Launching its lengthy "Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010)", China's ruling Communist Party said it would "give priority" to people's rights to participate fully in China's rapidly developing economy.While claiming to "cherish" the role played by international human rights conventions, and promising to hold constructive dialogue, China said it would adopt only those suggestions that were "rational and feasible...in the light of China's actual conditions".
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The plan was published as China's state security apparatus continued to stifle dissenting voices ahead of a raft of sensitive anniversaries this year, including the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square killings in June 1989.In February, China dismissed Western criticism of its poor human rights record during its review at the UN's Human Rights Commission in Geneva, accusing other nations of "politicising" the issue.Introducing the plan, China said that the universal principles of human rights needed to be combined with the "concrete realities of China", advancing an interpretation of human rights appropriate to China's level of development.
"Having just entered the stage of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way and accelerating socialist modernisation, China is faced with the arduous tasks of reform, development and stabilisation," the report said."Due to the influences and limitations of nature, history, culture, economic and social development level, and other factors, China still confronts many challenges and has a long road ahead in its efforts to improve its human rights situation." Human Rights activists continue to criticise China for the widespread use of detention without trial, heavy use of the death penalty and what the UN Committee against Torture described in November as the "systemic" use of torture by police.Last Summer's Olympic Games disappointed many observers who had hoped that the global spotlight would force China to relax its controls on society, including heavy internet censorship and denying all right of protests against the ruling Party.However, China gave little ground, refusing to allow anyone to use pre-designated "protest pens" and arresting and imprisoning eight American activists for their parts in a pro-Tibet protest, a move which the US government officially condemned.At the end of the Games, the US said it was "disappointed" that China has not used the Olympics to demonstrate "greater tolerance and openness", calling on China to respect human rights, including "freedom of expression and freedom of religion".Despite the emphasis on economic and social rights, the report did promise to do more to prevent prisoner abuses, following a wave public outcry over several recent "accidents" in Chinese jails, including one prisoner who died "playing hide and seek". In an apparent nod to that public concern, the plan calls for a physical barrier between detainees and interrogators and mandatory physical examinations for detainees before and after they are questioned.Human rights groups said the report, while falling far short of what was required to bring China up to international standards, represented a small positive development in the attitude of China's government to such issues.
Joshua Rosenzweig, research manager for the Dui Hua Foundation, a US-based human rights group, said the plan did contain more input from academics, activists and other elements of civil society than previous human rights reports, but criticised the government for setting 'soft targets' for itself.The New York-based Human Rights Watch said that the document could go some way to giving ordinary Chinese a better understanding of their rights, but added that too many of the major issues had simply been ignored."Our concern is that many of the key abuses ... really aren't addressed in this document," said Phelim Kine, a researcher with the organisation.
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