton, edible oil, sugar, meat and dairy products. The strictest controls will be put in place to keep the country’s farmland above the red line of 120 million hectares. The government will create 71.7 million hectares of contiguous high-standard farmland, establishing agricultural belts for national food security.
– Promoting food safety. Critical moves will be made to implement the Program for Ensuring Food Safety, focusing on smart supervision throughout the food processing process from farm to table.
– Ensuring access to safe and clean water. China will construct new irrigation facilities with a water supply capacity of 29 billion cu m. By implementing the Program of Water Supply Security for Rural Areas and the Program of Safe Drinking Water for Rural Areas, it will raise the tap water coverage in rural areas to 88 percent or higher.
– Improving housing security. Housing security will be improved by providing more government-subsidized rental housing and joint-ownership housing. Households in receipt of subsistence allowances or with low incomes that have difficulty finding housing will be provided with both public rental homes and housing subsidies. More subsidized rental housing will be built to help special social groups with housing difficulties, such as new urban residents and young people. The joint house ownership scheme will be further developed to help those who cannot afford to buy commercial homes to own a share in a property.
– Securing safe housing. China will continue with the renovation of dilapidated homes, identifying and closing all safety loopholes affecting rural houses in the next three years, and supporting seismic retrofit in high seismic zones.
– Improving transport facilities. Measures will be taken to build more trunk railway lines, improve nationwide highway connectivity, accelerate the construction of border highways, and expand the traffic capacity of heavily frequented highways. More efforts will be made to build or renovate highways connecting towns and townships with other places, and to build paved roads for villages.
– Bridging the digital divide between urban and rural areas. China will coordinate efforts to build smart cities and villages, promoting integrated development of IT application in cities and the countryside and improving digital literacy and skills among all the people.
2. Right to Work
China will prioritize employment, eliminate employment and career discrimination, improve the wage/salary and welfare system, improve mechanisms for coordinating labor relations, implement the safety management system (SMS), and tighten supervision on labor law enforcement.
– Increasing employment. China aims to achieve high-level and high-quality employment, with an urban unemployment rate below 5.5 percent. Efforts will be made to increase non-full-time employment, support and develop new forms of employment, and provide startup services for returned rural migrant workers. Moves will be made to train innovation and entrepreneurship leaders, and establish demonstration zones and incubation bases for rural startups. Lawful rights and interests relating to work and employment will be better protected, in particular for groups such as young migrant workers and young people in flexible employment. Measures will be taken to increase subsidized jobs, and help women seeking to return to work after maternity leave, people with disabilities, members of zero-employment households and other disadvantaged groups to find jobs.
– Securing employment for people raised from poverty. Efforts will be intensified to organize people recently raised from poverty to find employment outside of their home regions. Work-relief programs will be expanded in the construction and management of agricultural projects in former impoverished areas. Preferential policies will be continued to support factory workshops in poverty alleviation. The policies for forest rangers will be adjusted and improved. Rural subsidized jobs will be put to better use through better coordination.
– Improving vocational training for rural migrant workers. China will move on with upskilling initiatives and specialized vocational training programs such as those for rural migrant workers, young people and professional caregivers. Some 7 million rural migrant workers will receive employability training every year. Support will be provided to help enterprises to organize pre-employment training, apprenticeship training, and on-the-job training.
– Providing reasonable remuneration. China will improve the mechanisms for setting, raising and ensuring regular payment of wages/salaries, refine the mechanisms for setting minimum wage levels and wage guidelines, and continue to implement the collective wage bargaining system. Employment agencies will be better regulated to ensure equal pay for equal work. Employment security policies for online jobs will be introduced. Long-term mechanisms will be improved to eliminate the practice of withholding wages/salaries and punish violations in accordance with the law.
– Punishing forced labor. China will redouble its efforts to protect workers’ rights and interests, and punish cases of forced labor according to law.
– Improving the safety management system (SMS). China will amend the Law on Workplace Safety, and enact a law on safe production of hazardous chemicals and a regulation on coal mine safety. The SMS will be enhanced throughout the entire operation of enterprises, and the workplace safety accountability system will be enforced. The Five-year Action Plan on Workplace Injury Prevention (2021-2025) will be implemented, aiming to reduce key industries’ workplace injury incidence rate by around 20 percent.
3. Right to Social Security
Under the principle of social security benefits for all eligible, the government will action policy requirements to help those most in need, to build a tightly woven safety net, and to build the necessary institutions, as it works to develop a sustainable multi-tiered social security system that covers the entire population in both urban and rural areas and follows fair and uniform standards.
– Improving the systems and mechanisms for social security. For rural and non-working urban residents facing financial difficulties, the government will cover part or all of their premiums to the basic pension scheme. The mechanism for adjusting basic pension rates for urban employees will be established. Enterprise annuity (a supplemental retirement savings program for employees of enterprises) and occupational annuity (a supplementary pensions program for employees of government agencies and public institutions) will be improved, and private pension plans will be encouraged. Policies will be enacted on subsidies for family dependents of the deceased and for people with non-work-related illnesses and disabilities, should they be covered by the basic pension scheme for urban employees.
– Improving the system for social relief. The state will provide special relief funds on healthcare, education, housing, and employment to people with financial difficulties, in a timely and targeted manner. It will improve financial aid and support for severely impoverished rural residents through higher-quality relief services. It will provide a tiered and categorized social assistance program and improve the subsistence allowance scheme. The eligible age of minors covered by the relief scheme for severely impoverished people will be extended from 16 to 18. Households and individuals eligible for temporary assistance will be provided with interim emergency subsistence allowances.
4. Right to Property
China will enforce the Civil Code to better protect property rights, including the transfer of management right of contracted land, and the right to use rural land designated for a residence (rural residential land). It will further reform the system of rural collective property rights, complete the system of property rights in natural resource assets, and better protect property rights in data.
– Improving institutions for the protection of property rights. China will amend the Regulations on the Implementation of the Land Management Law. Institutional guarantees will be put in place to protect property rights in data, knowledge and the environment. Institutions, laws and regulations concerning property rights in natural resource assets will be improved.
– Strengthening protection of property rights in judiciary and law enforcement. China provides equal protection by law for the property rights of enterprises under diverse forms of ownership, including state-owned enterprises, private businesses and foreign-owned companies. It protects property rights and innovation revenues of entrepreneurs, and punishes in accordance with the law crimes that encroach on the legitimate property rights and interests of individuals, enterprises and organizations, including theft, robbery, forcible seizure, fraud, racketeering and infringement on intellectual property. Long-term mechanisms for identifying and correcting legal errors resulting in wrongful convictions of enterprises will be set up. A modern judicial regulatory system for enterprises suited to China’s needs will be piloted.
– Protecting farmers’ property rights. The current round of rural land contracts will be extended for another 30 years upon expiration, and the system of separating the ownership rights, contract rights and management rights of contracted rural land will be improved. Research will be conducted on the specific ways of separating ownership, entitlement, and the right to use of rural residential land. The government will ensure that people from rural areas who have become permanent urban residents can continue to enjoy their land contract right, homesteading right, and rights to share in the proceeds from rural collective operations. It will advance the reform of collective forest tenure, ensure procedure-based grassland use and transfer based on contract, and proceed with the confirmation, registration and certification of grassland tenure.
– Tightening the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR). China will refine the litigation system for IPR cases, improve the mechanisms for punitive damages from IPR violations, and increase the compensation amount. It will reform the ownership and proceeds distribution mechanisms for state-owned IPR to give research institutes and higher education institutions greater autonomy in IPR assignment.
5. Right to Health
The Healthy China initiative will be implemented in full to provide a complete range of health services to the people throughout their lifespan. The ability to combat major epidemics and respond to public health emergencies will be considerably reinforced. The Chinese people will be healthier both physically and mentally, and enjoy better and more equal healthcare.
– Building a strong public health system. Following the principle of putting people and lives first no matter the cost, China will continue to take effective measures to contain the Covid-19 spread. China’s disease prevention and control system will be reformed, with better monitoring, early warning, risk assessment, epidemiological investigation, testing, and emergency response. Measures will be enacted to improve public health colleges and cultivate more professionals. The national immunization program will be expanded to strengthen the prevention and control of major infectious diseases and the prevention, early screening and intervention of chronic diseases. The healthcare system for mental health will be improved. Twenty national bases for the prevention, control and treatment of major infectious diseases and 20 national bases for emergency rescue will be renovated and upgraded. About 15 regional healthcare centers will be built by making use of the resources of existing centers for disease control and prevention.
– Improving the healthcare system. Services provided by town, township and community healthcare centers will be raised to national standards by improving public hospitals and medical service networks for urban and rural areas. Provincial and city hospitals will be encouraged to share quality medical resources with their county-level peers. More progress will be made in expanding the tiered diagnosis and treatment model and partnerships between medical institutions operating at different levels. Private healthcare providers and experienced practicing physicians will be encouraged to set up and run clinics.
– Strengthening the prevention and control of chronic and endemic diseases. National Demonstration Areas for Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Chronic Diseases will be expanded to cover 20 percent of China’s counties and county-level districts. The premature mortality rate resulting from major chronic diseases will be reduced by 20 percent compared to 2015. Efforts will continue to control and eliminate endemic diseases and schistosomiasis (bilharzia).
– Increasing the scale and quality of medical training. The number of pediatricians and general practitioners will be increased to address the current shortfall, and the number of registered nurses per 1,000 people will be increased to 3.8. Training programs will be carried out to increase the number of general practitioners per 10,000 people, which will be raised to 3.93.
– Upgrading the universal medical insurance system. The state will improve the general support mechanism for covering outpatient medical bills under basic medical insurance, and put in place a better system of medical insurance and assistance for major diseases. Qualified online medical services will be covered by medical insurance with due procedures, and real-time settlement of medical expenses for treatment incurred outside the province where the patient resides will be implemented. An insurance system for long-term care will be established.
– Improving medical services for mental health. A society-wide service system for mental health will be improved to alleviate academic, professional, emotional and life pressure, as well as other social pressure, and provide post-traumatic care and better diagnosis reporting and follow-up management for people with severe mental disorders. The target for the management of patients with severe mental disorders will be 90 percent.
– Improving teenagers’ health and physique. Teenagers should be encouraged to follow a healthy lifestyle, taking care of their eyes, following a reasonable diet, and taking proper exercise. At least 90 percent of teenagers should reach the physical fitness standard, and the rate of myopia will not exceed 65 percent in junior high schools and 75 percent in senior high schools.
– Ensuring food and drug safety. Risk monitoring on food and drug safety, spot checks, supervision and law enforcement will all be strengthened, timely reporting and response will be accelerated, mechanisms will be put in place to manage drugs and vaccines throughout their life cycles, and the electronic traceability system for drugs will be improved. Illegal and criminal acts in the field of food and drugs will be severely punished in accordance with the law, and a punitive compensation system in public-interest civil litigation concerning food and drug safety will be established.
– Promoting traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Equal importance will be attached to TCM and Western medicine with a more vigorous effort to promote TCM so that the two can complement each other. About 30 national centers for TCM practice and innovation will be built, forming a number of unique and leading disciplines.
– Promoting intelligent medical service. Efforts will be made to improve electronic health archives and databases such as medical records and e-prescriptions, and speed up data sharing among medical institutions. Application of telemedicine will be promoted, including computer-aided detection in medical imaging and computer-aided clinical diagnosis. Big data will also be used to better supervise medical institutions and medical services.
– Carrying out a nationwide fitness campaign. In order to improve the public service system for fitness and physical activity, efforts will be made to build public sports fields and facilities, open school sports venues to the public, build more community sports facilities such as sports tracks, and build sports parks in line with local conditions.
6. Right to Education
Efforts will be made to increase the coverage of preschool education, the completion rate of compulsory education, and the enrollment rate of senior high schools. Equal access to education will be guaranteed, and education quality will be increased, so that the students can develop in an all-round way.
– Increasing educational investment in areas formerly classified as extremely poor. Special plans for educational investment in the central budget will continue, to build a national platform for paired-up assistance among colleges and universities in the eastern, central and western regions, and to support areas formerly classified as extremely poor in consolidating their achievements in poverty alleviation through education, so as to end generational poverty.
– Promoting full coverage of preschool education. Efforts will be made to further increase the coverage of preschool education, develop public kindergartens, and support the development of government-funded and privately-run non-profit kindergartens. The gross enrollment rate of preschool education will be raised to over 90 percent.
– Promoting high-quality and balanced development of compulsory education. Measures will be taken to promote quality, balanced compulsory education and urban-rural integration, and to speed up the growth of schools for compulsory education under uniform requirements. A responsibility system will be improved to prevent school dropouts and increase the completion rate of compulsory education. Conditions of small village schools and town/township boarding schools will also be improved.
– Increasing the coverage of senior high school education. The government will improve general senior high schools at county level and below, and encourage diversified development in general senior high schools. Support will be increased for senior high school education in less developed areas of central and western China and high-altitude regions. The gross enrollment ratio for senior secondary education will reach 92 percent or higher.
– Improving vocational education. A system with coordinated development of secondary and higher vocational education and integrated development of vocational and general education will be established. The integrated development of industry and education will be promoted, and the system of school-enterprise cooperation will be improved. Students receiving secondary vocational education will be exempted from tuition and other fees on a phased and categorized basis. The average length of schooling for new entrants to the labor force will be no less than 14 years.
– Boosting high-quality higher education. China will continue to implement programs to increase innovation in institutions of higher learning, to develop first-rate universities and academic disciplines on a categorized basis, and to raise the gross enrollment rate of higher education to 60 percent. It will further higher education in central and western regions, and encourage first-rate institutions of higher learning with first-rate disciplines to increase their enrollment from central and western China, ethnic minority areas, and rural areas.
– Ensuring the right of disadvantaged children to education. Care and protection for children of migrant workers left behind in the countryside will be strengthened, as will the education services for these children. The expansion of urban schools will be accelerated to ensure equal access to basic public education services for children of rural migrants. The policy of financial aid to students from impoverished families and the nutritional improvement plan for rural students receiving compulsory education will continue.
– Guarding against sexual assault and harassment. Kindergartens and schools are required to institute measures to prevent sexual assaults and harassment against minors, give minors proper sex education suited to their age, raise their awareness of and ability to protect themselves against sexual assault and harassment, and report any such crimes to the public security organs and educational administration departments in a timely manner. Relevant institutions and government departments should provide victim minors with protection and legal assistance.
– Curbing school bullying. Under the Law on the Protection of Minors and the Regulations on the Protection of Minors in Schools, systems will be established and educational campaigns will be carried out on a regular basis to prevent and control student bullying and protect the mental and physical health of every student.
– Preventing digital divide in online education. Information technology equipment will be provided to students from impoverished families to ensure equal access to quality online education for all students.
7. Cultural Rights
To better ensure citizens’ cultural rights, public cultural services will be improved with better services to facilitate a culture of reading among the people, and more measures to pass on and protect fine traditional Chinese culture and promote emerging cultural industries.
– Improving the infrastructure for public cultural services. Efforts will be made to plan and build more public libraries, cultural centers, museums, art galleries, comprehensive cultural stations in towns, townships and sub-districts, and comprehensive cultural service centers in urban and rural communities. Public cultural infrastructure of all types and at all levels will be improved.
– Addressing shortcomings in public cultural services. In line with the requirements specified in national standards on basic public services, the state will promote cultural development at the grassroots, increase total supply, optimize the supply structure, and direct more high-quality cultural resources to rural areas, old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, and border areas, so as to narrow the gap in public cultural services between urban and rural areas and between different regions. Radio and TV projects in the public interest will be carried out, and the network of rural cultural infrastructure will be improved.
– Promoting the application of digital technology in the cultural sector. The state will coordinate major projects in digitizing public cultural services, such as a national smart library system and a public culture cloud platform.
– Upgrading reading services. Community libraries will be promoted, the allocation of reading resources at the grassroots will be optimized, the reading environment in public places and reading accommodations for the dyslexic will be improved, and rural libraries will be digitalized. Efforts will be made to increase the number of people who read online and paper books, newspapers, periodicals and other publications to 83 percent of the total population.
– Establishing a system to carry forward fine traditional Chinese culture. More efforts will be made to record and conserve the knowledge and skills of the bearers of the intangible cultural heritage items on the national representative list, and to advance the research and training program for the bearers. As the project to collate Chinese classics and records proceeds, 300 Chinese classic titles will be compiled and published. The national digitization project of ancient books will also be implemented.
– Strengthening systematic protection of cultural heritage. Protection and development of key cultural and natural heritage sites, major ruins, key cultural relics sites, and historic and cultural cities, towns and villages will be strengthened, as will the support to non-state-owned museums. The Yin Ruins in Anyang and other historic sites will come under more stringent protection, and national archaeological parks will be built there as appropriate. There will be a program to build 20 archaeological specimen repositories in key areas, 30 state cultural preservation areas, and 20 state intangible cultural heritage museums. The protection list of traditional villages at all levels will be expanded.
– Building state cultural parks. Major cultural resources along the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, the Long March routes and the Yellow River will be integrated, and cultural relics and intangible heritage will be preserved and passed on in their true and complete form as important symbols of Chinese culture.
– Promoting emerging cultural industries. Innovation will be encouraged in the forms of cultural operations, and greater efforts will be made to boost creative culture. Positive and healthy cyber culture will be developed to promote robust and orderly growth of online art and literature.
II. Civil and Political Rights
China will work to expand the space for citizens’ independent participation and free development, to improve systems for protecting personal rights, personal information rights, property rights and right to freedom of religious belief, to strengthen legal protection for human rights, to better protect people’s rights to vote and stand for election, to be informed, to participate, to be heard, and to exercise public scrutiny, and to respect and guarantee citizens’ civil and political rights.
1. Right to Life
China protects the life and dignity of citizens against illegal infringements under all conditions, normal or emergency.
– Strengthening overall capacity in guaranteeing public security. China will improve and better implement the responsibility system for workplace safety, strengthen supervision and law enforcement in this field, and effectively curb major and serious accidents. The aim is to enhance workplace safety and prevent and control biosafety risks.
– Improving guarantees for the right to life in emergencies. China will revise the Emergency Response Law, and put in place a comprehensive, procedure-based, and effective legal system for disaster management. Efforts will be made to improve the emergency aid system, the standards of natural disaster prevention projects, and the system for guaranteeing emergency supplies, so as to ensure a higher level of disaster response and a greater capacity for guaranteeing essential supplies.
– Strictly controlling and prudently applying the death penalty. China will enforce more rigorous procedures for reviewing capital sentences with standardized procedures for supervising this review, and implement a more stringent mechanism for reporting and reviewing death penalty cases. The application of laws, procedures and rules for capital sentences will be specified further to ensure the death penalty is only applicable to very few criminals guilty of very serious crimes.
2. Personal Rights
China fully respects and protects citizens’ personal rights in legislation, law enforcement, and judicature, punishing crimes while protecting human rights in accordance with the law.
– Protecting the right to dignity. China will implement the principle of injuncting any (imminent) infringement of the right to dignity, and provide relevant guidance or judicial interpretations, so that citizens’ right to dignity is protected in a timely and effective manner.
– Punishing soft violence, a form of crime. It is forbidden in China to infringe upon personal rights by acts of soft violence such as stalking, harassing, and gathering a crowd to create pressure.
– Strictly prohibiting illegal detention. Those who repeatedly engage in organized short-term detention of others will be convicted of and penalized for the crime of illegal detention. More efforts will be made to investigate and punish civil servants who violate citizens’ personal rights, by abusing their powers to engage in actions such as illegal detention.
– Reducing the rate of pretrial detention. China implements a system to categorize criminal suspects based on the threat they pose to society. Those who pose no threat to society and those who present a level of risk that is preventable by non-detention measures will not be arrested. The state will improve the mechanism for reviewing the necessity of detention, promote substantive review over the extension of the detention period, and regulate and improve supervision of non-detention measures such as release on bail pending trial.
– Strictly prohibiting extracting confession by torture. It is strictly forbidden in China to extract confession by torture, or collect evidence by threat, inducement, deception and other illegal means, or coerce anyone into proving their guilt. A mechanism is in place to ensure the whole process of all law enforcement activities is recorded by different means, and all records are under closed-loop management.
– Improving the supervision mechanism. China will strengthen supervision of criminal case filing and investigation activities, and of compulsory measures for deprivation or restriction of personal freedom. It will improve the supervision mechanism of the execution of criminal sentences.
– Protecting the lawful rights of detainees and criminals. Regulations on detention house management will be improved to better protect detainees’ rights. Corporal punishment, torture, abuse and beating of criminals or connivance in beatings by a third party are strictly banned. Prisoners who abuse other inmates are severely punished. Medical and health care facilities and teams in prisons will be improved, to better protect the lives and health of detainees.
– Enforcing the Community Correction Law. China safeguards the legitimate rights and interests of minor offenders under community correction orders. Social forces will be mobilized to strengthen education and assistance for these people.
– Safeguarding the legitimate rights of people on drug rehabilitation. China will implement the Narcotics Control Law and the Regulations on Drug Rehabilitation. It will refine the mechanism for the rehabilitation of drug addicts, which may consist of voluntary rehab, community-based rehab, mandatory rehab in isolation and/or community-based recovery, and it will strengthen the system of education, rehabilitation and treatment. It will also improve correction through education, medical treatment, sanitation, and safety management.
3. Individuals’ Information Rights and Interests
China will strengthen protection of personal information by improving relevant laws and regulations, supervision, law enforcement, and educational campaigns. In addition, it will work hard to ensure internet and data security.
– Improving the legal system for protecting personal information. China will introduce a law on protecting personal information. It will define the principles and improve the rules of personal information processing, set strict limits on processing of sensitive personal information, clarify the rights of individuals in such activities, strengthen the compliance management obligations of personal information processors, and define strict legal responsibilities. It will create and issue supporting regulations, standards and judicial interpretations for protecting personal information.
– Supervision, law enforcement and awareness raising of personal information protection. China will strengthen supervision and law enforcement of personal information protection by launching targeted actions to investigate and punish illegal collection and use of personal information, by establishing a system for reporting personal information infringements, and by building a strong contingent of law enforcement personnel and improving their work efficiency. Publicity and education campaigns to enhance legal awareness of personal information protection will be launched in different forms and through different media channels, including the National Cyber Security Publicity Week, newspapers, radio, television, and new online media.
– Safeguarding cyber and data security. China will intensify efforts to implement the Cyber Security Law, the Data Security Law, and other laws, related institutions, and measures for ensuring cyber and data security. Measures will be taken to protect networks from interference, destruction or unauthorized access, and prevent network data leakage, theft and tampering. Security risk monitoring of networks and data will be strengthened; security incidents are to be handled promptly; robust action will be taken against illegal and criminal activities such as theft of network data and illegal trading of personal information. All these will effectively secure network data and personal information.
4. Freedom of Religious Belief
China will continue to follow policies on freedom of religious belief, and protect citizens’ freedom of religious belief in accordance with the law. It promotes harmonious religious relations, manages religious affairs in accordance with the law, and supports all religions in upholding the principle of independence and self-management. These efforts will help to guide religions to adapt to socialist society, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of religious practitioners and believers.
– Implementing policies on freedom of religious belief. China will improve systems for religious affairs management, and create and release more supporting rules for the Regulations on Religious Affairs to regulate government management of religious affairs by law and protect the legitimate rights and interests of religious practitioners and believers.
More education campaigns will be carried out to improve legal awareness of religious practitioners and believers, protect their legitimate rights and interests, and guide them to keep their activities within the scope prescribed by law.
Venues for religious activities must be registered under their legal persons to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of such venues. More support will be given to religious organizations in running religious schools, so as to improve the system for cultivating religious professionals.
– Safeguarding and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of religious circles. China safeguards the legal rights and interests of the Buddhist and Taoist circles, supporting their efforts to heighten their commitment, build on their cultures and maintain a clean and sacrosanct atmosphere at their venues.
China protects the legitimate rights and interests of Muslims, supporting the China Islamic Association in organizing Muslims to travel to Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage.
It supports and protects Christian denominations in their efforts to adapt Christian theology to the Chinese context and communicate it to the believers.
It supports and encourages all religions to carry out charitable activities in accordance with laws and regulations.
– Carrying out international exchanges in the field of religion. China supports and encourages all religions to conduct international exchanges on the basis of independence, equality, friendship, and mutual respect, and to establish, develop, and consolidate friendly relations with overseas religious circles.
– Resisting religious extremism. China opposes extremist religious thought, and helps to protect religious believers from such thought. It punishes those engaging in illegal and criminal acts such as violent terrorist and ethnic separatist activities in the name of religion in accordance with the law.
5. Rights to Vote and to Stand for Election
The state protects the rights to vote and to stand for election as prescribed by law. The National People’s Congress (NPC) and local people’s congresses at all levels are created through the combination of direct and indirect elections.
– Organizing elections of the people’s congresses at five levels. In implementing the Electoral Law, the state will mobilize over 1 billion constituents to the greatest extent possible, to cast votes for more than 2 million deputies to the people’s congresses at county and township levels. These deputies then elect deputies to the people’s congresses at city/prefectural, provincial and national levels.
– Increasing grassroots representation in the people’s congresses at all levels. The electoral system ensures that each people’s congress has a certain proportion of deputies representing workers, farmers, and professional groups. In accordance with the Electoral Law amended in 2020, the numbers of deputies to the people’s congresses at county and township levels will be revised, with an emphasis on increasing grassroots representation.
– Ensuring the migrant population’s rights to vote and to stand for election. The state will facilitate their participation in elections, and allow more migrant workers, especially those with residence permits in their current location to vote and stand for election locally.
6. Rights to Be Informed and to Participate
In protecting the rights to be informed and to participate, the state guarantees legitimate access to government information for citizens, legal persons and other organizations, and ensures that people participate, in accordance with the law and in various ways and forms, in the management of state, economic, cultural, and social affairs.
– Standardizing and regulating government transparency at the grassroots level. The state is building a unified nationwide system of standards for grassroots government transparency, and promotes transparency in decision-making, enforcement, administration, services, and work results. The state will make information more accessible throughout society, and make additional efforts to ensure online access to government information and public services for the elderly and people with disabilities.
– Improving information transparency in public emergencies. The state will improve mechanisms for reporting public security incidents, major epidemics, natural disasters, and serious accidents to provide accurate information and respond to public concerns in a timely manner.
– Increasing judicial transparency. The state will refine the mechanisms and processes for making court and prosecution proceedings more transparent, and adjust them as required. Prosecuting organs at all levels have public spokespersons in place. They will implement and improve the systems for holding regular press conferences and for publishing information on major cases.
– Optimizing public participation in legislation and oversight. The state will improve the mechanisms for public participation in making laws, regulations and rules, in formulating national plans for economic and social development, and in other major decision-making processes. In soliciting public opinions on draft laws, the NPC will improve the feedback mechanism. The Legislative Affairs Commission and the Budgetary Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee will continue to solicit public views and suggestions regarding their work through their grassroots offices.
– Advancing extensive, multilevel, and institutionalized development of consultative democracy. The state takes a coordinated approach to promoting consultation carried out by political parties, people’s congresses, government departments, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) committees, people’s organizations, communities, and social organizations. The CPPCC is expanding consultative democracy in an all-round way through biweekly consultative forums, consultations on the handling of proposals, online deliberation of state affairs, remote consultations, and consultations with relevant Party and government departments and specific social sectors. The state will further institutionalize grassroots consultation and broaden the channels for public participation in community-level governance.
– Enhancing the system for community-level self-governance. The state will improve the institutions, standards, and procedures of direct democracy at the grassroots level, and encourage urban and rural communities to draw up their own rules and regulations on self-governance. The state will step up efforts to implement the system for making community affairs more transparent.
– Improving democratic management of enterprises and public institutions. The state will continue to provide open access to the affairs of enterprises and public institutions and improve procedures for democracy. In doing so it guarantees the rights of employees to be informed, to participate, to be heard and to exercise public scrutiny, and facilitate their effective participation in the democratic management of their enterprises and institutions. The role of employee congresses will be reinforced to support policies concerning welfare and social security for employees. When formulating, revising or determining rules, regulations or major programs concerning the immediate interests of employees, enterprises must bring the issues to employee congresses for deliberation and keep the employees informed.
– Encouraging nongovernmental actors to participate in social governance. The state gives full play to the role of people’s organizations and social organizations in the governance of society. It supports and properly regulates the channels for market entities, new social groups, social workers, and volunteers to participate in social governance.
7. Rights to Be Heard and to Exercise Public Scrutiny
The state protects citizens’ rights to be heard and to exercise public scrutiny in accordance with the law, providing them with diverse and convenient channels to express their views, and strengthening the role of the public in the national system for supervising the exercise of power.
– Enabling and regulating online expression of views. The state will make full use of the internet in accordance with the law to facilitate citizens’ expression of concerns, complaints and suggestions, and employ big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other technologies to collect and respond to public opinion and proposals in a timely manner.
– Better addressing public complaints. The state will improve the system for handling people’s complaints, and take prompt action to address their legitimate concerns in situ in accordance with the law. Greater efforts will be made to separate litigation from complaints, and establish a legal framework for managing complaints. To understand the people’s needs and concerns and pool their wisdom and strength, the state will build a platform for collecting public opinion and improve the system for soliciting public proposals.
Online channels for receiving complaints will be improved, and public complaint information systems will be connected nationwide to strengthen information-sharing among the government departments concerned. The state will improve the long-term mechanism for solving prominent problems in handling public complaints and implement accountability, to strengthen the protection of citizens’ statutory rights.
– Strengthening supervision by the people’s congresses. The NPC and its Standing Committee will work harder to ensure the application of the Constitution, improve procedures and mechanisms for interpreting the Constitution, and reinforce constitutionality reviews. A system for advance review and consultation concerning constitutional issues will be established, and the system for recording and reviewing normative documents will be improved.
– Increasing supervision over the exercise of administrative power. An administrative procedure law will be drafted, and the Law on Administrative Review will be amended, to intensify supervision over the exercise of administrative power and rectify administrative malpractices. The state protects the rights of citizens and social organizations to supervise administrative bodies by requesting administrative review and initiating administrative litigation.
– Improving public scrutiny. The state encourages media and citizens to exercise supervision through news reports and public opinion, and improves the system of people’s supervisors. Relevant laws will be elaborated to better protect people who file reports or accusations of wrongdoing, and to make clear the legal consequences of retaliation against them.
– Enhancing grassroots supervision. Village supervision committees will be strengthened to ensure greater transparency, equity and justice in village affairs, and to protect the lawful rights and interests of villagers and village collectives. The introduction of a list of powers for village work will help to install a system for overseeing the exercise of power at village level, and to form a complete, thorough and coordinated supervision network involving the villagers, village affairs supervision committees, Party organizations at the next level up, accounting and auditing bodies, and other relevant authorities.
8. Right to a Fair Trial
The state will enforce full judicial accountability, modernize China’s judicial system and capacity, and guarantee the right to a fair trial, so that equity and justice are served in every judicial case.
– Enforcing full judicial accountability. The state is committed to ensuring that the people’s courts exercise adjudicative power independently and impartially in accordance with the law, and is working to improve the mechanisms for guaranteeing the fulfillment of statutory judicial duties and enforcing accountability for unlawful judgment. To strengthen legal oversight by prosecuting bodies, the state is also building a mechanism for the impartial and efficient exercise of prosecuting powers and a mechanism for the fair determination of judicial liabilities and ensuing punishments.
– Reforming and improving checks and oversight of judicial and law enforcement activities. Public security agencies will further reform the case filing system, and ensure accountability in law enforcement. The prosecuting bodies will increase oversight of the filing, investigation and prosecution of criminal cases.
– Advancing reform to establish a criminal procedure system with a focus on court proceedings. The rights of all parties involved are protected. The mandatory procedures of pretrial hearings, exclusion of illegally obtained evidence, and court investigation will be strictly implemented, to ensure that court trials play the decisive role in judicial decisions. Measures for protecting witnesses, authenticators, victims, and those who report offences will be improved. Leniency will be better applied to those who confess their crimes and submit to punishment in criminal proceedings.
– Reinforcing protection of lawyers’ right to practice. Legal defense will be provided in all criminal cases, and defense lawyers’ lawful rights are protected. Measures will be taken to better facilitate meetings between lawyers and detainees at detention houses, including providing more meeting rooms, and improving the meeting appointment mechanism.
– Enhancing and regulating legal aid. A new law on legal aid is being formulated. Citizens in financial difficulties and others eligible for legal aid will be provided with legal advice, legal representation, criminal defense, and duty counsel services for free. Provisions on legal aid prescribed in the Criminal Procedure Law and related regulations will be better applied to raise the availability and effectiveness of legal aid in criminal cases.
– Improving the system of people’s jurors. The state will strengthen implementation of the Law on People’s Jurors and the new mechanism for selecting and appointing people’s jurors. The management of people’s jurors will be improved to guarantee their participation in trials and increase their capacity to perform their functions. The scope of cases for their participation will be better defined.
– Strengthening litigation services. The goal is to make litigation services universally available, equally accessible, convenient, efficient, smart and targeted. Processes for filing, court proceedings, settlement, and enforcement of rulings will be expedited for cases concerning vulnerable groups or infringements of citizens’ fundamental rights and interests.
– Developing smart litigation services. To make litigation easier for the public, intelligent software will be developed to provide citizens with litigation risk assessment, advice on pretrial mediation, information searching and counseling, and access to online judicial services.
– Optimizing public-interest litigation. The scope of public-interest cases will be expanded. A punitive compensation system will be introduced into public-interest civil litigation concerning the eco-environment and food and drug safety.
– Improving the state compensation and judicial assistance systems. Greater efforts will be made to handle cases involving state compensation, and to protect the lawful rights and interests of applicants for state compensation. A mechanism will be established to enhance judicial assistance and better coordinate it with social assistance.
III. Environmental Rights
China will implement a strategy of sustainable development, follow the general principle of reducing pollution and carbon emission, and promote green development. It will build a system to secure eco-environmental progress, improve the legal system for environmental protection, and accelerate green and low-carbon development. It will improve the environment, constantly meet people’s increasing demands for a beautiful environment, and ensure harmony between man and nature.
1. Pollution Prevention and Control
China will fight and win the battle against pollution and continuously improve the eco-environment.
– Improving air quality. The state will take further actions to prevent and control atmospheric pollution, and coordinate its commitments to reducing air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. It will keep improving air quality across the country and largely eliminate heavy pollution. Specific targets include: the average PM2.5 intensity in cities at or above the prefectural level to fall by 10 percent; the total emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds both to drop by more than 10 percent.
– Strengthening water treatment and protection. China will continue the environmental protection campaign to treat black and malodorous water bodies in cities and largely eliminate such phenomena in urban built-up areas. More efforts will be made to treat sewage in cities, towns and industrial parks and designate township-level concentrated drinking water source protection areas. The state will carry out comprehensive environmental improvement projects in key waters and preserve and enhance beautiful bays.
– Intensifying soil conservation. China will consolidate and improve the safe use of agricultural land, reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and treat the pollution caused by agricultural plastic film. Departments taking major responsibility for supervision will be urged to fulfill their obligations in soil pollution prevention and control.
– Improving the treatment of sewage and solid waste. China will achieve full coverage of sewage pipe networks in urban areas, and ensure that treatment to render sewage sludge harmless reaches 90 percent and that the rate of utilizing municipal sewage as a resource exceeds 25 percent in water-constrained cities at the prefectural level and above. Centralized hazardous waste reuse and disposal facilities will be built with major industrial bases as the main locations. Efforts will be made to speed up the construction of centralized medical waste disposal facilities in cities at the prefectural level and above, and improve the collection, transport and disposal system for medical waste in every county.
– Improving garbage disposal in urban and rural areas. A basic system for dropping, collecting, transporting and disposing of sorted household garbage will be established in cities at the prefectural level and above. The national urban household garbage recycling rate will exceed 35 percent. Rural household garbage disposal will be advanced comprehensively, to realize extensive coverage of the waste collection, transport and disposal systems.
– Improving law-based environmental governance. China will improve its eco-environmental legal system. It will formulate and revise laws and regulations on Yellow River harnessing, noise pollution prevention and control, marine environmental protection, carbon emission trading management and eco-environmental monitoring. It will steadily push forward the formulation and revision of environmental standards, carry on the reform of comprehensive environmental law enforcement, and take resolute action against illegal and criminal activities in the eco-environmental field in accordance with the law.
2. Eco-Environmental Information Disclosure
China will make environmental information more transparent, and effectively guarantee people’s right to be informed.
– Strengthening government information release. Eco-environmental protection departments will disclose timely eco-environmental information to the public through government websites, press briefings, media and other means that are convenient for the public.
– Improving law-based disclosure of corporate information. The state will formulate regulatory measures for and promote the reform of law-based disclosure of environmental information, and clarify the responsibility for and content of mandatory disclosure. The forms of disclosure will be improved and major environmental information will be released in a timely manner. Relevant departments will standardize environmental information disclosure by listed companies and bond issuing enterprises in accordance with the law, strengthen the sector-specific management of mandatory environmental information disclosure, and establish a mechanism for sharing environmental information.
3. Public Participation in Environmental Decision-Making
China will formulate and enforce environmental impact evaluation law and implement the measures for public participation in environmental impact evaluation, to facilitate effective public participation in environmental decision-making.
– Encouraging public participation. The state encourages the public to participate in the environmental impact evaluation of special plans that may cause adverse environmental impact and directly affect the environmental rights of the public.
– Improving supervisory mechanism. Measures will be taken to support the integration of the 12369 hotline for reporting environmental problems and the 12345 service hotline across the country. Complaints and reports of environmental problems via the WeChat platform will be handled promptly to help resolve prominent environmental problems affecting the immediate interests of the public.
4. Public Interest Environmental Litigation and Eco-Environmental Damage Compensation
China will encourage and expand the scope of public interest environmental litigation, and improve the systems of public interest environmental litigation and compensation for eco-environmental damage.
– Improving the litigation system. China will explore the scope of preventative public interest environmental litigation, formulate rules on implementing environmental bans, and publicize exemplary cases of public interest environmental litigation.
– Improving damage compensation system. Provincial and prefectural governments, as the claimants of eco-environmental damages within their respective jurisdiction, will hold those who cause damage accountable in accordance with the law, restore the eco-environment, and safeguard ecological security of the nation.
5. Territorial Eco-Environmental Restoration and Protection
China will adopt a holistic approach to conserving mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands. It will make greater efforts to protect and restore ecosystems, enhance their self-restoring capacity and stability, and participate in shaping a shared future for all life on earth.
– Carrying out major projects for protecting and restoring key ecosystems. China will accelerate the building of ecosystem shields including the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ecosystem shields, the Yellow River and Yangtze River key ecosystem zones, the Northeast forest belt, the North China sand control belt, the South China hilly and mountainous belt, and coastal belts. It will strengthen the protection and improvement of wetlands in the basins of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and major lakes. The protection rate of wetlands will reach 55 percent. China will promote the rehabilitation of grassland, forests, rivers and lakes, and improve the systems of crop rotation and fallowing. It will build an interconnected national-local platform for evaluating such projects and monitoring eco-environmental conditions.
– Building a system of nature reserves. The government will rigorously control destructive activities within nature reserves. It will advance the building of national parks including Sanjiangyuan (source of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers) and parks for protecting Northeast China tigers and leopards, great pandas and Hainan rain forests. Qinling Mountains, the Yellow River Estuary and other national parks will be established through reorganization.
– Carrying out major projects of biodiversity protection. China will build gene banks and rescue and breeding centers for rare and endangered wild animal and plant species, and set up special programs to save 48 critically endangered wild animal species and 50 plant species with extremely small populations.
6. Response to Climate Change
China will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and increase its adaptability to climate change. It will actively participate in global climate governance and realize sustainable development.
– Peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality. To achieve the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) on climate change, China will formulate a document on the guiding principles for reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality by fully applying the new development philosophy, and an action plan for peaking its carbon emissions before 2030, to form a policy system for achieving these goals in various regions, sectors and industries. It will improve the double control system over total energy consumption and energy intensity, with controlling fossil energy consumption as one of the main thrusts. A system will be implemented with carbon intensity control as the main target and total carbon emissions control as the secondary target. Localities with requisite conditions and key sectors and enterprises will be supported to peak carbon emissions first. China will raise the capacity of ecosystems to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. It will strengthen territorial planning and land use regulation, ensure that forests, grasslands, wetlands, seas, soil and frozen ground play an effective role as carbon sinks, and boost the carbon absorption increments of ecosystems. Comprehensive scientific investigation and research of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau will be intensified.
– Increasing adaptability to climate change. The state will formulate and implement the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2035, better monitor and assess the impact of global climate change on vulnerable regions in the country, and improve the climate adaptability of urban and rural development, agricultural production and infrastructure.
– Strengthening international cooperation. China will maintain its commitment to the principles of equity, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, and constructively lead and participate in international cooperation on climate change. It will press ahead with the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, and actively carry out South-South cooperation on climate change.
IV. Protecting the Rights of Particular Groups
China will continue to ensure equal rights for ethnic minority groups, women, children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and other disadvantaged groups and improve special protection for them. It will introduce a mechanism to this end, for both everyday work and special occasions, to provide for the well-rounded development of all.
1. Rights of Ethnic Minority Groups
Upholding and improving regional ethnic autonomy, the government supports ethnic minority areas in their endeavors to pursue faster development, and protects the legitimate rights and interests of ethnic minority groups, with the goal of heightening the sense of identity of the Chinese nation.
– Governing ethnic affairs by law. China fully enforces the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy. It will improve laws and regulations related to ethnic minorities and their affairs, and ensure citizens from all ethnic groups are equal before the law. China opposes any form of ethnic discrimination.
– Protecting the right to participate as equals in administering state and social affairs. All ethnic groups have a certain proportion of deputies to the NPC. In areas with large ethnic minority populations, all ethnic minority groups are guaranteed to have deputies to local people’s congresses. All 55 ethnic minority groups have deputies to the NPC, and those with very small populations have at least one deputy. More efforts will be made to train and select ethnic minority officials.
– Protecting the right to economic development. The state will improve differentiated policies for supporting and helping ethnic minority areas to pursue faster growth, and make greater efforts to help border areas and their residents to achieve prosperity, so that people of all ethnic groups enjoy better lives.
– Protecting the right to education. The state will improve the quality of education and promote standard spoken and written Chinese in ethnic minority areas. Preschool education will be accessible for more residents in these areas, compulsory education will develop more evenly, and paired-up assistance in education will be carried out more effectively, to cultivate talent of all kinds and at all levels.
– Protecting the right to learn, use and develop their own spoken and written languages. The state protects by law the legitimate use of the spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities in the areas of administration and judicature, press and publishing, radio, film and television, and culture and education. It will step up protection of the spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities.
– Protecting cultural rights. The state will further promote the continuation, protection, improvement, and integration of ethnic cultures, and bring better public cultural services to ethnic minority areas. Traditional ethnic minority cultures will be better protected and passed on. Greater efforts will be made in preserving, rescuing, cataloguing, publishing and studying ancient books of ethnic minorities, which will also be stored in digital forms. China will hold the sixth National Ethnic Minority Variety Performance. More domestically made TV series will be made available free of charge for dubbing into ethnic minority languages.
2. Women’s Rights
China will continue to implement the basic national policy of gender equality, and enforce the Outline for the Development of Women in China (2021-2030). It will improve the environment for women’s development, facilitate their exercise of rights prescribed by law as equal citizens, increase their participation in socioeconomic development, and ensure their share of development benefits.
– Promoting women’s participation as equals in administering state and social affairs. China ensures women’s equal political rights, and encourages their participation in social affairs and democratic management. The proportion of women will be increased gradually in people’s congresses and people’s political consultative conferences at all levels. China will train and select more women officials, and in particular increase the number of women on village/community committees steadily. Women will be encouraged to participate extensively in consultation and deliberation on grassroots affairs.
– Improving the legal framework for protecting women’s rights and interests. China will revise the Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests. The prosecuting bodies will introduce public interest litigation in some areas on a trial basis. They can make procuratorial suggestions or initiate public interest lawsuits regarding acts that degrade or undermine women’s dignity via mass media or other means, acts that infringe upon women’s property rights, acts that discriminate against women in employment, failure to perform the duties to prevent and stop domestic violence, and other acts that undermine the legitimate rights and interests of a number of unspecified women and harm the public interest.
– Protecting women’s personal rights. China advocates a family culture underpinned by gender equality and sharing of responsibilities. The state prohibits and acts to prevent all forms of domestic violence against women. It issues personal protection orders and admonitions against domestic violence by law, and effectively prevents and combats sexual assaults on and trafficking of women. It will increase public awareness against sexual harassment, take effective measures to curb sexual harassment directed at women, and protect women from cybercrimes.
– Protecting women’s property rights. The state protects women’s property and inheritance rights, and the rights to know about and dispose of community property on an equal basis in the family. Rural women are guaranteed equal rights to land contract and management, to the use of rural residential land, and other real estate, and to a share in the collective income of their villages and compensation for land expropriation and resettlement.
– Protecting women’s equal right to education. The state protects women’s equal right to compulsory education, senior-high education, and higher learning in accordance with the law. More support will be given to cultivating women technicians and scientists, and to lifelong learning for women.
– Protecting women’s equal right to employment. Gender discrimination in employment will be eliminated. When recruiting, employers cannot select from male candidates only or make any preference of male candidates over female candidates, unless otherwise specified by the state. Gender discrimination in employment will come under the supervision of labor security. Those suspected of gender discrimination in employment will receive admonitions and warnings from relevant state departments.
– Promoting gender equality in the workplace. Employers will formulate mechanisms that ensure gender equality in terms of employment, salary, career development and maternity protection, and mechanisms that help employees, women in particular, balance work and family responsibilities, prevent and stop workplace sexual harassment, and ultimately, make the workplace family-friendly.
– Alleviating women’s burden of childrearing. Public-interest childcare services will be developed. Support will be given to developing private childcare services and community facilities in 150 cities. More resources will be channeled to rural areas as well as urban areas with large population inflows, and measures will be taken to increase access to public-interest preschool education. After-class services will be strengthened at elementary and secondary schools, and parental leave will be provided on a trial basis, so as to alleviate the burden of bearing, raising and educating children.
– Protecting women’s access to health services. Efforts will be strengthened to prevent and treat common diseases in women, and the prevention and control mechanism for cervical and breast cancer and the policies for helping victims in need will be improved. Pilot programs will be initiated to provide targeted health services for women in adolescence, pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, and old age, so that their health needs are covered throughout their life cycle. The five mechanisms for maternal and infant safety[1] will be consolidated to ensure a steady decline in maternal and perinatal mortality rate. More rooms for nursing mothers and family restrooms will be built.
– Supporting women in need. Governments at all levels and relevant departments shall take necessary measures to ensure the rights of low-income or seriously ill women, those with disabilities, those left behind by their migrant worker partners, single mothers and other women in need, and provide them with necessary assistance and services.
3. Children’s Rights
The state prioritizes children’s protection. By carrying out the Program for the Development of Children in China (2021-2030), it is committed to ensuring children’s rights to survival, development, protection and participation, narrowing the gap in children’s development between urban and rural areas, and among different parts of the country and communities, and promoting the healthy and well-rounded development of children.
– Protecting minors’ right to dignity. Faculties and staff of schools and kindergartens should respect minors’ dignity. They must not use corporal punishment in any form against minors or degrade their dignity in any other way. Beatings, corporal punishment, maltreatment and all other forms of domestic violence against children are prohibited. No organization or individual may degrade, defame, threaten or maliciously damage the image of minors in the forms of text, picture, audio and video through the internet. Minors’ privacy and personal information are protected. News media should report on events involving minors in an objective, prudent and befitting manner, and must not infringe on the reputation, privacy and other lawful rights of minors.
– Protecting children’s rights to be informed and participate. Reasonable suggestions from children should be heard and adopted. Before making decisions concerning the rights and interests of minors, the parents or other guardians of minors should hear what they think and consider their wishes fully, with due consideration to their age and mentality.
– Improving the protection of children’s right to health. Measures will be taken to improve children’s health services, prevent and control childhood illnesses, and reduce the incidences of child mortality and severe birth defects. Children should be guided to eat healthy, balanced meals. Effective measures will be taken to control obesity and myopia among children, and nutritional improvement programs will be launched for preschoolers. Children should follow suitable daily schedules, and be exposed to natural sunlight and exercise with moderate or greater intensity for at least one hour a day. Mental health education and services for children will be strengthened, and there will be teachers to provide such education and services in all elementary and secondary schools.
– Protecting the rights of children with disabilities. The mechanism for screening, diagnosing and treating children with disabilities and for their rehabilitation will be improved, and a system of reporting and sharing information on disabilities will be established. The state will build designated rehabilitation centers for disabled children, aiming to provide universal access to basic rehabilitation services for such children. The state will ensure that no school-age disabled child who has the ability to learn is out of school. More efforts will be invested in training teachers and pooling resources for special education.
– Caring for children in need. Children in need under different categories will be provided with more targeted care. The mechanisms for supporting orphans and de facto orphans will be improved. The state supports the development of children’s welfare institutions, and helps them to provide better foster care, education and health services for orphans and abandoned children. Orphans and unattended children will receive allowances on par with the average local living standards or higher. Left-behind children in rural areas will receive better care and protection. Street patrols will be carried out to ensure that homeless children are cared for, identified and escorted back home in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
– Strengthening the protection of minors by law. In accordance with the revised Law on the Protection of Minors and the Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, the state will improve the protection of minors at home, at school, in society, on the internet, and in the administrative and judiciary systems. It will take strong measures to fight crimes against minors, prevent juvenile delinquency, and control the juvenile crime rate at a lower level in global comparison. The legal framework for affairs relating to minors will be improved. A one-stop mechanism for collecting evidence for cases involving underage victims will be adopted nationwide to better protect the victims’ rights to reputation, privacy and other lawful rights and interests. The legal aid system for underage victims in criminal cases will be improved.
– Prohibiting the use of child labor. No organization or individual shall recruit or employ minors under the age of 16. No entity or individual shall provide job placement services to minors under the age of 16. Minors under the age of 16 are prohibited from opening businesses. The use of child labor is illegal and will be investigated and punished.
– Preventing and punishing sex crimes against minors by law. Education on preventing sexual abuse for minors will be strengthened, with efforts to increase awareness and ability of families, schools and communities to identify, prevent and report sexual abuse. Mandatory reporting of sexual abuse against minors will be implemented more effectively. A national database with information on criminals guilty of sexual assault, abuse, human trafficking, and violence will be established, and the mechanisms for background checks will be improved to prevent people with such criminal records from engaging in certain occupations. Pilot programs will be launched to release information on criminals committing sexual offences against minors. Provision of proof of no criminal record will be strictly required of foreigners seeking teaching positions in China.
– Preventing and controlling violence against children. China upholds zero tolerance for violence against children. The responsibility for protecting children lies with the state, society, schools, and families. The mechanisms for identifying, reporting and intervening in violence against children will be better executed. Institutions and individuals that work with minors have a mandatory responsibility to report any misbehavior or crime against minors. Members of the public are encouraged to dissuade, stop, and report incidents of violence against children. Crimes involving violence against children will be severely punished by law. The emergency response, medical assistance and rehabilitation services for children harmed in accidents or by violence will be improved.
– Preventing juvenile delinquency. Emphasizing both education and protection, the state gives priority to the prevention, early intervention and correction of misbehavior and serious misconduct of minors, adopting different measures for delinquencies of different severity. Guidance will be given to parents or other guardians of minors on increasing legal literacy of minors to motivate them to abide by the law. The layered system for intervention in juvenile delinquency will be better implemented. Those exploiting minors through coercion, instigation, inducement and deception for organized crimes will be severely punished by law.
– Improving the guardianship system for minors. Parents or other guardians of minors will be constantly reminded of their duties of upbringing, educating and protecting their children under 18. The act of entrusting minors to other people by their parents or other guardians will be regulated by law. Village and urban community committees will take more responsibility for supervising parents or other guardians of minors in performing their duties. The head of the children’s affairs section of community committees must identify, verify and report potential risks in minors’ guardianship or cases where minors are abused by their guardians. Minors falling under relevant legal provisions shall be placed in the care of civil affairs departments at or above the county level on behalf of the state, to ensure that unattended minors receive temporary care in a timely manner during emergencies.
4. Rights of the Elderly
The state will improve its protection of the rights and interests of the elderly, and ensure care, support, recreation, and self-fulfillment for them.
– Improving welfare for the elderly. The state will gradually develop basic eldercare services and improve welfare for the elderly. It will increase support for very poor elderly people who are partially or totally incapacitated. It will also build up the subsidy system for incapacitated seniors in financial distress, and the system of home visits for elderly people who live alone in rural areas, gradually realizing elderly care for all.
– Improving eldercare services. An eldercare services network and a health support network will be formed to include home care, community-based care and institutional care for the elderly, covering both medical and health care services. Cities will be encouraged to build eldercare facilities that also provide medical services, by leveraging medical and health resources at the community level. More beds (55 percent and above) in eldercare institutions in urban and rural areas will be provided to care for incapacitated elderly and people with dementia at an advanced age. A demonstration program will be rolled out in 500 districts and counties for chain operation and standardized management of community services for home-based eldercare that cover nursing services for incapacitated elderly people, day care, and assistance with meals, showering, cleaning, medical treatment, and travel. Eldercare facilities will be compulsory in new residential communities and newly developed urban areas in proportion to the population, and all such facilities must meet the required standard. Eldercare facilities will be made available in older urban districts and existing residential communities. Two million nursing attendants will be trained, and there will be at least one social worker for every thousand elderly people.
– Building elderly-friendly homes. The state will remodel the homes of families with elderly members who are either experiencing financial difficulties or are incapacitated or disabled, and will provide assistive appliances for rehabilitation and tracking gadgets for the safety of the elderly. Assistive appliances for rehabilitation will be more readily available for use in residential communities.
– Helping the elderly seek self-fulfillment. The state will continue to develop colleges for the elderly, increase the provision of elderly education resources, and create better conditions and provide more opportunities for the elderly to study and develop new skills.
– Providing convenience in public transport. Traffic lights, signs and markings will be improved, as well as pedestrian waiting areas and traffic islands, to ensure safety for the elderly and make public transport more convenient for them.
– Providing intelligent services for the elderly. Smart technologies will be employed to upgrade home care and community old-age facilities, and medical and rehabilitation facilities and institutions, to make them more convenient and accessible for the elderly. Big data, artificial intelligence, and 5G technology will be more widely applied in home care, food provision, health management, telemedicine, first aid services, transport, fire safety, and entertainment and recreation. Relevant government departments will provide guidance to basic telecommunication service providers to improve their person-to-person services at business outlets. Websites and mobile applications frequently used by the elderly population in daily life will also be urged to upgrade for their convenience, with increased supply of intelligent terminals tailored to their needs. The elderly will receive more help in using smart products and services.
– Strengthening legal protection of the rights and interests of the elderly. Disputes concerning property, elderly support and marriage involving the rights and interests of elderly people will be addressed by law in a timely manner. More measures will be taken to prevent and punish fraud, illegal fundraising and other crimes that severely undermine elderly people’s interests.
5. Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The state will facilitate equal participation and social integration for persons with disabilities, strengthen support for disabled persons in need and people with severe disabilities, and ensure that they share the fruits of social development.
– Ensuring the right to participate. The opinions of people with disabilities and their organizations shall be solicited for important legislation regarding their rights and interests. Disabled people and their organizations will have more channels to participate in democratic discussion and consultation, and their rights to information, participation, expression and supervision will be fully protected.
– Improving welfare for persons with disabilities. In implementing the policy of subsidizing the living expenses of disabled persons and the nursing costs of persons with severe disabilities, a mechanism to dynamically adjust the standards of the subsidies will be introduced across the country, and regions and cities with adequate resources will be encouraged to expand the coverage to benefit more people. Severely disabled people will have their premiums for basic old-age insurance paid by the government, among other measures. Eligible low-income rural households with disabled members are entitled to support from the government to renovate their dilapidated houses. Eligible urban families with disabled members have precedence in allocation of public rental housing.
– Raising quality of rehabilitation services. Disability prevention and rehabilitation services will be developed side by side. The state will strengthen rehabilitation and medical services for the disabled and provide assistance to children with disabilities for their rehabilitation. Targeted rehabilitation programs will be launched for persons with disabilities to ensure their basic services. The services and facilities for the rehabilitation of disabled persons will be improved, and communities will take more initiative in this area. A university for rehabilitation sciences will be built. Training will be organized for professionals providing such services. 100 mental health welfare facilities will be built in areas underequipped with such facilities, to care for poor people with mental disorders and help with their rehabilitation.
– Ensuring special education for those in need. The state will ensure that school-age children with disabilities stay in school for compulsory education. Special education will be developed in the preschool stage with more vigor, in senior-high schools with a focus on vocational education, and in institutions of higher learning step by step. Inclusive education will receive more support. Effective measures will be taken to promote education for children with autism. Standard sign language and Braille will be introduced across the country. In education, any form of discrimination against disabilities is prohibited.
– Promoting employment for the disabled. The state will continue to implement policies to support employment for the disabled in various forms and through multiple channels, helping them to find jobs and start businesses. Disabled persons who start their own businesses and companies employing disabled persons will receive more subsidies and continue to enjoy tax and fee reductions. Efforts will be made to establish the practice of job placement advisors to help the disabled find jobs, and more jobs suitable for the disabled will be created. Vocational training will be provided for 2 million persons with disabilities in urban and rural areas, and an additional 500,000 disabled persons will find jobs.
– Building an accessible environment. The state will formulate a set of rules for accessibility, and promote construction and upgrading to increase the accessibility of roads, public transport, residential communities, public service facilities, facilities for the disabled, and workplaces with larger numbers of disabled employees. The government will subsidize the remodeling of 1.1 million homes with severely disabled members to make residential communities more accessible. To speed up information accessibility, the state supports the R&D and manufacturing of easier-to-use terminals and products, and will upgrade traditional barrier-free facilities and equipment with digital and smart technologies. The study and teaching of sign language and Braille will receive more support, and more professionals will be trained in these disciplines. The state will accommodate the needs of people with disabilities to help them integrate and participate as equals.
– Supporting the R&D and manufacturing of smart assistive devices. Advanced smart technologies will be employed to improve existing assistive devices and develop new ones for the disabled in the design of architecture, facilities, means of transport, daily necessities, environment, plans, and services.
V. Education and Research on Human Rights
China will include human rights education in the national education curriculum, conduct human rights research, strengthen human rights training, and popularize understanding of human rights. The aim is to increase public awareness of the need to respect and protect human rights.
1. On-Campus Education
Diverse education programs on human rights will be carried out in schools of all types and at various levels.
– Strengthening human rights education during primary and secondary education. China will include human rights issues, such as cherishing life, pursuing equality, protecting privacy, and safeguarding the rights and interests of minors, in courses for primary and secondary education. In spreading such information, primary and secondary schools will adopt new teaching methods and innovative approaches to engage the students.
– Encouraging general education and training professionals on human rights during higher education. China will continue to encourage higher institutions to offer professional courses and general education on human rights, and compile relevant textbooks. China will improve the structure of disciplinary subjects on human rights, and set up training centers for human rights teachers in normal universities on a trial basis.
– Supporting the establishment of national human rights education and training bases. Three more bases will be added to the list, and pilot programs will be carried out to develop such bases into international education centers for human rights.
2. Specialized Research
Efforts will be made to improve human rights research based on China’s own experience and publish more and better research findings.
– Conducting human rights research. More support will be provided to higher institutions and research institutes for research on human rights theories, institutions and policies and for theoretical studies on human rights based on practical experience in China and elsewhere. China will continue to regularly publish the blue papers – Report on the Development of Human Rights in China.
– Establishing human rights institutions. The country will support the establishment of national human rights institutions within the systems of the academies of social sciences and the Party schools (academies of governance). Three new national research bases for human rights will be launched.
– Supporting human rights publications. China will lend greater support to human rights journals and encourage human rights researchers to publish more high-quality academic papers. Government programs, including the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC), will increase funding for the research on human rights theories and policies. Support will be provided for publishing monographs and essay collections on human rights research and for awarding outstanding research achievements.
– Organizing human rights forums. China will encourage efforts to organize diverse forums on human rights theories and policies to facilitate extensive academic exchanges in China and abroad.
3. Workplace Training
Human rights training will be organized in government departments, public institutions, and enterprises, to develop a workplace culture that respects and protects human rights.
– Intensifying human rights training for civil servants. Human rights training will be made a key component of civil service entry exams, orientation training, and pre-promotion training, and will be integrated into annual on-the-job training based on actual needs. China will prioritize human rights in legal education for state functionaries, compile and publish textbooks on human rights training, and explore ways to select outstanding agencies for human rights training.
– Providing human rights training for employees of public institutions and enterprises. China will encourage public institutions and enterprises to establish permanent mechanisms for human rights training, provide training on human rights issues to human resources staff, and create a workplace culture that respects and protects human rights. It will also strengthen human rights training in Chinese enterprises operating overseas, and explore ways to select model enterprises for human rights training.
4. Promotional Activities for the General Public
Diverse promotional activities will be carried out to foster a social atmosphere that respects and protects human rights.
– Spreading human rights awareness through diverse means. Themed exhibitions, lectures and other events will be organized at cultural venues such as museums, science and technology centers, libraries, and cultural centers. Newspaper, magazine, TV, radio, the Internet and other new media coverage will be applied to popularize awareness of human rights. The state supports websites including chinahumanrights.org in presenting human rights developments in China, and publishing relevant documents and data.
– Improving news release on human rights. China will hold more press conferences, briefings and press receptions on its human rights progress as well as international human rights flashpoints. It will publish more white papers and reports on human rights to release authoritative information in a timely manner. It will also publicize useful cases on judicial protection of human rights.
VI. Participating in Global Human
Rights GovernanceChina will fulfill its commitments to the international community with sincerity. It will engage in international human rights affairs, and lobby for and work toward a better global human rights governance system, so as to build a global community of shared future.
1. Fulfilling Obligations to International Human Rights Conventions
China will submit its performance reports to relevant human rights treaty bodies, engage in constructive dialogue with them, and adopt and implement suggestions that are reasonable and feasible in the Chinese context.
– Participating in the review by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of China's third report on implementing the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
– Completing its seventh report on implementing the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and submitting it to the UN Committee Against Torture for review.
– Completing its fifth and sixth combined report on implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and submitting it to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child for review.
– Completing its 18th-20th combined report on implementing the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and submitting it to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination for review.
– Participating in the review by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of its second and third combined report on implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
– Completing the ninth report on implementing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and submitting it to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women for review.
– Encouraging domestic social organizations to take an active part in preparing the review of China’s implementation of the human rights conventions it has joined, and supporting their efforts.
2. Engaging Substantially in the Work of UN Human Rights Bodies
China will engage substantially in the work of UN human rights bodies and play a leading and constructive role in maintaining the healthy and sustainable development of international human rights.
– Putting forward proposals and viewpoints in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and other multilateral human rights bodies. China advocates for attaching the same importance to economic, social and cultural rights as to civil and political rights, to function in an impartial, objective and non-selective manner, and to oppose the politicization of human rights issues. It will campaign for 2024-2026 UNHRC membership. Chinese social organizations will be encouraged to play an active role in the activities of UNHRC and other multilateral human rights mechanisms.
– Participating in the UNHRC’s human rights review. China will implement the proposals it accepted during the UNHRC’s third round Universal Periodic Review for China. It will participate actively in the fourth round review. It will encourage Chinese social organizations to take part in relevant work in the fourth round, and support their efforts to do so.
– Continuing to work for the reform of UN human rights treaty bodies. China will urge them to work within the mandate of relevant treaties in an objective, fair and independent manner.
3. Joining in Constructive Dialogue and Cooperation on Human Rights
China will continue to take part in international human rights exchanges and cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect, to promote understanding and build consensus on human rights.
– Expanding exchanges and cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). China will continue to cooperate with the Special Procedures of the UNHRC, answer their communications, and invite them to visit China, as appropriate. China will continue to recommend Chinese experts for applying special procedure posts.
– Pushing forward human rights dialogue and cooperation with other parties. To improve understanding and mutual learning, China will continue to hold dialogues on human rights with other countries on the basis of equality and mutual respect. It will increase consultation and cooperation on human rights with other developing countries and groups of developing countries, and provide technical assistance in the field of human rights at the request of other developing countries. It will continue to host the South-South Human Rights Forum, and participate in the Informal ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Seminar on Human Rights and other regional and sub-regional events on human rights. Based on the principles of seeking common ground while reserving differences, mutual respect, and mutual learning, China will engage in exchanges with political parties from other countries on human rights issues.
– Encouraging domestic social organizations to take an active part in international exchanges and cooperation in the field of human rights and supporting their efforts. China will continue to hold the Beijing Forum on Human Rights, the China-Europe Seminar on Human Rights, the Sino-American Dialogue on the Rule of Law and Human Rights, and the China-Germany Seminar on Human Rights, among others.
4. Contributing to the International Cause of Human Rights
China consistently advocates the common values of humanity: peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom. It will promote more just, fair, reasonable and inclusive international human rights governance, and work to build a global community of shared future.
– Implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in its full sense. China will continue to incorporate the agenda into its mid- and long-term plans, and ensure these are implemented. It will make a greater contribution to protecting and promoting the right to development by sharing experience, expanding cooperation, and assisting other developing nations to implement the agenda.
– Engaging actively in setting international agendas and creating rules in the field of human rights. China will help to improve global human rights governance, advocate a fair, just, reasonable and effective international human rights system, and contribute ideas and solutions to human rights development around the world.
– Continuing its assistance to other developing countries to improve their capacity for development. It will provide them with assistance and humanitarian relief. China plans to assist them through cooperative projects which will also improve their human rights. It will contribute to safeguarding world peace and development and protecting and promoting the right to development. It will increase its assistance to African countries – in particular to the least developed countries – and expand South-South cooperation to help reduce poverty, improve living conditions and promote common development.
– Working to build a global community of health for all. China will proactively respond to public health emergencies, and support the World Health Organization in its due role in global anti-epidemic cooperation. It will strengthen health cooperation (including traditional Chinese medicine) under the Belt and Road Initiative to build a “health silk road”. It will implement the China-Africa public health plan to handle the challenge of emerging infectious diseases, and help Africa to establish a prevention, control and relief system. It will set up cooperative mechanisms for Chinese hospitals to pair up with 30 African hospitals, and accelerate construction of the headquarters of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, in order to improve the continent’s capacity to control and prevent diseases.
– Promoting responsible business conduct in global supply chains. It will encourage Chinese businesses to abide by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in their foreign trade and investment, to conduct due diligence on human rights, and to fulfill their social responsibility to respect and promote human rights. It will participate and play a constructive role in negotiations on the UN business and human rights treaty.
VII. Implementation, Supervision
and AssessmentChina will ensure the implementation of the Action Plan in all fields and at different levels by improving its joint meeting mechanism, strengthening implementation and supervision, and completing the third-party assessment mechanism.
– Local governments at all levels and related central Party and government departments should attach great importance to the Action Plan, work out detailed measures for its implementation in accordance with their respective functions and regional conditions, and take pragmatic and effective action to guarantee the fulfillment of all its objectives and tasks.
– Under the joint meeting mechanism, China will conduct phased research, review, supervision and assessment, improve the third-party assessment mechanism, devise and set up a quantitative assessment index system, and release the assessment report in a timely fashion.
– The government will make the Action Plan a key component of human rights education, research, training and awareness raising campaigns, helping all Party and government officials to fully comprehend its importance and to conscientiously act on it.
– The state will encourage the news media to play an active role in covering, scrutinizing and assessing the implementation of the Action Plan.
[1] This refers to the mechanisms of pregnancy risk screening and evaluation, management of high-risk pregnancies and lying-in women, emergency treatment of critical and severe cases, maternal mortality case reporting, and admonition of underperforming health care providers.
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