The Chinese government has released a white paper detailing the progress made in human rights in 2013. The white paper elaborates the progress in China’s human rights from 9 aspects including social security rights, democratic rights and personal rights.
The new white paper details China’s achievements in human rights in 2013. The annual per capita net income for both urban and rural residents increased in 2013. For rural residents, it was up 9.3 percent over the previous year in real terms. For urban residents, it was 7 percent
In 2012 full coverage was achieved by the new social endowment insurance systems for rural residents and non-working urban residents. By the end of 2013, the number of participating in the basic endowment insurance increased by 13.8 million.
2013 also saw rural and urban areas adopt the same ratio of deputies in representation at the National People’s Congress. More than 13 percent of the total NPC deputies were from ethnic minorities, and included all of the country’s 55 ethnic minority groups.
The Internet has become one of the most important channels for Chinese to express their opinions. There were nearly 600 million Internet users in China. More than two-thirds access the Internet via mobile phones. Chinese citizens posted and forwarded 250 million microblog messages and over 20 billion WeChat and other instant messages daily.
China abolished the system of reeducation through labor after more than 50 years of operation.
China continued to increase funds in promoting socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas. The central government allocated 46.4 billion yuan in transfer payments to ethnic minority areas, up by 10.5 percent from 2012. The funds went mainly to social welfare and tax relief.
The government improved rehabilitation and job opportunities for people with disabilities. 18,000 welfare enterprises employed more than 5-hundred-thousand people with disabilities.
The government continued to promote ecological progress. Some 340 billion yuan went to energy conservation and environmental protection, a 14 percent year-on-year growth.
China also conducted active international cultural exchanges and cooperation, and signed 26 international covenants on human rights. Last November , China was elected to the UN Human Right Council for the term from 2014 to 2016.
