New action plan shows China's resolve on human rights

Children play football in the daycare class in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, July 21, 2021. [Xinhua/Xie Chen]

BEIJING -- Chinese officials and human rights experts on Tuesday voiced strong support for the country's newly issued five-year human-rights action plan covering the period from 2021 to 2025.

The plan proposes new objectives and missions for the new stage of China's development, with a focus on issues concerning people's wellbeing.

Li Xiaojun, an official with the bureau of human rights affairs under the State Council Information Office, told a press conference that the new action plan aims to provide better education, jobs and incomes, promote social-security services, medical services and living conditions, while ensuring more effective ways for the people to exercise democratic political rights.

The plan stresses protecting the underage from corporal punishment and bullying, both on the internet and on campus, said Chang Jian, director of the human rights research center of the Tianjin-based Nankai University.

It also proposes providing better services to elderly people with disabilities and dementia, Chang added.

The plan sets specific targets to protect the rights and interests of the disabled, including 500,000 new jobs for them in urban areas, and building rehabilitation universities, Li Xiaojun said.

Bie Tao, head of the Department of Laws, Regulations and Standards under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said the protection of environmental rights is a major characteristic of China's efforts to safeguard human rights.

Noting that the plan urges improvements to the system of compensation for ecological and environmental damage, Bie said regulations will be drafted in this regard.

The plan lists China's targets and promises on domestic and international development of the cause of human rights.

Li Xiaomei, special representative for human rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the historic achievements made by China in terms of eliminating extreme poverty and building a moderately prosperous society in all respects are the best practice in human-rights progress.

"China will open a new chapter in international exchanges and cooperation on human rights in the next five years," Li said.