PRC State Council, National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012-2015), June 11, 2011

Introduction

I. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

II. Civil and Political Rights

III. Rights of Ethnic Minorities, Women, Children, the Elderly and the Disabled

IV. Human Rights Education

V. Fulfillment of Obligations to International Human Rights Conventions, and Exchanges and Cooperation in the Field of International Human Rights

VI. Implementation and Supervision

Introduction

The formulation of the National Human Rights Action Plan is an important measure taken by the Chinese government to ensure the implementation of the constitutional principle of respecting and safeguarding human rights. It is of great significance to promoting scientific development and social harmony, and to achieving the great objective of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way.

Since the promulgation and enforcement of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010) in 2009, the Chinese citizens' awareness of human rights has been enhanced significantly; the protection of the citizen's economic, social and cultural rights and interests has been comprehensively strengthened; their civil and political rights have been more effectively safeguarded; the rights of ethnic minorities, women, children, senior citizens and the disabled have been further protected; international exchanges and cooperation in the field of human rights have been increasingly deepened; and human rights protection in all aspects has been constantly advanced along the orbit of institutionalization and rule by law. The cause of human rights in China has entered a new stage of development. In addition, the formulation, implementation and completion on schedule of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010) have been widely acclaimed by the Chinese public and highly regarded by the international community.

In recent years, the Chinese government has appropriately addressed the heavy toll brought about by the international financial crisis and the severe challenges posed by major natural disasters, vigorously solved the problems in development, perseveringly advanced the cause of human rights by putting people first, and had its human rights conditions increasingly improved. The Chinese government has unswervingly combined safeguarding human rights with promoting scientific development and social harmony, kept improving its institutional arrangements for ensuring and improving its people's livelihood, vigorously boosted employment, speeded up the development of various social undertakings, promoted equal access to basic public services, gradually improved a social security system that covers both urban and rural areas, initially established a basic medical care and health service system benefiting both urban and rural residents, strived to develop cultural and educational undertakings, and effectively guaranteed the rights of all members of society to equal participation and development. The Chinese government has consistently combined protecting human rights with promoting democracy and the rule of law, actively and steadily pushed forward political reform, expanded citizens' orderly participation in political affairs, and carried out democratic election, decision-making, administration and supervision in accordance with the law to guarantee the people's rights to be informed, to participate, to be heard and to oversee. The Chinese government has integrated the principle of respecting and safeguarding human rights into its legislation, administration and law enforcement and strengthened supervision and restriction over the exercise of power. Consequently, a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics has been established to provide legal support for all fields of social life and all aspects of human rights protection.

It should be remembered that China remains a developing country that is fraught with problems from unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development. Due to the influences and limitations of natural, historical and cultural factors, as well as the current level of economic and social development, China still confronts many challenges in the development of its human rights cause and it has a long way to go before it attains the lofty goal of full enjoyment of human rights.

The period 2012-2015 is a crucial period for implementing The Outline of the 12th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China, deepening reform and opening-up and accelerating the transformation of the country's economic development pattern; it is also an important period for enhancing human rights and ensuring rapid development of the human rights cause. Therefore, on the basis of earnestly summing up past experience, the Chinese government has worked out this National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012-2015) (hereinafter referred to as the Action Plan) to specify its aims and tasks in promoting and protecting human rights in the 2012-2015 period.

The Action Plan was formulated in accordance with the following guidelines: Holding high the flag of socialism with Chinese characteristics, taking Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of "Three Represents" as guidance and thoroughly applying the Scientific Outlook on Development. In combination with the implementation of The Outline of the 12th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People' s Republic of China, the Chinese government combines its human rights endeavors with economic, political, cultural, social and ecological construction. To satisfy the aspirations of its people of all ethnic groups for living a better life, it continuously prioritizes people's rights to subsistence and development, vigorously safeguards and improves people's livelihood, spares no efforts to solve the problems of the utmost and immediate concern to the people, practically safeguards the citizens' economic, political, social and cultural rights and promotes social equity and harmony, so as to ensure that every member of society live a happier and more dignified life.

The Action Plan was formulated in line with the following basic principles:

The principle of pushing forward the work according to law. In line with the constitutional principle that "the state respects and preserves human rights" and the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant international conventions on human rights, the Action Plan sets out the goal of improving the laws and regulations and their implementation mechanisms for respecting and safeguarding human rights in legislation, administration and law enforcement, so as to promote the cause of human rights in China according to law.

The principle of comprehensive advances. Taking all types of human rights as interdependent and inseparable, the Chinese government determines to promote the coordinated development of economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights, and the balanced development of individual and collective human rights.

The principle of pursuing practicality. The Chinese government respects the principle of universality of human rights, but also upholds proceeding from China's national conditions and new realities to advance the development of its human rights cause on a practical basis.

The objectives in the implementation of the Action Plan are as follows:

Providing comprehensive protection to citizens' economic, social and cultural rights. The Chinese government will take proactive measures to protect more effectively the rights of all members of society to employment, basic living standard, social security, health care, education, culture and environment, striving to ensure that all the people enjoy their rights to education, employment, medical and old-age care, and housing, and ensuring that all people share the benefits of the nation's development.

Providing effective protection to the citizens' civil and political rights according to law. Efforts will be made to improve relevant laws and regulations to protect the citizens' basic rights; work will be done to strengthen judicial protection of human rights to promote judicial justice; and endeavors will be made to develop socialist democratic politics to expand citizens' orderly participation in political affairs, and to ensure people's rights to be informed, to participate, to be heard and to oversee.

Providing full protection to the lawful rights of ethnic minorities, women, children, senior citizens and the disabled. Further efforts will be made to ensure ethnic minorities enjoy equal economic, political, social and cultural rights; efforts will be made to promote gender equality and eliminate gender discrimination; practical work will be done to safeguard children's rights to subsistence and development, to be protected and to participate; the social security system for elderly people will be improved to speed up the building of an old-age service system; and efforts will be made to develop the cause of the disabled to promote their equal participation in social life.

Conducting extensive education in human rights. Education in human rights will be consistently carried out among civil servants; human rights education in various forms will be held in all types of schools and at all levels; and human rights knowledge will be publicized throughout the society to enhance the citizens' awareness in this respect.

Actively participating in international exchanges and cooperation on human rights. China will conscientiously fulfill its obligations to international human rights conventions, take an active part in the work of the United Nations human rights mechanisms, and continuously conduct human rights dialogue, cooperation and exchanges with other countries on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

Approved and authorized by the State Council, the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012-2015) is hereby promulgated.

I. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The Chinese government will continue to give priority to the protection of the people's rights to subsistence and development. It will take proactive measures to ensure and improve the people's livelihood, spare no efforts to solve the problems of immediate concern to the people, and improve the level of protection of economic, social and cultural rights, so as to ensure that the benefits of development are shared by all members of society.

(1) Right to work

Efforts will be made to implement a more active employment policy, improve the wage system, fully carry out the labor contract system, improve working conditions, strengthen labor safety and protect the people's right to work.

- Implementing the "employment priority" strategy. From 2012 to 2015, the urban workforce will be increased by nine million on annual average, and the registered urban unemployment rate will be kept under 5%. Efforts will be made to ensure equal employment opportunities for urban and rural residents, and promote the orderly outflow of rural labor force and local transfer and employment of rural labor force.

- Improving the wage system. A normal wage increase mechanism will be set up and the minimum wage level will be raised steadily. The minimum wage will increase by over 13% annually, and the minimum wage level in most regions will reach over 40% of the average wage of local urban employees. Efforts will be made to establish and improve the collective wage consultation mechanism and wage payment security mechanism in enterprises, and to ensure that migrant workers and urban employees receive equal pay for equal work.

- Amending the Labor Contract Law and comprehensively introducing the labor contract system. By 2015, the labor contract signing rate of enterprises will reach 90%.

- Improving working conditions. Efforts will be made to accelerate the construction of the system of labor standards, define management according to standard labor quotas and implement the paid vacation system.

- Implementing a safety production strategy, strengthening monitoring for workplace safety and preventing major accidents. By 2015, the completion rate of construction of enterprise emergency platforms at national, provincial (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) and city levels and for enterprises of high-risk industries will be 100%; and that in the major counties, 80%. By 2013, Grade III safety standards or above will be applied for non-coal mines and factories producing dangerous chemicals and fireworks as well as enterprises above a certain scale in the eight industrial and commercial trades of metallurgy, non-ferrous metals, building materials, machine-building, light industry, textiles, tobacco and commerce. By 2015, enterprises below a certain scale in the eight trades, including the metallurgical industry, as well as transportation and communications, construction and other industries, will reach the required safety standards. The death toll caused by various types of industrial accidents and the number of major accidents will fall markedly. Safety production information will be publicized, and complaints mailboxes and "12350" safe production report hotlines set up and standardized.

- Implementing the Law on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases. The occupational health indicators prescribed in the National Occupational Disease Control Program (2009-2015) will be continuously implemented.

- Launching multiform vocational training to rural and urban workers. Efforts will be made to guarantee every new employee access to corresponding vocational training opportunities, ensuring that technical workers can take part in at least one skill-upgrading training program. The localities are encouraged to establish practical training bases. By 2015, the total number of skilled workers will reach 125 million, of which 34 million will be highly-skilled workers.

- Improving the labor security supervision and law-enforcing system and the labor dispute settlement mechanism. China will strengthen supervision over and law-enforcement for labor security. It will give full play to the role of labor dispute mediation and arbitration, and the closing rate of labor dispute arbitration will reach 90%.

(2) Right to basic living standards

China will maintain steady and rapid economic development, adjust the income distribution pattern, implement poverty alleviation projects, improve the basic housing security system, protect farmers' rights and interests related to land according to law and improve the level of citizens' basic rights of life.

- The increase of rural and urban residents' income will keep pace with economic growth. From 2011 to 2015, the average annual growth rate of China's GDP is expected to be 7%, and the annual growth rate of the per-capita disposal income of urban residents and per-capita net income of rural residents will be over 7%. The income distribution pattern will be adjusted, the share of personal income in the distribution of national income will be increased, so will that of work remuneration in primary distribution; the proportion of middle-income earners will be expanded and the income of middle- and low-income earners will be increased.

- Implementing the Outline of Development-oriented Poverty Reduction for China' s Rural Areas (2011-2020). The state will gradually raise the standards for poverty alleviation. Key poverty reduction projects will be launched for 24,000 villages, where most of the villagers are hit hard by poverty. The government will also conduct training programs in practical skills for the impoverished laborers in rural areas. It will organize migration for people in areas with harsh living conditions on condition that they can do it out of their free will. It will continue to carry out poverty reduction pilot projects in border, endemic-disease-stricken and post-disaster reconstruction areas, and other poverty-stricken areas. It will continue to support such areas with science and technology, and send technicians there to help local people start businesses for the purpose of poverty reduction. Great efforts will be made to develop forestry in poor mountain areas, striving to increase the forest coverage by 1.5 percentage points over that at the end of 2010 and ensure that each impoverished household starts one income-generating project.

- Formulating basic housing security regulations, and improving the construction, distribution, management and exit system of indemnificatory housing. Efforts will be made to speed up the construction of low-rent housing, public rental housing, affordable housing and other types of indemnificatory house, and promote the rebuilding of shanty areas in cities. In so doing, China aims to basically solve the housing problem of low- and lower-middle-income urban families, lessen the housing difficulties of new employees and improve the living conditions of migrant workers. By 2015, the coverage of indemnificatory housing across the country will reach 20%. China will speed up the transformation of shanty areas in forest, reclamation and coal-mining regions. It will renovate dilapidated housing for 815,300 families in forest areas during the 12th Five-Year Plan period.

- Helping impoverished farmer households solve housing safety problems. Efforts will be made to bring into play the guiding role of government financial subsidies in establishing a long-term mechanism for rural dilapidated house transformation. The government plans to help five million impoverished farmer households upgrade their dilapidated houses from 2012 to 2015.

- Implementing the Regulations on the Expropriation of and Compensation for Buildings on State-owned Land, enacting and improving policies and regulations related to housing expropriation to effectively protect the legitimate rights of the owners.

- Doing a good job in land right confirmation, registration and certification so as to effectively protect the farmers' rights to operate their contracted land, to use homesteads and to get income from distribution of collective gains. The state will formulate regulations concerning compensation from the expropriation of rural collective land.

(3) Right to social security

China will improve the various forms of social insurance, and promote the equal coverage of the social relief system in both rural and urban areas to improve the social security level.

- Enacting and amending the supporting rules and regulations of the Social Insurance Law. The state will revise the Regulations on Unemployment Insurance, enact regulations on basic medical insurance and regulations on national security fund, and regulations on maternity insurance and rules regarding the registration, application and payment of social insurance, etc.

- Improving the pension system. By 2015, the number of urban workers and residents underwriting the basic old-age insurance policies will reach 357 million, and the eventual aim is to achieve full coverage of the new rural old-age insurance system and urban employees' pension insurance system. Migrant workers who have established stable labor relations with enterprises will be covered in the basic old-age and medical insurance schemes for urban employees. The state will guarantee the transfer of basic pension accounts for urban workers, and gradually promote the effectual bridging of the rural and urban old-age insurance systems. Efforts will be made to comprehensively implement unified planning in old-age insurance for urban employees and achieve national unified planning for basic old-age pensions. China will endeavor to improve the normal adjustment mechanism for basic pensions to steadily raise the basic pensions for enterprise retirees.

- Improving the basic medical insurance system to make medical insurance basically cover both rural and urban residents in 2015. The total number of people subscribing policies of medical insurance for urban employees, medical insurance for urban residents and new rural cooperative medical insurance will be increased by 60 million as compared with 2010, and the number of people subscribing urban and rural basic medical insurance policies will reach 1.32 billion. Financial grants to those taking policies of urban residents' basic medical insurance and new rural cooperative medical insurance will be raised. The medical treatment cost of inpatients covered by urban employees' medical insurance, urban residents' medical insurance and new rural cooperative medical insurance will all be around 75%. Urban residents' medical insurance and new rural cooperative medical insurance will cover all areas where unified planning in this regard is made, and their coverage of the outpatient expenses will be raised to over 50%. By 2015, the government grant to each person subscribing urban residents' medical insurance and new rural cooperative medical insurance each year will be raised to over 360 yuan, while the coverage of the new rural cooperative medical insurance will be stabilized above 95%.

- Amending regulations and supporting rules on unemployment insurance and further improving the unemployment insurance system. The level of unified planning for unemployment insurance funds will be elevated. By 2015, the number of subscribers to unemployment insurance will reach 160 million.

-- Improving the work-related injury insurance system covering prevention, compensation and rehabilitation. Work-related injury insurance will be put first under unified planning at the municipal level, and gradually unified planning at the provincial level. Proactive and steady efforts will be made in the prevention and rehabilitation of work-related injuries. By 2015, the subscribers to work-related injury insurance will reach 210 million.

-- Improving the maternity insurance system and by 2015 women subscribing maternity insurance will reach 150 million.

-- Increasing subsistence allowances and level of social relief for rural and urban residents. Work will be done to improve the subsistence allowance determining mechanism and dynamic adjustment mechanism and ensure that the average annual growth rate of the subsistence allowances reach 10%. And the subsistence allowances provided to rural residents enjoying the "Five Guarantees" (food, clothing, medical care, housing and burial expenses) will equal the average living standard of fellow villagers. Recipients of basic living allowances in both urban and rural areas will be classified, and more assistance will be granted to the aged, disabled, minors and seriously ill. By 2015, the urban and rural residents entitled to the subsistence allowances will make up around 6% of the total population, covering everyone in need. Steps will be taken to gradually lower or cancel the minimum payment line for medical treatment, and popularize the one-stop settlement model. The Measures for Assisting and Managing Urban Vagrants and Beggars with No Means of Livelihood will be revised, and a temporary aid system will be established all over the country.

(4) Right to health

China will establish initially a basic medical and health system that covers the entire nation, and improve the medical insurance system, public health service system and medical care system to protect the citizens' right to health.

-- Formulating a law on mental health, and making studies for the enactment of a law on basic medical and health care.

-- Continuously increasing the average life expectancy so that it will reach 74.5 years by 2015.

-- Strengthening the construction of primary-level medical and health care institutions and training bases for general practitioners. By 2015, China intends to train 150,000 general practitioners through job-transfer training, on-the-job training and standardized training.

-- Promoting equality in the right to basic health services. Efforts will be made to ensure that the per-capita spending for public health services is no less than 25 yuan around the country, and see to it that it will be raised to over 40 yuan by 2015. The state will also provide such free services as establishing health records, and providing health education and vaccination. The state will encourage blood donation without compensation and secure blood safety, and make sure that emergency medical services are permanently available.

-- Bringing infectious diseases under effective control. China will intensify efforts in prevention and control of major infectious diseases such as AIDS and cholera, and effectively control new infections and mortality caused by AIDS, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis. The rate of direct reporting on incidences of infectious diseases by medical and health institutions at/above the county level will be 100%. Endeavors will also be made to strengthen the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases among passengers on public transportation vehicles such as trains. The mechanism of joint prevention and control of major epidemics at land and sea ports will be established and medical media monitoring and pathogen detection will be strengthened at the ports.

-- Greater efforts will be made to prevent and treat chronic diseases. China will popularize knowledge in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, striving to achieve an awareness rate of 50% among core members in this regard. China will improve early detection, intervention and management of major chronic diseases and high-risk people, making sure that the awareness rate of blood pressure and blood sugar level by people of 35 years old and above reach 75% and 50%, respectively, and the management rate of hypertension and diabetes be no less than 40%. China will institute early detection and treatment of major cancers in 30% of areas with high incidences of cancer across the country.

-- Ensuring the safety of drinking water. China will promote the construction of a monitoring network for the safety of drinking water, and make its coverage extend to all cities divided into districts and over 90% of counties by 2015. The rural population with access to centralized water supply will be raised to 80%. Efforts will be made to make safe drinking water accessible to an additional 60 million rural people every year.

-- The Food Safety Law will be implemented, food safety monitoring system and food safety regulations and standards will be improved, and the responsibility will be determined for safe production of food. Stricter supervision will be enforced over all links of food processing and production, and the basic supervisory systems, such as the production licensing system, supervision and inspection system, recall system and label management system for food, food additives and food-related production, will be improved, so will the emergency plan for food safety accidents, the accident investigation and handling system and rapid response and handling system. China will bridge mechanisms between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice to severely punish criminal acts harming food safety.

-- Comprehensively implementing measures for prevention and control of endemic diseases, and basically eliminating such hazards. China will strive to eliminate iodine deficiency diseases in over 90% of the counties (cities and districts) in Hainan, Tibet, Qinghai and Xinjiang, and make sure that iodine deficiency diseases are eliminated in 95% of the counties (cities and districts) in other provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government). In areas with a high incidence of endemic fluorosis caused by coal burning, comprehensive preventive measures focusing on modifying and improving stoves will be adopted over 95% of the households. China will basically complete projects to provide safe drinking water and improve water quality in areas afflicted by endemic fluorosis and arseniasis which have been proved to be caused mainly by unsafe drinking water. Efforts will be made to bring under effective control fluorosis caused by tea drinking. Over 90% of the villages that are afflicted by Kaschin-Beck disease will have the disease eliminated, and over 90% of the counties where Keshan disease remains an endemic will have it eliminated.

-- Making studies for enactment of a law on traditional Chinese medicine and management methods of the standards of the medicinal materials. China will raise the national standards for drugs, improve the drug inspection and control system, strengthen drug safety monitoring and early warning, improve the drug safety emergency-response mechanism, fix in advance responsibility for the safe production and use of drugs, and ensure the quality and safety of basic drugs.

-- Forming a national fitness public service network covering all urban and rural residents and carrying out the National Fitness Program (2011-2015). Sports venues of various kinds will add up to over 1.2 million, with per-capita sports area being above 1.5 sq m. To achieve this goal, venues with sports facilities will be built in all cities, counties (districts), neighborhoods (townships) and communities (administrative villages). National fitness centers will be built in over 50% of the country's cities and counties (districts); convenient and practical fitness equipment will be installed in over 50% of neighborhoods (townships) and communities (administrative villages). Fitness stations will be established in over 50% of rural communities.

(5) Right to education

By implementing the Outline of the State Medium- and Long-term Program on Education Reform and Development (2010-2020), China will promote the balanced development of compulsory education throughout the country, develop pre-school education and vocational education, make senior high school education universal, improve the quality of higher education, achieve fairness in education, and raise the overall educational level of all Chinese citizens.

-- Consolidating the achievements in nine-year compulsory education. The net enrollment rate in elementary schools will remain at above 99%, gross enrollment rate in junior high schools will reach 99%, and the number of students graduating from compulsory education will reach 93% of the total enrollment. In addition, China will guarantee equal right to education for children of migrant workers, mainly relying on full-time public schools in cities they migrate to.

-- Allocating educational resources in balanced manner. China will promote standardized construction of schools of nine-year compulsory education and step up efforts in the renovation of school buildings in poor conditions; encourage exchanges of teachers between different schools within an area to narrow the gap among schools; allocate more educational resources to central and western regions, rural areas, remote and border areas, ethnic-minority areas, as well as urban schools in poor conditions; and accelerate the construction of boarding schools in rural areas to meet the needs of rural children.

-- Proactively developing pre-school education. The goal is to have 65% of the children who will be starting school in three years enrolled in kindergartens, and 85% of the children who will be starting school in one year enrolled in kindergartens. During the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), the central government will appropriate 50 billion yuan for pre-school education development in rural areas of central and western China. Local governments at different levels will carry out the Pre-school Education Three-Year Action Plan and gradually build and improve pre-school education networks in urban and rural areas.

-- Quickening steps in making senior high school education universal. China will improve the conditions of senior high schools, and enhance their teaching level and quality. By 2015, the gross enrollment rate of senior high schools will reach 87%. Moreover, more support will be given to senior high schools in poor areas of central and western China.

-- Making great efforts to develop vocational education. Secondary vocational education will have more or less the same enrollment as regular senior high schools. Support will be given to academic subjects that meet the needs of industry and enterprises. Teaching staff with theoretical knowledge, ability to teach, and practical experience and skills will be trained. The tuition fees for secondary vocational schooling will be gradually abolished.

-- Boosting higher education. China will improve educational quality and innovation ability of institutions of higher learning in line with the requirements of its socio-economic development and national strategy. It will carry out a higher education rejuvenation program for central and western China. The areas of central and western China that are short of higher education resources will be given priority in the allocation of such resources. Institutions of higher learning in eastern China will enlarge their enrollments in central and western China, and strengthen pair-up support by institutions of higher learning in eastern regions to those in western China.

-- Further improving the policy system of assistance to poor students. China will improve the national allowance program for poor senior high school students and the dynamic adjustment mechanism of state scholarships to ensure that students do not drop out of school because of poverty.

(6) Cultural rights

The Outline of the National Plan for Cultural Reform and Development of the 12th Five-Year Plan Period will be implemented. Effective measures will be taken to accelerate the construction of public cultural facilities, promote the development of cultural undertakings, enrich the people's cultural life and guarantee the citizens' cultural rights.

-- Strengthening legislation on culture and conducting research to formulate the Public Library Law, Museum Regulations, and other related laws and regulations, revising the Copyright Law, Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics and similar laws, and drawing up regulations and rules complementary to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Law.

-- Improving public cultural facilities and cultural service networks. China will increase and improve public cultural facilities like culture centers, museums, libraries, art galleries, science and technology museums, memorial halls, workers' centers, and youth and children's palaces, and open them to the public free of charge. Radio and TV broadcasts will be available in all villages with no more than 20 households each and where electricity is available, covering 99% of China's population. The cultural information resource sharing project will reach 530 TB in digital resources, shared by 50% of all households. Mobile cinemas in rural areas will reach 50,000, showing one digital movie every month in every administrative village. Migrant workers will be brought into the urban public cultural service system; and enterprises and communities are guided to actively hold cultural activities geared towards migrant workers.

-- Promoting culture coverage and popularization of science and technology. By 2015, each Chinese citizen will have, on average, 5.8 books and 3.1 periodicals every year; every 1,000 people will have 100 daily newspapers; every 10,000 people will share 1.3 publication outlets, and the number of people who read books or periodicals will reach 80% of the total population. China will also accelerate the construction of farmers' libraries, and urban and rural newspaper reading boards. China will enact the Law on Science and Technology Progress and the Law on Popularization of Science and Technology, formulate standards on citizens' scientific knowledge, promote the building of venues for popularizing science knowledge and launch the construction of the National Demonstration Base for Science Popularization.

-- Accelerating Internet construction. By 2015 over 45% of China's population will have access to the Internet. The fixed broadband ports will exceed 370 million. The Internet connection speed for urban households will reach 20 Mb/s, and that for rural households, 4 Mb/s. Fiber optic Internet connection will cover 200 million households. In addition, China will build wireless broadband cities, and gradually spread Internet connections and usage throughout the rural areas.

(7) Environmental rights

China will strengthen its environmental protection work to guarantee the public's environmental rights, focusing on serious environmental pollution affecting the people's life, like heavy metal pollution, drinking water pollution, and air, soil and marine contamination.

-- Amending the Law on Environmental Protection, preserving and improving the living environment and ecosystem, and preventing and controlling environmental pollution and other hazards.

-- Effectively preventing and controlling heavy metal pollution by improving the prevention and control system, emergency response system, and environment and health risk assessment system as regards heavy metal pollution.

-- Strengthening water pollution prevention and reversal efforts. China will improve the water quality and environment in trans-provincial areas, tackle seriously contaminated urban water systems and tributary rivers, slow the eutrophication of major lakes, further increase the rate of water functional zones that reach the required hygiene standards, and gradually restore the water ecosystem in certain water areas. China will also enhance protection of unpolluted lakes, and continuously reduce the total emission of major pollutants that contaminate the water. An underground water monitoring and control system will be established; the underground water pollution will be measured; underground water pollution sources will be initially controlled; and experiments to reverse underground water pollution will be launched.

-- Improving air quality. By 2015, the country's chemical oxygen demand amount will be controlled at 23.476 million tons, and the total emissions of sulfur dioxide, ammonia nitrogen and nitric oxides will be controlled at 20.864 million tons, 2.38 million tons and 20.462 million tons, respectively. China will endeavor to reduce the concentration of inhalable particulate matter in the air in key regions year by year. By 2015, all cities at prefecture level and above will monitor particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers.

-- Pushing forward ecosystem construction. By 2015, China's land nature reserves will take up 15% of its total land area so that 90% of the key species under national protection and typical ecosystem types will be preserved. China's forest coverage will reach 21.66%. Ten million ha of desertified land and 200,000 sq km of land suffering from soil erosion will be treated. In urban and rural built-up areas, the vegetation-coverage rates will reach 39% and 25%, respectively.

- Strengthening marine ecosystem protection, pushing forward the construction of marine conservation areas, and tightening supervision for the environmental effects of marine projects and waste discharge into the sea.

-- Intensifying prevention and control of radioactive waste pollution. China will push forward the decommissioning of obsolete nuclear facilities, and the prevention and treatment of radioactive waste. Civil radioactive-irradiation facilities will be decommissioned, and the waste will be reclaimed. The country will strengthen its ability to store, treat and dispose of radioactive waste, and basically eliminate the danger of contamination by low- and intermediate-level radioactive residue waste left over from history. The treatment of pollution by uranium mines and mines associated with radioactivity will be accelerated, and uranium mining and refining facilities that fall short of safety requirements will be shut down. At the same time, a long-term monitoring mechanism will be established for decommissioned uranium mining and refining facilities.

-- Enforcing strict monitoring and control over dangerous chemicals. China will phase out chemicals that are highly poisonous, hard to degrade or highly hazardous to the environment, and strictly restrict the production and use of chemicals involving severe environmental risks.

-- Improving environmental monitoring and supervision mechanisms, establishing a trans-regional and inter-departmental cooperative mechanism for the enforcement of environmental laws, and improving the accountability system for major environmental and pollution accidents.

II. Civil and Political Rights

China endeavors to develop socialist democracy, improve the socialist rule of law, expand the orderly political participation of citizens and guaranteeing people's civil and political rights in an all-round way.

(1) Rights of the person

All rights of the person are guaranteed by law in lawsuits and law enforcement.

-- Criminal Procedure Law will be implemented. The applicable conditions and management stipulations for the adoption of such compulsory measures as arrest, release on bail pending trial and residential surveillance will be adjusted and specified in greater detail.

-- All rights of the suspects in lawsuits will be guaranteed by law. The suspects will be informed of their rights and obligations in a timely fashion in accordance with the law, and conditions will be created actively for lawyers to get involved in a lawsuit from the stage of criminal investigation.

-- Preventive and remedial measures against extortion of confession by torture and collecting evidence through other illegal methods will be enforced; and no one will be forced to prove himself or herself guilty.

-- The people's procuratorates will pay greater heed to the self-defense of criminal suspects at the stage of approval for arrest. Procurators themselves should interrogate suspects when there are clues or evidences that prove the possibility of such serious violations of law as extortion of confession and collecting evidence through the use of force. If the criminal suspects request such an interrogation, the procurators should do so as required.

-- Relevant mechanisms to facilitate the work of lawyers during criminal proceedings will be improved. When defense lawyers proffer written materials and evidence maintaining that no crime has been committed, an arrest is unnecessary, or the suspect should not be detained, or there have been violations of law in the investigation, the procurators must examine them seriously. When necessary, procurators may consult lawyers in person. The procurators should state clearly in the arrest warrant whether they are going to accept the lawyer's opinions and evidences and their reasons for doing so.

-- The venues of law enforcement and case investigation by public security organs will be transformed according to defined standards step by step. The Standards for Venues of Law Enforcement and Case Investigation of Public Security Organs will be implemented strictly. Case investigation areas must be separated physically from other areas, and the function rooms of the case investigation areas will be established in line with the procedures of case investigation, where permanent sound and video recording as well as video surveillance systems will be installed for real-time monitoring and control over the whole course of law enforcement and investigation to prevent any violation of the legitimate rights and interests of citizens.

-- The scope of application of the system of probationary suspension and community correction according to law will be expanded, appropriately reducing the application of imprisonment and clearly defining the scope of non-imprisonment punishment; improving the system of community-based correction, and enriching the contents of community-based correction, correction by education and measures to aid convicts in financial difficulties.

-- Strengthening efforts in investigation and punishment of cases committed by state functionaries involving violations of a citizen's personal rights such as illegal detention by taking advantage of their functions and powers.

(2) Rights of detainees

China will further strengthen supervision over criminal proceedings, punishment execution and supervision, so as to guarantee the legal rights of detainees.

-- Guaranteeing the rights and humane treatment of the inmates and improving legal stipulations concerning the management of prisons. The system of a bed for one inmate will be gradually adopted and medical care for prison inmates will be socialized so as to ensure an inmate to get timely treatment when ill.

-- Preventing unnecessary detention. After a suspect or defendant is held in custody, the related people's procuratorate should review the necessity of the detention. Once it concludes the detention is not necessary, it should advise the organ that investigates the case to release the suspect or defendant, or change the compulsory measure adopted.

-- Strengthening supervision over the time limit of criminal detention. The people's procuratorates should conduct supervision over the organs of criminal investigation to strictly implement the system of detention change, the warning and notifying system when the time limit of detention is going to expire and the accountability system for overdue imprisonment. Efforts will be made to prevent and settle cases involving prolonged detentions and urge the investigation organs to conclude cases that have long exceeded the time limit of detention.

-- Improving mechanisms to guarantee the rights of detainees. The systems of physical examination for detainees when they are taken into custody, regular body surface examinations for detainees and notification of the rights and obligations of the detainees and emergency alarming will be strictly implemented, so will the system of interrogation and remand of criminal suspects. The systems of detainees' security risk assessment, psychological intervention and investigation and handling of their complaints will be improved. So will the system of inviting special supervisors to inspect the detention houses. Regulations regarding detainees' request to see the resident procurators, meetings between detainees and resident procurators and the establishment of procurator mailboxes will be improved to prevent and investigate violations of the rights of detainees, such as physical punishment, torture and insult by people working in the detention houses.

-- Improving the system of examination and investigation in case of the death of a detainee in prisons and detention houses.

(3) Right to fair trial

-- China will improve the legal stipulations regarding judicial proceeding to guarantee litigants' right to fair trial.

-- Guaranteeing criminal defendants the rights to plead, receive legal aid and request an avoidance (of a judge or witness).

-- Guaranteeing the personal rights and right of defense of lawyers when they perform their duties.

-- Further improving the system to have witnesses and expert witnesses appear in court and the system of protecting the witnesses.

-- Improving the system of eliminating illegal evidence; all confessions by suspects and defendants extorted by torture or other illegal methods, as well as testimonies and statements of witnesses or victims collected by violence, threat or other illegal means will be eliminated and not used in working out the verdict. In addition, the stipulations on evidences used to examine and decide cases of death penalty will be strictly observed, and more strict standards will be adopted in this regard.

-- Implementing the Decisions of the Supreme People's Court on Audio-Visual Recordings of Court Trials. The system of producing audio-visual recordings of the whole process of suspect interrogating in major cases will be established.

-- Continuing to push forward standardized measurement of penalty. The people's procuratorates will make suggestions on penalty measurement to the people's courts when handling criminal cases. The discretion in penalty measurement will be institutionalized. Guidelines on penalty measurement by the people's courts will be worked out, so will regulations of the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security on standardizing procedures of penalty measurement to guarantee openness and fairness in penalty measurement.

-- Observing more stringent judicial procedures for death penalty and review of death penalty. China will improve the trial procedures of death penalty cases. The trial of all death penalty cases of second instance will be open to the public. The review of death penalty should include the questioning of the defendant, and listening to the opinions of his/her attorney if the attorney so demands. Legal supervision by the Supreme People's Procuratorate over the review of death penalty will be strengthened. The Supreme People's Court will publicize typical cases to clarify the norms of application of death penalty.

-- Amending the Law of Civil Procedure. China will further improve the procedures of bringing an action, case acceptance and pre-trial preparation, establish small-claim and public-interest litigation systems and improve the systems of preservation, evidence, service of litigation document, publicizing of court rulings and trial supervision to protect the litigants' litigation rights.

-- Amending Administrative Procedure Law. China will further improve the rules regarding the acceptance of administrative cases, examination procedures and proofs to guarantee the right of individuals and organizations to legal aid in cases of administrative malfeasance.

(4) Freedom of religious belief

China upholds the principle of freedom of religious belief stipulated in the Constitution and strictly implements the Regulations on Religious Affairs to guarantee citizens' freedom of religious belief.

-- Protecting citizens from being forced to believe in or not to believe in any religion, and from discrimination due to religious belief.

-- Protecting normal religious activities according to law.

-- Improving the management measures of pilgrimage. China will improve the organization and management of, and service to pilgrimage to provide convenience and guarantee for Muslims to complete their pilgrimage smoothly.

-- Encouraging religious believers to carry out charity activities.

-- Helping the religious circles resolve difficulties encountered in the construction of some projects. The state will provide financial support to the construction of new school buildings in the Buddhist Academy of China and the improvement and expansion of the China Islamic Institute. The same support will be rendered to the rebuilding and expansion of venues for religious activities of the Tibetan-inhabited areas in Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces. Financial support will also be extended to the post-earthquake rebuilding of venues for religious activities in Yushu, Qinghai Province, and to mosques damaged during natural disasters.

-- Working out methods for implementing the relevant regulations on social security for religious staff.

-- Promoting cultural exchanges in religion. China will support friendly exchanges between Chinese religious circles and foreign religious organizations.

(5) Right to be informed

The Chinese government will further efforts to make government affairs public, to expand the scope of right to be informed by proceeding from the angles of laws, regulations and policies, so as to enhance the level of guarantee to citizens' right to information.

-- Pushing forward the disclosure of government information. China will implement the Provisions on the Disclosure of Government Information and the Opinions of the State Council on Strengthening Government Administration Based on the Rule of Law. The government will make public any government information that does not involve state or trade secrets, or individual privacy. Priority will be given to the disclosure of government information in the areas of financial budgeting, allocation of public resources, approval and implementation of major construction projects, and construction of social welfare undertakings.

-- The state will make greater efforts in making public of administrative work. The system of making public of administrative work will be implemented in all government departments providing public services, and they will be asked to make public in accordance with the law the basis, prerequisites, requirements, progress and result of government administrative work, and provide adequate information.

-- Proactive efforts will be made to steadily push forward the disclosure of auditing information. The state will uphold and improve the system of announcing auditing results, and standardize the form, content and procedure of such announcement; and uphold and improve the system of announcing the results of phased auditing of special-purpose auditing project and results of investigation of major cases.

-- The government press conference system, spokesperson system and spokesperson system for Party committees will be improved continuously.

-- The system of keeping the public informed of leading officials' appointment and dismissal will be established and improved. Vacant leadership positions and related job responsibilities, as well as basic information of the candidates will be announced in due time to promote the institutionalization and standardization of appointment and dismissal of officials.

-- The state will standardize and supervise the disclosure of work of enterprises and institutions that provide public services, including hospitals, schools, public transportation and public utilities. Priority will be given to the announcement of such contents as job responsibilities, service commitments, services for charges, job specifications, work discipline and channels of supervision.

-- Effective measures will be taken to make enterprise affairs known to employees. By 2015, the system of disclosing enterprise affairs to their employees will be implemented in all state-owned and collective enterprises and state- and collective-controlled enterprises where trade union organizations are established, and in more than 80% of non-public enterprises with trade union organizations, so as to ensure the employees' right to be informed.

-- The state will make efforts to improve the transparency of village affairs. The emphasis will be placed on the disclosure of financial affairs, and a platform for open village affairs will be set up.

(6) Right to participate

Further efforts will be made to improve the systems, diversify the forms and open up the channels of democracy, to expand citizens' orderly participation in political affairs.

- Implementing the Electoral Law, and guarantee citizens' right to vote and to be elected.

- Ensuring and supporting the participation of non-Communist parties and figures without party affiliation in the exercise of state power, consultation on major state policies and choice of state leaders, administration of state affairs, and formulation and implementation of state policies, laws and regulations.

- Soliciting public opinion when formulating laws or regulations that concern major public interests and the vital interests of the people.

- Continuously supporting the trade unions, the Communist Youth League, the women's federations and other mass organizations in their participation in social management and provision of public services in accordance with the law. The government will wholeheartedly gather opinions from the mass organizations when formulating and amending relevant laws, regulations and public policies.

- Encouraging orderly participation by social organizations in social construction. The Law on Philanthropy will be formulated, and the Regulations on the Registration of Social Organizations, the Interim Regulations on the Registration of Private Non-enterprise Entities and the Regulations on the Management of Foundations will be amended. The government will standardize activities of voluntary services and expedite the development of voluntary services.

- Improving the system of workers' congress and the system of directors and supervisors from among workers, and giving support to trade unions in participating in the management of enterprises and public institutions on behalf of workers and staff. Efforts will be made to gradually realize the goal of full coverage of the system of workers' congress in state and collective enterprises and state- and collective-controlled enterprises where trade union organizations are established, and in more than 80% of non-public enterprises with trade union organizations.

- Further developing and improving the system of self-governance at the primary level of society.

(7) Right to be heard

The government will take effective measures to ensure that all channels of self-expression are unblocked, and citizens' freedom of speech and right to be heard are protected in accordance with the law.

- The state respects and guarantees the rights of all parties and groups and deputies from all ethic groups and all walks of life in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) to voice their opinions, to go on inspection tours, to put forward motions, to reflect social conditions and public opinion, and to take part in investigation and inspection activities.

- Through communication with the public in various ways, state organs and their functionaries will earnestly learn what they want and solicit their opinions.

- The mechanism whereby the masses express their wishes will be improved, and the channels for people to make petitions in the form of letters and personal visits will remain unblocked and be broadened. Such practices as Green Post, online complaints, special telephone lines, video complaints and agencies which make complaints on behalf of others will be promoted and improved so as to ensure the implementation of the Regulations on Petitions in the Form of Letters and Visits. The state will persist in requiring leading cadres at all levels to read letters from the people and make comments or issue instructions concerning them, and improve the system in which leading cadres receive visitors who come to make complaints, and visit grassroots localities. Efforts will be made to enhance the construction, promotion and application of the complaint information system. We will further strengthen the building of a state-level complaint-handling center, and set up a comprehensive platform to deal with complaints quickly and efficiently.

- The state will guarantee employees' right to be heard. The making and revision of labor rules and regulations in enterprises will be discussed at workers' congress in advance, so as to ensure that channels are unblocked for employees to express appeals concerning their interests.

- The state will strengthen institutional guarantees for the legitimate rights and interests of news agencies and journalists, ensuring in accordance with the law journalists' rights to be informed, to gather materials, to publish, to criticize, and to supervise, and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of news agencies, journalists, editors and other persons concerned.

(8) Right to oversee

The government will make unremitting efforts to improve the system of supervision, strengthen restraints on and supervision over the exercise of power, and earnestly guarantee citizens' right of democratic supervision.

- Strengthening the supervision over the people's governments, people's courts and people's procuratorates by people's congresses and their standing committees at all levels, and strengthening supervision over leading cadres, so as to ensure the correct exercise of power.

- Giving full play to the CPPCC's role in democratic supervision. Efforts will be intensified to strengthen supervision over the implementation of major policies and the performance of state organs and their functionaries by all participating parties and groups, and people from all ethnic groups and all walks of life in the CPPCC in the forms of making proposals and voicing criticisms.

- Improving the system of supervision over regulations and normative documents. Efforts will be made in seriously studying and handling suggestions by individuals and organizations for reviewing such regulations and documents in accordance with relevant rules. Work will be done to strengthen the filing and examination work regarding regulations and normative documents, so as to prevent illegitimate increase of the obligations of any individuals and organizations.

- Intensifying the supervision and restraint over the power of administrative examination and approval by pushing forward the publicizing of the process and results of such examination and approval, and strengthening monitoring throughout the whole process.

- Strictly implementing the administrative accountability system prescribed by the Civil Servant Law and the Law on Administrative Supervision, intensifying investigations regarding the accountability in accidents in production safety, food and drug quality, land requisition and environmental pollution, and punishing in accordance with the law those who infringe on the interests of the people because of dereliction of duty or malfeasance.

- Amending the Measures for Offence Reporting Work and Regulations on the Protection of Whistle-Blowers. The violations reported, the situation of the report and relevant information about informants will be kept confidential; acts obstructing, repressing and avenging the informants will be corrected timely so as to protect their legitimate rights and interests.

- Guaranteeing the right of citizens and social organizations in exercising supervision over administrative organs in accordance with the law by applying for administrative reconsideration or instituting administrative litigation.

- Expanding social supervision by enhancing the functions of special inspectors, supervisors and examiners, and strengthening the public's supervision over administrative, trial and procuratorial organs.

- Encouraging news media to play their unique role in supervision by public opinion, and opening up the channels for people to criticize, give advice to, complain of, accuse and impeach state organs and state functionaries.

III. Rights of Ethnic Minorities, Women, Children, the Elderly and the Disabled

China will take further measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of ethnic minorities, women, children, elderly people and the disabled.

(1) Rights of ethnic minorities

China is a unified multi-ethnic country, where all ethnic groups are equal, and the state protects the lawful rights and interests of ethnic minorities.

- The right of ethnic minorities to participate in the management of state and social affairs on an equal footing is guaranteed by the state according to law. The state will make sure that minority groups have a proportionate number of representatives in organs of state power and administrative, judicial and procuratorate organs at both the central and local levels. Ethnic-minority citizens will enjoy favorable treatment when they apply to take the national civil service examinations.

- The state attaches importance to the training and utilization of talented people from ethnic minorities. Greater efforts are made to cultivate and select ethnic-minority personnel for Party and administrative work. The state supports areas inhabited by ethnic minorities in compact communities in their implementation of the national revitalization program for highly-skilled personnel and the support program for talented people in rural areas. The state will continue to train general medical practitioners and employ professional medical practitioners for rural areas in places where ethnic minorities live in compact communities on the state budget, and cultivate professionals of ethnic-minority medicine.

- The state guarantees that ethnic minorities enjoy equal right to public services. The state constantly strengthens the capacity of public services in ethnic autonomous areas. The gaps in the incomes of urban and rural residents, compulsory education, medical care, social security between ethnic-minority areas and the national average level will be significantly narrowed; existing problems in education, medical care, drinking water, communication, employment and other areas will be significantly alleviated; the production and living conditions of the farmers and herdsmen in pasturing areas, border areas, areas inhabited by ethnic minorities with small populations, and impoverished ethnic-minority areas will be improved significantly.

- The right of ethnic minorities to economic development is guaranteed. The state will implement policies and special programs for promoting the socio-economic development of the five autonomous regions, i.e. Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Ningxia and Tibet, and for supporting the development of other ethnic-minority regions, and work to make sure that the main indices of economic development for ethnic-minority regions are higher than those of the national average. The state will continue to formulate and implement special programs to support the development of minority ethnic groups with small populations, vitalize border areas and bring prosperity to their residents, and develop special undertakings of ethnic minorities and other programs. In major pastoral areas, the state will establish a subsidy and bonus mechanism for the protection of steppe ecosystem, guaranteeing that the income growth of herdsmen is not lower than that of the farmers in the same province (autonomous region). Vigorous efforts will be made to promote ethnic-minority trade and the production of ethnic consumer products, implement relevant preferential policies, and satisfy the special production and life needs of ethnic minorities. Emphasis will be put on the protection of the ecological environment in ethnic-minority regions.

- Education for ethnic minorities is to be promoted. The state will transfer more public education resources to ethnic-minority regions, quicken the development of preschool education, support the standardized construction of compulsory-education schools in border counties and poverty-stricken counties of ethnic autonomous areas, strengthen the construction of boarding schools in ethnic-minority regions, actively and steadily promote bilingual education, vigorously promote the development of vocational education, make greater efforts in the training and cultivation of teachers, and strengthen pair-up assistance in education.

- Cultural rights of ethnic minorities are guaranteed. The state will make greater efforts to protect the special cultures of ethnic-minority groups, strengthen the protection of their cultural relics, carry out emergency protection of endangered projects and representative inheritors who are aged or otherwise feeble, and implement overall protection for areas where intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities is concentrated. Traditional sports of ethnic minorities will also be given state support.

- Ethnic minorities' right to learn, use and develop their own spoken and written languages is guaranteed in accordance with the law. The state will promote the standardization and information processing of the spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities, and build databases of China's endangered ethnic-minority languages.

(2) Women's rights

China implements the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests, promotes gender equality, and guarantees the lawful rights and interests of women.

- The state will continue its efforts to promote women's equal participation in the management of state and social affairs. The state will gradually increase the proportion of women representatives in the national and local people's congresses and political consultative conferences, and make sure that the people's congresses, governments, and political consultative conferences at the provincial and municipal levels as well as county-level governments include at least one female member in the leadership. The state will gradually increase the proportion of women holding principal positions in the leadership of local governments and departments at/above the county level, the proportion of women on boards of directors and boards of supervisors as well as the leadership of enterprises, and the proportion of women representatives at workers' conferences and faculty congresses. There should also be a certain proportion of women members in village committees and community committees.

- The state makes efforts to eliminate gender discrimination in employment and realize equal payment for men and women doing the same work. The state will strengthen special labor protection for female workers, timely revise the standards of special labor protection for women workers, and encourage the signing and implementation of special collective contracts for the protection of female workers' rights and interests in enterprises that have established labor unions.

- Women's right to having equal access to economic resources and to participating in economic development is guaranteed. The state will make sure that women in rural areas enjoy equal rights with men in the contracting and management of land, use of rural homesteads and distribution of collective income.

- The level of reproductive health services for women will be raised. The state will improve the maternity service system in urban and rural areas, and make sure that maternity insurance covers all employing units. The state will increase the proportion of women giving birth in hospitals, lower mortality rate during delivery, increase the screening rate of common gynecological diseases, and increase the rate of early diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer and breast cancer to lower the mortality rate in this regard. The state will gradually provide free folic acid and other nutrients to women of childbearing age in rural areas as a pre-gestational and early-pregnancy supplement, promote trial programs of free pre-gestational checkups, and provide free technical service to women who plan for pregnancy in rural areas, including relevant health care education.

- The state will prevent and prohibit domestic violence against women. The state will formulate a law on domestic violence, and improve the inter-departmental cooperative mechanism for the prevention and prohibition of domestic violence, and the integrative work mechanism of prevention, prohibition and assistance.

- The state will crack down on the crimes of abducting and trafficking in women. The state will stick to the principles which stress prevention as the major measure, integrate crackdown with prevention, put people first and exert comprehensive control, improve the vigilance of the whole society against abduction and women's precautionary awareness, provide physical and mental rehabilitation services to rescued women, and help them return to society.

- The state will strengthen the statistical work on gender data, and improve the collecting and publishing of gender-specific data in the fields of economic and social development.

(3) Children's rights

China implements the Law on the Protection of Minors, promotes the legislation process regarding children's welfare, preschool education, family education and other issues, and effectively guarantees children's rights to life, development, protection and participation for their best interests.

- Children's right to health is guaranteed. The state will constantly lower the mortality rates of infants and children under the age of five, and make sure to lower the rate of severe and frequently-occurring birth defects that lead to disabilities, and lower the disability rate due to birth defects. It will control the rate of low birth weight at under 5%. Ninety-five percent of the children in the country's central and western cities, and the entire eastern part will be vaccinated in the national immunization program, and the figure for rural areas in the central and western regions will reach 90%. The state will implement a nutrition enhancement program for students receiving compulsory education in rural areas, and make sure that students in primary and secondary schools generally reach the basic requirements of the National Standard of Students' Physical Health, and that students' endurance, strength, speed and other physical qualities realize significant improvement. During school time, students will be given at least one hour of sports and exercise every day, and the rates of nearsightedness, dental caries, obesity and malnutrition will be put under control.

- Administration of school buses and campus safety will be strengthened.

- Children's right to leisure and entertainment will be guaranteed. Children's services will be established in urban and rural areas to provide venues and facilities for games, recreation, education, health care, social and psychological support for children and their families. The state will make sure that at least one professional or part-time children's social worker is employed in a local community, village or town.

- Children's right to participate will be protected. The state encourages and supports children's participation in family and social life according to the degree of their physical and psychological development, and works to create a favorable social environment for children's participation.

- Discrimination against girls will be eliminated. The state will implement the reward-and-support policy for families with girls only, and try out support schemes for such families in impoverished areas. It bans identification of the sex of a fetus for other than medical purposes and termination of pregnancy in the case of a female fetus.

- The state will gradually expand the coverage of children's welfare. The state will improve the security system for orphans, increase the proportions of fostered and adopted orphans, and gradually bring unsupported children, children with severe or rare diseases and severely disabled children into the security system. The state will increase the emergency rehabilitation rate of disabled children under six years old, and guarantee the rights to life, education, health care and other rights of AIDS-affected children and convicts' children under 18 years old. The state will increase the number of institutions providing professional services for the upbringing and protection of orphans, protection of homeless children and rehabilitation of disabled children.

- Children's personal rights will be protected. The state will crack down on the abduction, maltreatment and abandonment of children, and the forcing of children into begging and other illegal activities and crimes that infringe upon the personal rights of children. The state will protect children from all forms of sexual abuse, and provide physical and psychological services to rescued children before properly resettling them.

- The state will prohibit the employment of child labor and exploitation of children, and will severely punish such illegal activities according to law.

- The legal proceedings in criminal cases involving juveniles will be improved. A conditional non-prosecution mechanism and criminal record sealing mechanism will be established. A good job will be done in community-based corrections of juvenile delinquents, and juveniles will be guaranteed legal service and assistance in accordance with the law.

(4) Senior citizens' rights

China implements the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, gradually improves the old-age security system, pushes forward the construction of old-age service system, and guarantees the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly.

- The state will improve the old-age social security system that covers both urban and rural residents. The government will provide basic pensions for rural residents and unemployed urban residents above 60 years old, and issue reward and support subsidies to parents in rural areas who are both above 60 and who have only one child or two daughters, preliminarily realizing universal coverage for all senior citizens.

- The state will improve preferential treatment measures for the elderly, actively providing various forms of preferential treatment and prioritized and preferential services to the elderly, and gradually increasing the level of social welfare for senior citizens.

- The state will improve the support policy for home-based old-age care. The state will improve the administrative policy of household registration transfer for elderly people, thus creating conditions for the transfer of senior citizens along with their providers. It will also improve policies that support and encourage home-based care and security services for elderly people.

- The state implements the Program for the Construction of Old-age Social Service System (2011-2015). By 2015, the state will increase the number of beds in day-care facilities and nursing homes by 3,420,000, and extend support to the establishment of not-for-profit nursing homes by private businesses.

- The state will improve the basic medical insurance for the elderly. Grassroots-level medical care services will provide health management services to local residents above 65 years old, and establish and keep health profiles for them.

- The state will enrich senior citizens' cultural lives. The state will increase financial investment into the construction of colleges for senior citizens, enlarge the scale of such schools, increase the supply of public cultural products for the elderly, organize public fitness activities for them and provide convenience for their participation in voluntary programs. In order to promote senior citizens' participation in social life, the state will make sure that at least 95% of urban communities and 80% of rural communities have their own senior citizens' associations by 2015.

- The state will promote the construction of elderly-friendly cities and livable communities for senior citizens. The state will comprehensively implement the technological standards of urban and rural construction projects related to senior citizens, as well as the standards of renovation of barrier-free facilities and the construction of facilities for the elderly in newly-built communities.

- The state will expand channels of legal assistance for the elderly and the emphasis is to provide legal services to citizens of advanced age, and senior citizens who live alone, are disabled or have any other physical difficulty.

(5) Rights and interests of the disabled

China develops undertakings relating to the disabled, improves social security and services for them, and protects their lawful rights and interests.

- The state will implement the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Disabled and improve relevant supporting laws and regulations. The state will formulate regulations on the construction of barrier-free environments, research and formulate regulations on the rehabilitation of the disabled, and research and revise the regulations on education for the disabled.

- The state will include the disabled people in both urban and rural areas in the basic endowment insurance and basic medical insurance according to relevant regulations. The state will establish a life subsidy system for the financially-challenged disabled population and nursing care allowances for the severely disabled, in an effort to supply a steady institutional guarantee for the basic life of the disabled.

- The state will comprehensively carry out community-based rehabilitation services. The state will help 13 million disabled people obtain rehabilitation to various degrees through the implementation of key rehabilitation programs, organize the supply of five million pieces of supporting devices of various types and provide basic supporting devices for those in need. It will also provide subsidies on 1.6 million occasions for community or household services for people suffering from mental disabilities and diseases, as well as for seriously disabled people.

- The state will raise the education level of the disabled. The state will make sure that school-age disabled children generally receive compulsory education. It will promote compulsory education for disabled children in such a way that they attend the same classes as other healthy children where convenient, providing education for disabled people that suits their needs and capacities. The state will develop pre-school rehabilitation education for disabled children and vocational education for the disabled, promoting senior high-school education and higher education for the disabled, and reducing illiteracy among the young and middle-aged disabled population.

- The state will stabilize and expand employment for the disabled. The state will provide employment services and vocational training for disabled people who seek employment, and make sure that an additional 800,000 disabled people will be employed by 2015.

- The state will strengthen development-oriented poverty reduction programs for the disabled population in rural areas. The state will help eight million needy disabled people in rural areas to improve their living conditions, increase their incomes and enhance their abilities for development. The state will provide skills training for 800,000 disabled people in rural areas, and continue to implement the "sunshine housing project" to improve the housing conditions of impoverished disabled people in rural areas.

- The state will require public cultural facilities to give access to the disabled free of charge or at preferential rates. The state encourages the construction of digital reading rooms for the blind in public libraries in areas that are capable of doing so, opens public sports facilities to the disabled gratis or at preferential rates, and carries out mass cultural and sports activities that conform to the physical and psychological characteristics of the disabled.

- The state will quicken the construction and renovation of barrier-free facilities. It will create barrier-free cities, counties and districts nationwide, strengthen the construction of barrier-free facilities of public transport including the railway, as well as the construction of information accessibility. The state will carry out renovation of barrier-free facilities for families of the disabled and subsidize those who have financial difficulties in the renovation.

- The state will expand the scale of publications in braille. It will strengthen the construction of publishing bases of braille books, and realize the annual production goal of 700,000 copies of such books and periodicals in 1,600 titles. It will also develop music scores for the blind, as well as reference books, periodicals, digital audio books and encyclopedias for them.

- The state will improve a coordinating work mechanism of legal assistance to the disabled. It will improve legal assistance to the disabled to protect their rights and interests by law.

IV. Human Rights Education

China will carry out extensive human rights education and training in various forms, and promote human rights awareness and publicize human rights knowledge throughout the Chinese society.

- China will include human rights education in the training programs of civil servants to strengthen human rights education and training for civil servants. The state supports human rights research institutes in their efforts to develop teaching materials for training in human rights and participate in the training work.

- China will strengthen human rights education in primary and middle schools. The state will make sure that human rights knowledge is integrated into relevant courses and included in the legal education curriculum. It will also carry out human rights promotional activities that suit juveniles, promote school management by law and democratic administration, and create an education environment that honors human rights.

- China will encourage institutions of higher learning to offer public courses and specialized courses on human rights, support the development of related disciplines and majors, and encourage studies on human rights theories.

- China will encourage and promote the publicity of human rights knowledge in enterprises and public institutions, and develop corporate cultures that honor and protect human rights.

- China will encourage the dissemination of human rights knowledge via the media. It will enhance human rights awareness among the whole populace to create an atmosphere of public opinion that human rights is emphasized by all.

- China will give full play to the role of national human rights education and training bases. By 2015, at least five new such bases will be opened.

V. Fulfillment of Obligations to International Human Rights Conventions, and Exchanges and Cooperation in the Field of International Human Rights

China continues to earnestly fulfill its obligations to the international human rights conventions to which it has acceded, and actively conducts exchanges and cooperation in the field of international human rights.

(1) Fulfillment of obligations to international human rights conventions

China cherishes the important role played by international instruments on human rights in promoting and protecting human rights. It submits timely reports on implementing the conventions to the treaty bodies concerned, holds constructive dialogues with these treaty bodies, takes into full consideration the proposals raised by them, and adopts rational and feasible ones in the light of China's actual conditions.

- China completed the sixth report on implementing the "Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment," and submitted it to the United Nations Committee against Torture for consideration.

- China completed the 14th report on implementing the "International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination," and submitted it to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination for consideration.

- China renewed the second report on implementing the "International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights," and participated in the deliberation meeting held by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

- China attended the deliberation meeting held by the Committee on the Rights of the Child concerning China's third and fourth combined report on implementing the "Convention on the Rights of the Child."

- China attended the deliberation meeting held by the Committee on the Rights of the Child on China's first report on implementing the "Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict."

- China attended the deliberation meeting held by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women on China's seventh and eighth combined report on implementing the "Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women."

- China attended the deliberation meeting held by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on China's first report on implementing the "Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities."

- China has continued to carry out administrative and judicial reforms and prepare the ground for approval of the "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."

(2) Exchanges and cooperation in the field of international human rights

China is committed to holding exchanges and cooperation in the field of international human rights and promoting the healthy development of international human rights on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

- China implements the related suggestions of United Nations Human Rights Council's (HRC) first Universal Periodic Review for China, prepares for and actively participates in the second Universal Periodic Review.

- China takes an active part in the work of the HRC, and helps that body to solve human rights problems in a fair, objective and non-alternative way.

- China continues its cooperation with the Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council, answers letters from it, and considers inviting special reporters to visit China while taking into account the principle of balancing various human rights and China's reception abilities.

- China continues its good cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

- China continues to hold dialogues and exchanges on human rights with various countries on the basis of equality and mutual respect. China also increases consultation and cooperation on human rights with developing countries.

- China continues to participate in human rights activities in the framework of the Asian-Pacific Region and Sub-region, including the Informal ASEM Seminar on Human Rights.

VI. Implementation and Supervision

The joint meeting mechanism for the National Human Rights Action Plan, headed by the Information Office of the State Council and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is responsible for the implementation, supervision and evaluation of the Action Plan.

- Related departments of the CPC Central Committee and Central Government, and local governments at all levels will attach the utmost importance to the Action Plan, and while taking into consideration the specific responsibilities of each department and regional characteristics, will take effective measures to achieve the aims and complete the tasks of the Action Plan.

- The joint meeting mechanism for the National Human Rights Action Plan will conduct research and examination, and have a final evaluation and publicize the evaluation report.

- In the process of implementing the Action Plan, China will respect and give full play to the public's initiative and creativity. It will innovate the social management mechanism and promote the constructive role of NGOs in human rights protection.

- China will make the Action Plan an important part of human rights education and training, and effectively raise people's consciousness in implementing the Action Plan.

- China will encourage the mass media to play a positive role in the publicizing, implementation and supervision of the Action Plan.

Click here to view the original report.

Related Articles:
U.S. State Dept. Report on Human Rights in China, 2010
China's 2010 Report on Human Rights in the U.S.