Full Text: Progress in China's Human Rights in 2014

Full Text: Progress in China's Human Rights in 2014

BEIJING, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The Information Office of the State Council, or China's Cabinet, issued a white paper on Progress in China's Human Rights in 2014 Monday. Following is the full text:

Progress in China's Human Rights in 2014

Information Office of the State Council

The People's Republic of China

June 2015, Beijing

Contents

Preface

I. Right to Development

II. Rights of the Person

III.Democratic Rights

IV. Right to Impartial Trial

V. Rights of Ethnic Minorities

VI. Rights of Women, Children and Senior Citizens

VII.Rights of Persons with Disabilities

VIII.Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment

IX. Foreign Exchanges and Cooperation

Preface

In 2014 the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government jointly pushed forward the implementation of the country's four major strategic tasks: (1) build a moderately prosperous society; (2) drive the reform in a deeper level; (3) advance the law-based governance of China; and (4) strengthen Party self-discipline. The Chinese people enjoyed practical benefits from the development of the country, and their human rights situation also made new progress.

The basic rights of the Chinese people became better protected, and China's constitutional principle of "respecting and safeguarding human rights" was implemented in a better way. In 2014, China made steady progress in comprehensively completing the building of a moderately prosperous society. By the end of the year, among all the 29 countable or measurable indicators for economic and social development set forth in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), 12 had been over-fulfilled, three had been nearly fulfilled and 11 had made smooth progress, accounting for 90 percent of the total. The mid-stage assessment of China's National Human Rights Action Plan (2012-2015) was carried out in December 2014, and the result showed that most of the targets set in the plan had been reached, and a larger part of the quantitative indices had been half or even more achieved. In the same year China's efforts for law-based governance reached a new take-off stage. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC approved the Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on Certain Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Advancing the Law-Based Governance of China, drawing up a clear blueprint for building a socialist law-based country with Chinese characteristics. The fundamental purposes of the blueprint are to protect civic rights, to defend human dignity and to put basic human rights into practice.

The tremendous achievements China has made in its human rights endeavors fully demonstrate that it is taking the correct path of human rights development that suits its national conditions. Along this path, the CPC will steer the country in the right direction; the combination of the universal human rights principle with China's national conditions will safeguard, at a higher level, the Chinese people's rights to life and development; law-based governance will ensure that China's human rights development is enshrined in the legal system and institutions; all aspects of human rights will be developed with key areas being given priority; China will carry on and promote its fine traditions in this field while learning from and absorbing the merits of all other civilizations.

In order to realize the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, both the CPC and the Chinese government will cherish the country's precious and hard-won achievements and experiences in the realm of human rights, and will make great efforts to develop various undertakings conducive to the protection and realization of human rights, and ensure that all are able to achieve personal development and to contribute to society, to enjoy equal opportunities to achieve their potential and to realize their dreams, and to enjoy equal opportunities to participate in the development of the country.

I. Right to Development

In 2014 the Chinese government promoted development concepts and systems innovation, adopted effective measures to guarantee citizens' access to fair development, had more people to share the fruit of reform and development, and better protected the people's economic, social and cultural rights.

People's living standard further improved. China's GDP in 2014 increased by 7.4 percent over the previous year, and the economy operated within an appropriate range. The economic growth in central and western China was faster than that in the east. As many as 13.22 million new urban jobs were created, more than that in 2013. The total output of grain was 607.1 million tons, an increase of 5.16 million tons over the previous year. The first phase of the central line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was completed, providing water from the Yangtze River in the south to 60 million people in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in the north. More than 66 million rural people began to have access to safe drinking water in that year. In 2014 minimum wage standards were raised in 19 regions. The nationwide annual per capita disposable income reached 20,167 yuan, up 8 percent over the previous year and faster than the economic growth rate in 2014. The annual per capita disposable income for urban residents was 28,844 yuan, and that for rural residents reached 10,489 yuan, up 6.8 percent and 9.2 percent over the previous year, respectively, with the increasing rate for rural residents higher than that for urban residents for the fifth consecutive year. The urban-rural income ratio fell below 3:1 for the first time over the previous 13 years. Nationwide, per capita consumption expenditure reached 14,491 yuan, an increase of 7.5 percent over 2013, among which the consumption expenditure of urban residents was 19,968 yuan and that of rural residents was 8,383 yuan, up 5.8 percent and 10 percent, respectively. By the end of 2014 the number of telephone users in China had reached 1.53 billion, among whom that of mobile phone users reached 1.28 billion, with the penetration rate hitting 94.5 per 100 people. The number of 4G users was 97.284 million, and that of 3G users was 480 million. The number of Internet broadband users surpassed 200 million, among whom that of subscribers using broadband over 4M reached 177 million, taking up 88.1 percent of the total. The total broadband in China was 2500G, the broadband of the international communications gateway reached 9614Gbps, and the broadband of the international communications service gateway reached 3361.9Gbps. The number of trips abroad made by Chinese citizens was 116.59 million, among which those for private purposes reached 110.03 million, an increase of 19.6 percent over the previous year.