China mulls second action plan on human rights
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Xinhua, September 28, 2011
China will publish a second action plan on human rights, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The new National Human Rights Action Plan of China will guide the country's human rights work in the next four years from 2012 to 2015, said Wang Chen, minister of the State Council Information Office (SCIO).
Wang said problems remain with China's human rights conditions due to uncoordinated and unsustainable economic development, such as the increasing income gap between urban and rural dwellers, adding that the new plan will continue to attach more importance to improving people's livelihoods.
The new plan will cover economic, social and culture rights as well as civil and political rights. It will also make commitments to improving the rights of ethnic groups, women, children, senior citizens and disabled people, Wang said.
A major goal of the new action plan is to offer more effective protection to citizens' political rights, according to Wang.
Human rights will be considered throughout all the process and fields in building democracy and rule of law, said Wang.
China published the first Action Plan in April 2009, the first of its kind that the country has made, and an action which made China one of the 26 countries that have responded to the United Nations' call to establish a national human rights plan since 1993.
In the assessment report of the first action plan published in July, the SCIO said that China has fulfilled its commitments in the plan, "making new efforts for the healthy development of international human rights endeavors."
The new Action Plan will be formulated through discussions with more than 56 organizations, including government departments and non-governmental organizations.
