Significant step toward harmonious society

Wang Naikun, a senior official from the China Disabled Persons Federation, and Assistant Foreign Minister, Wu Hailong, delivered speeches at the "Assessment Meeting of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010)" in Beijing on Tuesday. Following are excerpts:

The rights of disabled people assumed a higher position in the government's agenda under the Action Plan, Wang said.

China has 83 million people with disabilities, 6.43 percent of the total population, and their rights are now better protected by law.

Various laws have been made and passed to make life easier for them and to ensure access to education, jobs, social security, occupational diseases treatment, and mental health, etc.

Special efforts have been made by governments at various levels to satisfy the basic needs of disabled people leading extremely difficult lives in rural areas. In the past two years, the basic problems of food and clothing have been solved for more than 4 million disabled farmers, and the dilapidated houses of 220,000 families of impoverished disabled people living in rural areas have been renovated.

The authorities have also paid attention to the treatment of disabled people at the community level, building 145,000 rehabilitation stations across the country, the backbone component of a national rehabilitation system. More than 40,000 children under 4 years old are now being properly treated in a special program established to help disabled children from poor families.

The State Council issued a special file calling for faster development of education for the disabled population, clarifying the target, mission and measures for special education, which is regarded as one of the eight main tasks of the National Education Development Plan. During the two years of the Action Plan, 1,160 special schools were built in the central and western regions.

The government has also attached great importance to helping disabled people find jobs, building 2,504 occupational training agencies where 833,000 disabled people receive training. Another 625,000 disabled people found jobs in urban areas during the two years. The working urban disabled population is 4.43 million and the working rural disabled population is 17.57 million.

Barrier-free regulations have been widely enforced in the transport and construction fields. It is now easier for disabled people to take airplanes and apply for driving licenses. The Chinese National Library for the Blind opened this June.

Chinese sportsmen with disabilities have taken part in more than 40 global events in the past two years. In 2010, the Guangzhou Asian Paralympics Games and special events for the disabled during the Shanghai World Expo were successfully staged.

As signatory country to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a core convention of its kind, China submitted its enforcement report in August 2010, outlining the country's progress in protecting disabled people's legal rights.

The Chinese government has learnt valuable lessons in protecting the rights of disabled people. It continually strives to ensure their equal participation in public affairs and their fair share of social resources.

International cooperation has proved important for the country to keep abreast of the latest developments in protecting the rights of disabled people.

International commitments

Also at the meeting, Wu said China published its National Human rights Action Plan (2009-2010) in April 2009, explicitly mapping out work targets and concrete measures to promote and protect human rights during the two years. It was China's first national human rights program and policy document, pushing forward the comprehensive development of its human rights cause. The Action Plan remains a constitutional principle for the Party and the government to respect and protect human rights and is a significant step toward building a harmonious socialist society.

Under the joint efforts of State departments, governments at various levels and social circles, the Action Plan has been effectively implemented over the past two years and all of its goals have been achieved as expected. Its full implementation testifies to the importance the Chinese government attaches to promoting the development of human rights and symbolizes a new development stage for China's human rights cause.

As part of its efforts to implement the Action Plan, China has effectively fulfilled its international obligations on human rights and displayed its cooperative attitude as a responsible power. It has submitted to the United Nations over the past two years reports on its implementation of the UN conventions on human rights, including the conventions on economic, social and cultural rights and on the rights of children and persons with disabilities.

China has actively participated in UN multilateral work in the field of human rights and played a constructive role in pushing for the healthy development of the human rights cause. As a member of the UN Human Rights Council, China has sent delegations to all previous meetings held by the council for in-depth discussions on a variety of human rights topics and conducted intimate coordination and cooperation with other developing nations on the issue.

It consistently advocates that human rights issues should be handled in a just and non-discriminatory manner. All these have won the Chinese government a responsible and cooperative image in the international community.

Over the past two years, China has also held multiple rounds of dialogue and consultations with the European Union, the United States, Australia, Britain, Germany and other Western countries on the human rights issue, which has helped enhance mutual understanding, reduced mutual disagreements and promoted the development of bilateral ties with these countries. Its constructive human rights consultations and exchanges with Russia, Cuba, Laos and other developing countries have also consolidated its friendly ties and pragmatic cooperation with developing countries.

It is China's consistent stance that the universal nature of human rights should be combined with a country's specific national conditions and that equal attention should be paid to promoting political, economic, social and cultural rights. China insists that the right to subsistence and the right to development remain the most basic and important human rights for the massive developing nation and advocates dialogue and cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect as the main way to resolve disagreements among different countries on human rights issues.

It is believed that under the strong leadership of the Central Committee of the Party and the State Council, as well as the joint efforts of the country's social circles, the 1.3 billion people in China will get a big boost in their political, economic and cultural rights and the country's human rights cause is sure to make greater headway.

China Daily