Full Text: Progress in China's Human Rights in 2013

Rights of Ethnic Minorities

China has established the principle that all ethnic groups are equal and jointly participate in the management of state affairs on the constitutional, legal and systemic levels. The state respects the cultural differences and lifestyles of ethnic groups, and ensures the equal rights of ethnic minorities in politics, economy, culture, language and folk customs, religious belief and other aspects, with coordinated measures. In 2013 China's ethnic minorities and areas inhibited by ethnic minorities made new achievements and developments in various undertakings, and all ethnic minorities fully enjoyed and effectively exercised their basic rights.

The political rights of ethnic minorities are fully guaranteed. Areas inhibited by ethnic minorities in compact communities exercising regional ethnic autonomy enjoy autonomous rights in a wide range of areas, including legislative power, flexibility in the execution of relevant state laws and regulations, the right to use their own spoken and written languages, personnel management power, financial management power, and the right of independently developing their special culture and education. The advantages of regional ethnic autonomy are best exemplified in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Xinjiang is an ethnic autonomous area mainly inhibited by the Uygur people. It is China's only autonomous region with all three administrative levels of autonomous areas (region, prefecture and county). In other parts of Xinjiang inhabited by ethnic minorities, except the Uygur, in compact communities, there are five autonomous prefectures where the Kazak, Hui, Kirgiz and Mongolian people are concentrated; six autonomous counties where the Kazak, Hui, Mongolian, Tajik and Xibe people live; and 42 townships where various ethnic minorities live. Autonomous organs at all levels in Xinjiang formulate and implement autonomous regulations, local rules and regulations, and legally binding decisions in light of their actual conditions, ensuring the autonomous rights of ethnic autonomous areas.

All China's 55 ethnic minority groups elect deputies to the NPC and members to the National Committee of the CPPCC. The chairpersons or vice chairpersons of the standing committees of the people's congresses of all 155 areas where regional ethnic autonomy is exercised, as well as the heads of government of autonomous regions, prefectures, counties or banners are citizens of the ethnic group or groups exercising regional autonomy in the areas concerned. In the Tibet Autonomous Region the chairpersons of past standing committees of the people's congress and the heads of the people's government have all been Tibetans. Tibetan deputies and deputies from other minority groups to the NPC have always constituted the absolute majority among deputies of the region at all levels. In Tibet, of the 34,244 directly and indirectly elected deputies to the NPC at all four levels, 31,901 persons, or 93 percent, are from the Tibetan or other minority communities. Also, 82.05 percent of the total number of the Tibet Autonomous Region's officials are Tibetan or from other minority groups, and 80.06 percent of the total number of leading officials of counties and townships are Tibetan or from other minority groups.

The socioeconomic rights of ethnic minorities are fully protected. The state continues to increase funds in promoting socioeconomic development in areas inhibited by ethnic minorities, and significant achievements have been made in this regard. In 2013, with more transfer payments diverted to ethnic minority areas, the central government arranged 46.4 billion yuan of transfer payments to ethnic minority areas, up by 10.5 percent as compared with 2012. The state increased poverty-reduction funding by a large margin for the Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia and Xinjiang autonomous regions, and Guizhou, Yunnan and Qinghai provinces, which have large numbers of ethnic minority inhabitants. The central government appropriated 16.605 billion yuan as poverty-reduction fund, or 43.76 percent of the total volume from all sources, growing by 16.8 percent compared to 2012. In 2013 the state took concrete measures to implement three special programs, as stated in the Twelfth Five-year Plan, namely, supporting the development of minority groups with small populations, vitalizing border areas and bring prosperity to their residents, and developing special undertakings for ethnic minorities. The state continued to increase support to ethnic minorities and areas inhabited by minorities, providing 1.45 billion yuan as specialized funds for the development of minority groups with small populations, 2.79 billion yuan as specialized funds for vitalizing border areas and bringing prosperity to their residents, and 400 million yuan as specialized funds for protecting ethnic minority villages with cultural significance. These funds increased by 13.1 percent, 50 percent and 53.8 percent, respectively, as compared to 2012. In 2013 the GDP of the Tibet Autonomous Region reached 80.767 billion yuan, growing by 12.5 percent over the previous year; the per capita net income of farmers and herdsmen was 6,578 yuan, increasing by 15 percent over the previous year and well into the 11th year of double-digit growth; and the per capita disposable income of urban residents reached 20,023 yuan, up by 11.1 percent compared with 2012. In 2013 the GDP of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was 851 billion yuan, growing by 11.1 percent compared to the previous year; and the per capita GDP was 37,847 yuan, an increase of 9.7 percent. In 2013 the per capita net income of rural residents in Xinjiang reached 7,296 yuan, growing by 14.1 percent over the previous year; and the per capita disposable income of urban residents was 19,874 yuan, increasing by 10.9 percent over the previous year. The per capita total income of urban households was 22,388 yuan, up by 10.9 percent compared to the previous year and was 69.5 times more than that of 1978. In 2013 the per capita living space of Tibetan farmers and herdsmen and urban residents was 30.51 sq m and 42.81 sq m, respectively, and significant progress was made in various undertakings for improving the local people' s lives. The housing project for farmers and herdsmen, in particular, was completed 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 moved into solid and convenient houses, and a historic improvement was made in the working and living conditions of farmers and herdsmen. More progress was made in the building of supporting facilities in rural areas, including water, power, road, communications, gas, radio and television, and postal services. A total of 94.6 percent and 99.7 percent of Tibet's townships and towns respectively now have access to postal services and the road network, respectively, and 97.4 percent of incorporated villages have access to road transportation. The Motuo Highway opened to traffic in 2013, connecting China's last isolated county to the national road network. Construction of the Sichuan-Tibet highway network project began. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway transported a total of 2.199 million passengers and 4.052 million tons of cargo, and civil aircraft carried 2.73 million passengers.