Progress in China's Human Rights in 2014

IV. Right to Impartial Trial

In 2014 China's judicial bodies at all levels enhanced judicial justice and openness, adopted multiple judicial reform measures and ensured impartiality in the trial of cases, thereby safeguarding human rights in the field of justice at a higher level.

Judicial justice maintained. Public security, procuratorial and judicial bodies continued to implement relevant laws and regulations to improve the mechanisms of preventing, identifying and redressing cases involving unjust, false and wrongful charges throughout all criminal procedures from investigation to prosecution to trials. In 2014 the people's courts at all levels punished criminals in accordance with the law, protected the lives and property of the people, concluded 1.023 million cases of first instance, and convicted 1.184 million people. Based on the principles of "statutory crime and penalty," "no punishment in doubtful cases" and "evidentiary adjudication," the courts acquitted 518 defendants in cases of public prosecution and 260 in cases of private prosecution, thereby maintaining the freedom of innocent people. The Supreme People's Court issued the Measures of the Supreme People' s Court for Listening to Opinions of Defense Lawyers in the Handling of Death Penalty Review Cases. It ensured lawyers' rights to search case-filing information and consult case files, and empowered lawyers to present defense arguments directly to judges of the Supreme People's Court. Procuratorial bodies at all levels got the investigation bodies to cancel 17,673 cases that should not have been filed; provided 54,949 opinions to correct illegal investigation activities such as misuse of compulsory measures, illegally obtaining evidence and extorting confessions by torture; got 116,553 arrests and 23,269 prosecutions annulled since the conducts in question did not constitute crimes or lacked sufficient evidence. Following the trial supervision procedures, the people's courts altered the judgments of 1,317 criminal cases after retrial. A number of major criminal cases involving unjust, false, or wrongful charges were redressed in accordance with the principle of "no punishment in doubtful cases." The Higher People's Court of Fujian Province heard the poisoning case involving Nian Bin, and acquitted the suspect on the ground of "lacking sufficient evidence." The Higher People's Court of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region retried the case of Hugjiltu who was originally charged with intentional homicide and indecent assault, and absolved him of guilt.

Judicial openness increased. The Supreme People's Court implemented the Several Opinions on Advancing the Establishment of the Three Major Platforms of Judicial Openness. A trial procedure information platform has been established so that litigants can inquire about the progress of their cases, and a judgment disclosure platform has been created. On January 1, 2014, the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the Publicizing of Written Judgments of the People's Courts on the Internet was officially implemented. In 2014, a total of 6.294 million judgments were publicized on the Internet, of which 7,993 were published by the Supreme People's Court. An execution information disclosure platform has been built. China has improved the system of publicizing the name and other information of people who fail to obey the rulings of the people's court. In 2014 China published information about 1.1 million such persons, and enforced punitive measures 1.5 million times, including restricting them from high consumption. On October 1, 2014 the Provisions on Case Information Disclosure by the People's Procuratorates (Trial) was implemented. China has completed the construction of a nationwide system of case information disclosure by procuratorial bodies, putting into operation the four platforms of case procedural information inquiry, legal documentation disclosure, information disclosure of major cases, and application by appointment for defense and representation.

The system of excluding illegally obtained evidence implemented. Public security, procuratorial and judicial bodies have further improved the implementation mechanism of excluding illegally obtained evidence. They would refuse evidence obtained by these means: confessions of criminal suspects or defendants that are extorted by torture or other illegal means, witnesses' testimonies or victims' presentations obtained through violence or threats, material or written evidence obtained by violating legal procedures, and other actions that might severely affect justice, and to which no correction or supplementation can be made or reasonable explanations given. In 2014, by refusing to adopt illegally obtained evidence, procuratorial bodies at all levels decided not to arrest 406 people and not sue 198 people. During the investigation and examination of an intentional homicide case, the People' s Procuratorate of Shunping County in Hebei Province identified multiple questionable points, resolutely refused to adopt illegally obtained evidence, decided not to arrest the suspect by the family name of Wang, and urged more investigations, with the result that the real culprit was apprehended.

Judicial system reform advanced. The Third Meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening the Reform deliberated on and adopted the Framework Opinions on Several Issues Concerning Judicial System Reform and other documents. Shanghai Municipality and Guangdong, Jilin, Hubei, Hainan, Guizhou and Qinghai provinces were designated as pilot areas to implement four judicial reform measures, namely, improving the categorized management of judicial personnel, improving the judicial accountability system, improving the career security of judicial personnel, and implementing the integrated management of personnel, finance and property in the people's courts and procuratorates below the provincial level. According to the Plan of the Supreme People's Court on Setting up Pilot Circuit Courts, the Supreme People's Court set up the First Circuit Court in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, and the Second Circuit Court in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, to hear major administrative, civil and business cases across administrative regions, shifting its work focus to lower levels and resolving disputes on the spot, thus making it more convenient for the ordinary people to file lawsuits and ensuring judicial justice. In line with the Opinions of the Supreme People's Court on Comprehensibly Deepening the Reform of the People's Courts, Beijing and Shanghai have set up trans-administrative regional intermediate courts to handle major criminal, civil and administrative cases; Beijing and Shanghai have been exploring ways of setting up trans-administrative regional people's procuratorates, focusing on administrative litigation supervision cases, major civil and business supervision cases, major duty-related cases, major criminal cases concerning environmental and resource protection and food and drug safety, so as to ensure that the law is enforced correctly and consistently across the country.

Administrative adjudication system reformed and improved. The Standing Committee of the NPC adopted the resolution on amending the Administrative Litigation Law, further improving the systems covering every aspect of administrative litigation, from bringing a case to court, the trial of the case, to making of the judgment and enforcement, so as to further protect the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations. China has expanded the case-filing scope for administrative litigation to include such activities as administrative bodies' abuse of power to exclude and restrict competition, illegal raising of funds and apportioning expenses, and failing to provide subsistence allowances or social security benefits. China practices case-filing registration and has extended the time limit for prosecution to six months. In 2014 the people' s courts at all levels took up 151,000 administrative cases of first instance and concluded 131,000 of them, up 16.3 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively, over 2013. Shandong, Guangdong, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Yunnan and Henan provinces continued the pilot work of centralized jurisdiction of trans-regional administrative cases.

Judicial protection of intellectual property rights improved. In 2014 Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou set up intellectual property courts. The Supreme People' s Court issued the Guiding Opinions on Selecting and Appointing Judges for Intellectual Property Courts (Trial), which prescribed the principles, criteria and approaches for selecting and appointing such judges, and improved the professional level of intellectual property adjudication. In 2014 the people's procuratorates at all levels prosecuted 9,427 persons for infringement of trademarks, patents, copyrights or business secrets, up 7.1 percent over 2013. The people's courts at all levels concluded 110,000 intellectual property cases of first instance, up 10 percent over 2013.

State compensation and judicial assistance enhanced. China has made it clear that the principles and conditions guiding the compensation for psychological damage can be applied in state compensation cases, and is making efforts to build a joint mechanism for state compensation to safeguard the lawful rights and interests of compensation applicants. In 2014 the people's courts at all levels concluded 2,708 state compensation cases, and decided on a compensation amount totaling 110 million yuan. China has improved the criminal victim relief system, reducing or exempting litigation fees totaling 180 million yuan, so as to protect the litigation relief rights of impoverished people.

V. Rights of Ethnic Minorities

In 2014 China's ethnic minorities and areas inhabited by ethnic minorities made new developments in various social programs, and ethnic minorities' civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights were further guaranteed.

The rights of ethnic minorities to participate in the administration of the state are effectively guaranteed. All ethnic autonomous areas enjoy autonomous rights in a wide range of areas in accordance with the law, including local legislative power, flexibility in the execution of relevant state laws and regulations based on the characteristics of each ethnic minority, the right to use their own spoken and written languages, power of personnel and financial management, and the right of independently developing their own culture and education. Nationwide, the number of civil servants from ethnic minorities keeps increasing. The proportion of such civil servants in the total number of civil servants is higher than the proportion of ethnic minorities in the country' s total population, and is on the rise every year. In Tibet, of the 34,244 deputies to the people' s congresses at all four levels, 31,901 persons, or 93 percent, are from the Tibetan or other minority communities. The Tibet Autonomous Region has 20 deputies to the NPC, 14 of whom are Tibetans or from other minority groups. Tibetans and other ethnic minorities account for 70.53 percent of the government officials in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Tibetans and other ethnic minorities account for 73.03 percent of the leaders at county and township levels.

Ethnic-minority areas achieve fast economic growth. In 2014 the per capita disposable income of urban residents in the Inner Mongolia, Guangxi Zhuang, Tibet, Ningxia Hui and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions, and Guizhou, Yunnan and Qinghai provinces, which have large minority populations, reached 28,350 yuan, 24,669 yuan, 22,016 yuan, 23,285 yuan, 23,214 yuan, 22,548 yuan, 24,299 yuan and 22,307 yuan, respectively, a year-on-year increase of 9 percent, 8.7 percent, 7.9 percent, 8.4 percent, 10.1 percent, 9.6 percent, 8.2 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively; the per capita disposable income of rural residents in the same areas reached 9,976 yuan, 8,683 yuan, 7,359 yuan, 8,410 yuan, 8,724 yuan, 6,671 yuan, 7,456 yuan and 7,283 yuan, respectively, a year-on-year increase of 11 percent, 11.4 percent, 12.3 percent, 10.7 percent, 11.2 percent, 13.1 percent, 10.9 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively. In 2014, the total foreign trade value of these five autonomous regions and three provinces registered 814.8 billion yuan, growing by 15.4 percent over the previous year and 13.1 percentage points higher than the national growth rate. Exports reached 552.6 billion yuan, increasing by 20 percent over the previous year and 15 percentage points higher than the national growth rate. The rural impoverished population decreased by 3.57 million from the previous year, with a poverty reduction rate of 13.9 percent. The central government appropriated 4.059 billion yuan as special funds for the development of minority groups, a growth rate of 10 percent compared to 2013. Aiming to support the development of border areas, where large numbers of minority peoples reside, the central government provided 2.88 billion as assistance funds for revitalizing border areas and bringing prosperity to their residents and central budgetary investment, an increase of 88.9 million yuan over the previous year. The central budgetary investment and funds for the development of minority groups provided 1.53 billion yuan to support the development of minority groups with small populations, an increase of 87.1 million yuan compared with 2013. The state vigorously implemented protection and development projects for ethnic-minority villages with cultural significance, and provided 490 million yuan as specialized funds, up 22.5 percent over the previous year.

Quality of life in Tibet and Xinjiang keeps improving. In 2014 the growth rate of the GDP of the Tibet Autonomous Region was 3.4 percentage points higher than the national average. The region completed its housing project for farmers and herdsmen, after eight years of incremental investment that totaled 27.357 billion yuan. The region' s 2.3 million farmers and herdsmen of 460,300 households have moved into solid and convenient houses. The per capita living space of Tibetan rural and urban residents is now 33.77 sq m and 41.39 sq m, respectively. Lhasa completed a natural gas heating project, enabling 105,200 households to enjoy "warm winters." Now Tibet has a public medical and health service system combining Tibetan, Western and traditional Chinese medicine that covers all urban and rural areas of the autonomous region with Lhasa as the center. So free medical services are now available to all the farmers and herdsmen in Tibet. The subsidy for each farmer or herdsman for these medical services was raised to 380 yuan per person in 2015. The autonomous regional government allocated a special fund of 23 million yuan to set up a major disease supplementary health insurance for farmers and herdsmen. A project is being carried out to provide the "five guarantees" (food, clothing, medical care, housing and funeral expenses) to the needy and orphans in communal settings. Some 72 percent of residents entitled to the "five guarantees" are now supported, and more than 5,900 orphans have received assistance from the government in this manner. The average life expectancy in Tibet has increased to 68 years and the death rates of infants and women in childbirth have dropped significantly. The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region ranks among the top in economic growth in the country, with a growth rate 2.6 percentage points higher than the national average. In 2014 the public financial revenue of the Xinjiang government reached 128.26 billion yuan, an increase of 13.7 percent compared to 2013; 70.3 percent of the public financial expenditure of the autonomous region was used to improve its people' s livelihood; the government in Xinjiang had fulfilled its promise to implement 150 key livelihood projects of 25 types. Xinjiang has ranked among the top in China in the growth of per capita disposable incomes of both rural and urban residents for three consecutive years. The region' s employed population has increased by 380,000 and its poverty-stricken population has been reduced by 100,000. Sums of 24.644 billion yuan, 26.24 billion yuan and 3.653 billion yuan have been used in building comfortable housing for 307,800 families, 265,200 government-subsidized apartments, and 30,100 units of nomad-settlement housing, respectively. The region has newly developed 134 sites of safe rural drinking water, supplying 600,000 rural residents. Some 3.42 billion yuan has been allocated for the construction and reconstruction of rural highways with a total length of 6,087 km, providing better travel conditions for 850,000 farmers and herdsmen. Xinjiang has raised the per capita funding level for the new rural cooperative medical care system to 436.9 yuan, and the per capita expenditure on public health services to 35 yuan. Screening breast cancer and cervical cancer in women, treating congenital heart disease in children, and providing medical care to those who suffer from 54 kinds, or 22 categories of serious diseases in agricultural and pastoral areas are in progress as planned.

Rapid development in education. When making educational reform and development policies, the state always gives special support to areas inhabited by ethnic minorities to develop preschool education, improve basic conditions of schools carrying out compulsory education and accelerate the development of vocational education. In 2014 the central government provided 2.4 billion yuan in the development of regular high schools at counties inhabited by ethnic minorities and with a weak educational basis. The state implements a preferential policy toward ethnic minorities and areas inhabited by ethnic minorities in college admissions, giving rural students from ethnic-minority areas easier access to high-quality higher education resources. The state adopts special measures of "preparatory classes for ethnic minorities" and "plan for high-caliber personnel of ethnic minorities" for personnel training of ethnic minorities. In 2014 there were 53,000 ethnic-minority students enrolled in preparatory classes, up 3.31 percent over the previous year.

Cultural services keep growing. Ethnic-minority areas have improved their cultural public service system. A total of 104 radio stations and television stations in ethnic autonomous areas at provincial and municipal levels run 191radio programs, including 45 programs broadcast in ethnic-minority languages, and 215 TV programs, including 42 programs broadcast in ethnic-minority languages. There are more than 50,000 cultural institutions of various types in ethnic autonomous areas. The "Cultural Volunteers Going to Border Areas" activity has attracted about 10,000 volunteers, giving and running more than 1,200 performances, lectures and exhibitions in border areas inhabited by ethnic minorities. Training courses have been held on 7,000 occasions, and several million people have benefited. The projects "Digital Cultural Corridor in Border Areas" and "Tibetan, Qiang & Yi Cultural Corridor" have been carried out in border areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, aiming to build a digital cultural service network with broad coverage and high effectiveness.

Respecting and safeguarding the right of ethnic minorities to use and develop their own spoken and written languages. The state takes concrete measures to ensure the legitimate use of ethnic-minority languages in the administrative and judicial sectors, news and publication, radio, film and television, culture and education, and other areas. China National Radio and local radio stations broadcast in 21 ethnic-minority languages on a daily basis. There are ten Tibetan-language magazines and 22 Tibetan-language newspapers in Tibet. Tibet People's Radio has 42 programs in Tibetan. Tibet TV Station has a Tibetan-language channel broadcasting 24 hours a day. Bilingual teaching is done in the classroom in more than 12,000 schools around the country. There are more than four million students receiving bilingual education, and over 200,000 bilingual teachers. Tibet has more than 400,000 students receiving bilingual education at the stage of compulsory education, accounting for 97 percent of the total.

Cultural relics and historic sites effectively preserved. China has further enhanced the preservation of intangible cultural heritage projects and their representative inheritors in ethnic-minority areas. Tibet has nearly 800 intangible cultural heritage projects. Tibetan opera and the Gesar Epic have been included in UNESCO' s Masterpieces of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and 158 books have been put on the State List of Valuable Ancient Books. In 2014 the preservation and maintenance of the three key projects of the Potala Palace, Norbulingka and Sakya Monastery was completed, for which more than 380 million yuan was used. This is the largest project for the preservation and maintenance of cultural relics in Tibet, with the most funds from the central government, in which sci-tech means have been widely applied and the latest construction techniques have been used. "Silk Road: the Route Network of the Chang' an-Tianshan Corridor" has been designated as a new World Heritage Site by UNESCO, including the ruins of Beiting City and other five sites in Xinjiang.

Freedom of religious belief of ethnic minorities fully guaranteed. Currently there are 1,787 venues for religious activities of various types in Tibet, with 46,000 resident monks and nuns. Living Buddha reincarnation, as a special succession system of Tibetan Buddhism, is respected by the state. There are 358 living Buddhas in Tibet, of whom over 40 incarnated living Buddhas have been confirmed through traditional religious rituals and historical conventions. Under the special care of the government, all the monks and nuns in Tibet are covered by health insurance, pension insurance, basic living allowance and personal accident insurance. Tibet provides free physical examinations to monks and nuns annually. In accordance with the senior academic titles system of Tibetan Buddhism, by the end of 2014 a total of 110 monks had received senior academic titles and 84 had received intermediate academic titles. Ethnic minorities' religious classics have been protected and preserved. The country has provided 35 million yuan in the collating and publishing of the Chinese Tripitaka (Tibetan) over the past two decades. The Chinese Islamic Association has compiled and published Islamic scriptures in Arabic, including Sharhal-Aqeedah al-Tahawiyyah and Tafsir al-Jalalayn. The Association has also set up a website in the Uygur language, providing introduction of religious knowledge and online explanation of the scriptures to meet the religious needs of the people. In 2014 a total of 14,466 Chinese Muslims made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Relevant government departments strengthened the training of accompanying medical staff, and worked hard to improve medical care and epidemic prevention for pilgrimage groups to guarantee the pilgrims' health and safety.

VI. Rights of Women, Children and Senior Citizens

In 2014 the Chinese government further implemented the basic national policy of equality between men and women, and the principle that "the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration," and built up a system of old-age services and related businesses, so as to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of women, children and senior citizens.

Women's right to participation in public affairs management protected in accordance with the law. The mechanism for assessing relevant laws and policies concerning gender equality was improved. By the end of 2014 Beijing and Tianjin cities, and Shanxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei and Sichuan provinces had established their own mechanisms for assessing the effects of regulations and policies from the perspective of gender so as to avoid institutional gender discrimination caused by improper stipulations. Efforts were made to include rural women into the village branch committees of the CPC and the villagers' committees when a new round of election of these two committees was conducted, and to improve the work of women's deliberative councils, boards of women directors, mutual-assistance groups of women in the countryside whose husbands are seeking employment in cities, and women volunteers. In 2014 more than 33,000 such mutual-assistance groups were set up, and 2.22 million women volunteers were registered.

Employment of women effectively increased. In 2014 some 217.275 billion yuan of small-sum secured loans were granted to women, and 18.681 billion yuan of subsidies for interest discount were issued from central and local government budgets, benefiting 4.59 million women. Training of a new type of professional women farmers was offered to enhance their market competitiveness. Some 17,000 modern agricultural scientific and technological demonstration bases at various levels run by women received government support, more than 4,000 domestic service training bases were built for women, more than 580,000 women received training, and more than 600,000 women found jobs as domestic helpers. Efforts were made to help more than 500,000 female students in 227 colleges and universities find jobs or start businesses through publicity of employment policies and by provision of information on job vacancies.

The rights of the person of women and children better protected. In 2014 the people' s courts at various levels concluded 1,048 criminal cases involving the kidnapping of women and children and sexual assault on minors, resulting in 876 criminals sentenced to five years' imprisonment or more, with some receiving the death penalty. The Opinions on Law-based Handling of Crimes of Domestic Violence was enacted to provide legislation for the punishment of domestic violence in accordance with the law. In February 2014 the Supreme People' s Court held a press conference focusing on domestic violence cases handled by the people' s courts in recent years, citing 10 typical cases as examples, which improved the consistent application of the laws in tackling domestic violence. By the end of 2014 a total of 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government had enacted local regulations and policies to prevent and deter domestic violence. The Anti-domestic Violence Law of the People ' s Republic of China (draft) was published to solicit the public's opinions.

Efforts were made to improve the joint response mechanism for protecting minors, which featured "monitoring for prevention, timely reporting of clues, and assistance and intervention," to build a nationwide social protection network for minors, and to explore a guardian system with "family guardianship as the basis, public supervision as the guarantee, and state guardianship as the supplement," so as to form a working structure for the protection of minors that integrates efforts of family, society and government.

In December 2014 the Supreme People's Court, Supreme People's Procuratorate, Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Civil Affairs jointly released the Opinions on Law-based Handling of the Infringement of the Rights and Interests of Minors by Their Guardians, which made explicit stipulations, created a mechanism for reporting and handling the infringement as soon as it occurs, specified the requirements for the trial of cases involving guardianship transfer, and defined the duties of civil affairs departments, courts, prosecution organs and public security organs. The Tongshan District People's Court of Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, concluded the first case in China that stripped the parents of their guardianship of their minor child. The practice of "round-table trial" of cases involving minor suspects was improved, and the system of sealing up criminal records of minors was followed.

Subsistence security of children living in difficult circumstances strengthened. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has issued the Opinions on Regulating the Adoption of Children with Extremely Indigent Biological Parents and of Abandoned Orphans, Measures for the Management of Families with Children Entrusted to Their Care, Opinions on Establishing a Guiding Mechanism for Charitable Deeds Concerning Children, and other regulatory documents, explored the provision of classified security for children living in difficult circumstances, pushed forward a pilot program of a moderate general preferential welfare system for children, and encouraged the public to join in philanthropic activities for children. The subsistence allowances for orphans were continuously increased. The central budget allocated 2.3 billion yuan in addition to the financial provision of local governments to cover the basic cost of living for orphans, benefiting 557,000 orphans and 5,200 HIV-affected children nationwide.

Woman and child health care service improved. The National Health and Family Planning Commission made 2014 "Woman and Child Health Care Service Year," kicking off a campaign to provide high-quality health care service for women and children. In-patient childbirth subsidies were granted to rural women. Rural women received free cervical cancer and breast cancer screening examinations practices that had been continued for years. In 2014 some 10 million and 1.2 million rural women, respectively, had such free examinations, and 10,362 women patients with financial difficulties each received 10,000 yuan of aid on average.

The government went ahead with free pre-pregnancy physical examinations, which covered more than 80 percent of the targeted women in 2014. Common diseases, frequently-occurring diseases afflicting women and children were effectively prevented and cured. The mother-to-child transmission rate of AIDS dropped to 6.3 percent. The occurrence of serious anemia among pregnant or lying-in women, of low-birth-weight infants, and of malnutrition among children all declined. The central budget allocated 2.162 billion yuan of special subsidies to support 552,000 orphans and 5,226 HIV-infected children.

The "pilot program of nutrition improvement for infants in poverty-stricken areas" had spread to 300 counties in 21 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government by the end of 2014, and the "act to eliminate anemia among infants" benefited 150,000 babies. Some 500 million yuan and 159 million yuan, respectively, were spent on nutrition improvement of children and disease-screening examinations of newborns in contiguous poverty-stricken areas. Free nutrition packages were provided to 1.37 million infants aged six to 24 months, and screening for phenylketonuria, congenital hypothyroidism and hearing loss was conducted for 1.325 million newborns. Some 10,000 children suffering congenital heart disease in Tibet Autonomous Region received free treatment.

Rights and interests of senior citizens guaranteed. The government continued to implement the 12th Five-Year Plan for Helping Senior Citizens and 12th Five-Year Plan for the System of Old-age Services (both 2011-2015), Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating Old-age Services and Opinions on Improving Care for Senior Citizens. Shandong, Hebei, Guangdong and Hainan provinces, and Shanghai have drawn up their own regulations regarding the protection of the rights and interests of senior citizens, special care for them, and management of nursing homes. In these provinces and the city of Shanghai, allowances were provided for senior citizens over a certain age, and old-age service subsidies were issued to the elderly in financial difficulties.

Information platforms for the elderly have been set up in more than 60 counties, cities and municipal districts in 25 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, benefiting 20 million elderly people. Home care and community services now cover 70 percent and 37 percent, respectively, of the elderly population.

The basic pension benefits for enterprise retirees have been increasing for 10 years in a row, with the per capita monthly amount being raised from 647 yuan in 2004 to 2,050 yuan in 2014. From July 2014 the lowest monthly basic amount of the pension insurance for rural and urban non-working residents was raised from 55 yuan to 70 yuan per person, for which the central budget allocated 12 billion yuan as additional subsidies, benefiting 143 million rural and urban non-working residents.

The central budget provided 2.5 billion yuan to improve the conditions of welfare institutions and rural nursing homes to satisfy the needs of senior people in difficulties. By the end of 2014 the number of nursing home beds nationwide had reached 26 for every 1,000 senior citizens, and over 88.8 percent of the Chinese over 65 years old had been incorporated into the health management system. One billion yuan from the central special lottery public welfare fund was provided to 33,300 rural nursing homes.

Non-governmental organizations of senior citizens received support. By the end of 2014 China had 490,000 community-level associations of senior citizens and nearly 20 million senior volunteers. There were 2,137 legal assistance centers offering timely services for the elderly. In 2014 judicial and administrative agencies handled 113,000 cases of legal assistance for the elderly and provided legal consultations to more than 340,000 senior people.

VII. Rights of Persons with Disabilities

In 2014 the government adopted a series of measures to protect and improve the well-being of persons with disabilities, and progress was made in social security, employment, education, and provision of public services for disabled people.

The lives of disabled persons with financial difficulties better secured. The Ministry of Civil Affairs and China Disabled Persons' Federation supported the introduction of living expense subsidies to disabled persons with financial difficulties and of nursing subsidies to those suffering from a high degree of disability in some regions. Nineteen provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government adopted the policy of granting living expense subsidies to disabled persons with financial difficulties, and 15 had adopted the policy of granting nursing subsidies to those suffering from a high degree of disability. Nationwide, 77.42 percent of the entitled population had access to either of the two policies, benefiting more than seven million people with disabilities.

Notable achievements in key rehabilitation projects. In 2014 the central special lottery public welfare fund provided 1.063 billion yuan for the rehabilitation of the disabled. Thanks to a number of key rehabilitation projects, 7.515 million disabled people received rehabilitation services of various kinds: 748,000 received cataract surgery, including 300,000 free operations; 142,000 visually impaired people received visual aids; 123,000 blind people received orientation and mobility training; 32,000 children with hearing impairments received hearing restoration or language training; 30,900 children with intellectual disabilities received training in rehabilitation institutions; 73,400 children and 34,800 adults with intellectual disabilities received rehabilitation guidance in their communities or homes; 40,000 children with brain paralysis received training in rehabilitation institutions, and their parents also received relevant training; 367,000 physically challenged people received rehabilitation training in their communities or homes; 8,860 physically handicapped children from poor families and 224 persons suffering from leprosy received surgery; 5.837 million patients with mental disorder received comprehensive rehabilitation services, 462,000 indigent people with mental disorder received medical services, and 20,000 children with autistic disorders received rehabilitation training; 1.524 million assistance devices were provided to people with disabilities, of which 403,200 were provided gratis by the central special lottery public welfare fund for disabled people living in poverty; and 29,000 artificial limbs and 64,000 remedial aids were provided cheaply or free for disabled people living in poverty.

In addition, efforts were made to train rehabilitation personnel, including 25,800 rehabilitation management staff, 55,900 rehabilitation specialists and 169,800 community rehabilitation coordinators. In total, 914 municipal districts and 2,023 counties and county-level cities provided community rehabilitation services, benefiting 6.1445 million people.

Construction of barrier-free facilities accelerated. In 2014 the construction of a barrier-free environment progressed in accordance with the law. All provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government made steady headway in building barrier-free cities and counties, involving 650 cities and 1,600 counties nationwide. The focus was on building barrier-free curb ramps, ramps for wheelchairs and pavements in residential quarters, and barrier-free entry-exit, passages, floors, stairways, elevator landings and compartments, and other areas in public buildings. The "database of barrier-free renovation of deprived families with disabled members" was put into operation to promptly record the progress of barrier-free renovation work.

Public cultural services to persons with disabilities improved. In 2014 nearly 50,000 urban and rural centers of public cultural services provided barrier-free access, with rehabilitation facilities and cultural amusement devices available where conditions permitted. Public libraries nationwide had 800,000 copies of books in braille, and provided 180,000 reading seats for blind people. Libraries and cultural and art centers at all levels organized performances, cultural training programs and resources distribution around the "National Day for Assisting Disabled Persons," "International Day of Persons with Disabilities" and "Ear Care Day." Blind people who sat the national college entrance examinations in 2014 took the exams in braille, or with the assistance of audio device. Special staff were provided to assist them in taking the exams.

VIII. Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment

In 2014 the Chinese government gave the country's major environmental problems high priority, making considerable efforts to safeguard the people's right to a clean and healthy environment, and further exploring a new way to make ecological progress with Chinese characteristics.

The legal system for protecting the environment and eco-systems was further improved. In 2014 China made a comprehensive amendment to the Environmental Protection Law, by which governments at all levels and all enterprises are required to shoulder more responsibilities, the citizens' right to a clean and healthy environment and their duties regarding the protection of the environment are clearly defined, and a series of new mechanisms concerning closing down or distraining facilities (causing environmental pollution), total quantity control of major pollutant emissions, fines accumulating by the day, production restriction and halts, detention, environmental public interests litigation, regional joint defense against and control of pollution, and public participation are included. Specific normative regulations were also drawn up and issued to support the newly amended law, including the Rules on Investigating and Handling Emergent Environmental Incidents, Rules on Environment Information Disclosure of Enterprises and Public Institutions, Rules for Environmental Administrations in Limiting or Halting Pollution-causing Production, Rules for Environmental Administrations in Levying Fines Accumulating by the Day and Rules for Environmental Administrations in Closing Down or Distraining Pollution-causing Facilities and Equipment. These have all greatly reinforced China's legal system in the ecological and environmental field.

New progress achieved in ecological construction. In 2014 some 6.027 million ha of trees were planted all around China, among which 1.999 million ha was in the key ecological-rehabilitation projects. In addition, 96,000 ha of urban built-up areas were greened. The state improved 1.265 million ha of desertified lands, newly designated 23 counties as pilot areas for forest conservation, set up 32 national pilot desert parks, built 11 new nature reserves totaling 140,000 ha, and increased the areas of conserved wetlands by more than 500,000 ha. By the end of 2014 there were 2,729 nature reserves in China, including 428 national ones. In the same year, 17,800 cases concerning grassland damage were placed on file across the country, and 17,400 cases, or 97.6 percent, were closed; 49,000 cases of illegal encroachment on forest lands were investigated and settled, with 3,517.3 ha of forests illegally encroached upon being rehabilitated; 31,000 cases concerning forest and wildlife crimes were recorded by public security organs, among which 25,000 were solved, an increase of 14.1 percent over 2013; and 6.1 tons of illegal ivory and ivory products were destroyed publicly for the first time. In the meantime, China provided a total of 5.7 billion yuan in a project for building and protecting a national ecological security barrier in Tibet.

Remarkable results in energy conservation and emission reduction. In 2014 China made an enormous adjustment to its industrial structure, accomplishing the year's goal of abolishing outdated production capacities in 15 key industries like steel and cement, and overfulfiling the targets for scrapping yellow-labeled and outdated vehicles whose emissions were above the national standards. A goal-oriented responsibility and assessment system for air protection was gradually put in place, with the Tibet Autonomous Region, and Guangdong and some other provinces having drawn up feasible and specific measures. The Ministry of Environmental Protection gave warnings in line with the law to heads of local governments and departments that had failed to fulfill their environmental protection duties or hadn't performed them well, including the mayors of Anyang in Henan Province, Hengyang in Hunan Province, Liupanshui in Guizhou Province, Linyi in Shandong Province and Chengde in Hebei Province, and supervised their improvements. In 2014 the chemical oxygen demand, and the discharges of ammonia nitrogen, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide continued to decrease, nitrogen oxide seeing the largest annual cut of 6.7 percent. The overall consumption of coal was reduced by 2.9 percent, and clean energy sources such as hydroelectricity, wind energy, nuclear energy and natural gas, rose to 16.9 percent of all energy consumption in China during the year. In China energy used to produce 10,000 yuan of GDP declined by 4.8 percent and the amount of water used to produce 10,000 yuan added value of industry decreased by 5.6 percent. The daily treatment capacity of urban sewage plants had reached 128.96 million cubic meters by the end of the year, an increase of 3.5 percent over that by the end of the previous year, and 90.2 percent of urban sewage was treated.

Punishments for activities violating environmental laws were intensified. Environmental administrations at all levels strictly executed laws concerning environmental protection, sending 2.16 million enforcement officers to inspect 840,000 enterprises, putting 12,531 cases on file and settling 8,373 of them, and particular supervision was given over the handling of 1,600 major cases. China actively explored a trans-regional and trans-river joint prevention and coordination mechanism, gradually established trans-regional joint planning, monitoring, forecasting, prevention and control systems for air and water quality in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta areas, and improved the relevant information-sharing mechanism. Environmental departments at all levels coordinated closely with public security organs, setting up the three systems of "joint enforcement conference," "permanent liaison officers," and "consultation on and joint supervision of major cases," and the four mechanisms of "transferring cases," "joint investigation," "sharing information," and "rewarding and punishing." China introduced unmanned planes for inspecting pollution, and during the year 11 flights were made, flying more than 2,000 km and covering an area of 1,000 sq km.

The legal guarantee of the right to a clean environment was further strengthened. The Supreme People's Court established a special tribunal to hear cases related to the environment and natural resources, and stipulated a practical environmental public interest litigation system covering jurisdiction, judicial procedure, liability, compensation scope and lawsuit costs, so as to fully safeguard the right of public interest litigation of the institutions and related civil organizations as stipulated by the law. In December 2014 the Supreme People's Court announced ten typical administrative cases concerning environmental protection, including the Jincheng (Foshan) Scien Fine Materials Co., Ltd' s lawsuit against an administrative penalty meted out by the Shunde District People's Government of Foshan City, Guangdong Province for the company's alleged environmental offence. The number of cases involving environmental offences that was transferred to public security organs in 2014 exceeded the total of the previous ten years.

The channels for citizens to participate in the management of environment-related affairs were further broadened. The amended Environmental Protection Law stipulates that: The environmental departments should disclose information about the environment and improve their procedures, so as to facilitate the public's participation in and supervision of environmental protection; the environmental NGOs which have registered with the civil affairs authorities at municipalities which contain districts or above, which are engaged in environmental protection for the public interest and have no law violation records for five consecutive years are eligible to file environmental public interest lawsuits to the people's courts, and the latter should accept and hear all lawsuits filed by eligible NGOs. Governments at all levels also actively explored ways of soliciting public opinions through online platforms, questionnaire surveys, hearings and reviewing panels. Since January 1, 2014 the national air quality real-time announcement website has released 150,000 pieces of information on the air quality in cities. The Ministry of Environmental Protection listened to and dealt with the public's complaints on environmental offences through the "12369" hotline. By the end of 2014 the hotline had handled 1,463 complaints from the public, and settled all of them on time. The ministry issued the Notice on Better Disclosure of Information Related to Emergent Environmental Incidents, requiring related departments to publish the names of reported offending enterprises, their problems and the handling of their problems in the China Environment News and the website of the ministry every month. By the end of 2014, the handling of 1,479 complaints (including those received in 2013 but settled in 2014) and 33 typical cases had been made known to the public.

IX. Foreign Exchanges and Cooperation

In 2014 China continued to take the initiative in exchanges and cooperation with other countries in the realm of human rights. It played a constructive role in the UN's human rights bodies, and endeavored to promote the sound development of human rights on the international stage.

China fully participated in the global governance of human rights. Chinese delegations attended the UN Human Rights Council's (HRC) 25th, 26th and 27th sessions, and 20th, 21st and 22nd special sessions, the relevant meetings of the Third Committee of the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly, the 18th, 19th and 20th sessions of the HRC's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group, and a series of multilateral conferences such as the HRC's Social Forum and Forum on Business and Human Rights. In those meetings, China actively introduced its principles, policies and achievements in the human rights field, joined in the discussions of various topics, brought all member states' attention to the reasonable assertions of developing countries, and urged the UN's human rights mechanisms to deal with all human rights issues in a just and objective manner. The Chinese government actively participated in the intergovernmental process of the UN General Assembly on strengthening and enhancing the effective functioning of the human rights treaty body system, and played a constructive role therein. With the efforts of China and other countries holding similar positions, the General Assembly adopted a resolution to strengthen and enhance the effective functioning of the human rights treaty body system. In April 2014 China was reelected as a member of the UN's Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations.

China conscientiously fulfilled its international human rights obligations. In March 2014 the HRC approved China's actions after receiving HRC's second Universal Period Review for China. With an open mind and in a serious manner, China accepted 204 recommendations, or 81 percent, raised by other countries during the review, which received worldwide praise. In May 2014 the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights reviewed China's second periodic report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Chinese delegation explained in a thorough manner their country's achievements in safeguarding its people's economic, social and cultural rights, and replied candidly to the questions raised by the Committee, with some Committee experts regarding it as an exemplary review. China's combined seventh and eighth periodic report on its implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was reviewed by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in October 2014. With a confident, inclusive and open attitude, the Chinese delegation held a constructive dialogue with the Committee.

Promotion of cooperation with the UN's human rights bodies. China continued to cooperate closely with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, promising to greatly increase its donations to the office in the period 2014-2017. It held constructive talks with the Special Procedures of the HRC, earnestly replied to its letters on time, and invited its independent expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of states to ensure the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, special rapporteur on the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and special rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation to visit China.

Enhancing bilateral human rights dialogues and communication with other countries. In 2014 China held human rights dialogues and communication with the EU, the UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, and entered into technical cooperation with Australia regarding human rights, so as to improve mutual understanding. It also held discussions with Russia on human rights affairs, and communicated with Laos and Sri Lanka in the field to share the experience gained from international human rights work. It sent a delegation to attend the 14th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Informal Seminar on Human Rights, exchanging views with human rights officials of other Asian and European countries, and civil society representatives. The China Society for Human Rights Studies and the China Foundation for Human Rights Development jointly held the seventh session of the Beijing Forum on Human Rights. Centering on the theme of "The Chinese Dream: New Progress in China's Human Rights," participants both at home and abroad engaged in deep and extensive discussion concerning the sub-topics of "the Chinese dream and human rights," "trans-cultural international exchanges on human rights" and "national governance innovation and human rights protection, and anti-terrorism and human rights protection."

Working closely with other countries, China will continue to spare no effort to promote the wholesome development of human rights worldwide.