THE State Council Information Office on Thursday issued a white paper on the practice of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in respecting and protecting human rights.

The year 2021 marks the centenary of the CPC. Over the past century, the CPC has invested a huge effort in human rights protection, adding significantly to global human rights progress, said the white paper.

The CPC applies the principle of universality of human rights to China’s national conditions and has opened a new path of human rights protection, adding diversity to the concept of human rights, it said.

Regarding the people as the masters of the country is the basic political principle of the CPC on human rights, realized by democracy, freedom, equality and other rights, which are also important core socialist values.

By developing and protecting human rights, the CPC can strengthen its leadership and better develop socialism for long-term peace, stability and prosperity, it said.

The right to subsistence comes before any other right and the right to development is closely connected to the right to subsistence, the document said, adding that the CPC believes putting subsistence and development first and subsequently developing other rights is the only way to meet the people’s expectation that their rights will be protected.

Respecting and protecting human rights is a philosophy in State governance, and the CPC embodies this principle in its governance and self-improvement, the document said.

China makes national development plans for the realization of human rights. From 1953 to 2021, China has formulated 14 plans for national economic and social development. The people-centered approach to development embodies the principle of respecting and protecting human rights.

China’s achievements in poverty reduction have written a new chapter in the history of human rights and created a miracle in the global human rights effort.

After eight years of continuous struggle, at the end of 2020 China achieved the goal of eliminating absolute poverty as scheduled. All the 99 million rural poor living below the current poverty line were raised from poverty, the white paper said.

“China is 10 years ahead in its plan to realize the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” it said.

China’s contribution represents more than 70 percent of the global poverty reduction effort and has significantly reduced the world’s impoverished population, the white paper added.

In 2020, its per capita disposable income stood at 32,189 yuan (US$4,972) and per capita consumer spending was 21,210 yuan.

China maintains that all ethnic groups are equal and ensures that people of all ethnic groups have equal rights to administer State affairs in accordance with the law, the white paper said.

Of China’s 55 ethnic minorities, 52 have their own spoken languages, with the exception of the Hui people, who have used Han Chinese historically, and the Manchu and She peoples who now generally use Han Chinese, according to the document. Over 20 ethnic minority groups use nearly 30 written scripts.

It added the Chinese Government protects by law the legitimate use of the spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities.

China’s completion rate of the free nine-year compulsory education was 95.2 percent in 2020, reaching the average of high-income countries.

The nine-year compulsory education has been universal in ethnic minority areas. Students in the Tibet Autonomous Region and south Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region enjoy free education for 15 years.

China works to ensure ethnic minority groups’ right to education by running boarding schools in farming and pastoral areas, opening preparatory courses and special classes for ethnic minorities at colleges and schools, and prioritizing ethnic minority areas in developing higher education, the white paper said.

The life expectancy of Chinese citizens rose to 77.3 years in 2019, compared with 35 years in 1949.

The maternal and perinatal mortality rate dropped to 17.8 per 100,000 and the infant mortality rate to 5.6 per 1,000, according to the document.

China has put in place a legal system of more than 100 laws and regulations that comprehensively protects the rights and interests of women and children, the document said.

The country has promulgated a special law to prevent and stop domestic violence and protect the legal rights of family members.

Since China recovered its legitimate seat in the U.N. in 1971, it has played an active role in international human rights issues.

China has actively engaged in international human rights undertakings. It has signed 26 international human rights instruments.

China also submits periodic reports to give feedback on the progress made and any difficulties and problems encountered in implementing the conventions, it said.

China maintains constructive contacts with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), receiving eight visits by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to China, and inviting many of the OHCHR officials to visit China. By April 2021, China has invited 11 visits by nine U.N. representatives and groups.

The Belt and Road Initiative is an initiative for common development and also for protecting human rights, the white paper said.

The initiative could help lift 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty and 32 million people out of moderate poverty, the document cited a World Bank study as saying.

It could boost trade by 2.8 to 9.7 percent for the corridor economies, and by 1.7 to 6.2 percent for the world, said the white paper, adding that global real income could increase by 0.7 to 2.9 percent.

(Xinhua)