Full Text: Progress in China's Human Rights in 2014 (3)

Poverty alleviation steadily promoted. China has adopted a strategy of taking targeted measures for poverty alleviation, and declared October 17 as "China Poverty Alleviation Day." Departments of the CPC Central Committee and the central government at various levels, enterprises and public institutions are paired up with and assisting all of the 592 counties that are key targets of the government's development-oriented poverty-reduction work. The central government appropriated 43.3 billion yuan for poverty reduction in 2014, an increase of nearly 10 percent over the previous year, adopted the policy of giving people work in place of relief subsidies, allocated 5.72 billion yuan to support the building of small and medium-sized infrastructure projects for public welfare, such as water conservancy projects, road construction, etc., and earmarked 680 million yuan as remuneration for people in poverty-stricken areas participating in the construction projects. China also resettled 916,900 impoverished people from poverty-stricken areas at a total cost of 5.5 billion yuan. It allocated 154.1 billion yuan out of the vehicle purchase tax to subsidize 14 contiguous poverty-stricken areas, supporting the building and renovation of 31,700 km of expressways and national or provincial highways, building 96,000 km of rural highways and a batch of rural passenger bus stations, and solving the traffic problems of 93 townships, and 10,500 villages. The central government proceeded with the plan of building 138 bridges to replace ropeways in seven provinces and regions, namely, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang. By the end of 2014 the impoverished population in rural China had decreased to 70.17 million, based on the criterion that the national poverty line has been set at 2,300 yuan per person per year (calculated at 2010 constant prices). This means that there were 12.32 million fewer poverty-stricken people at the end of 2014 than a year earlier.

The legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers effectively protected. By the end of 2014 the total number of migrant workers in China was 273.95 million, an increase of 1.9 percent over 2013. Governments at all levels endeavored to stabilize and increase employment as well as business development for migrant workers, thus effectively guaranteeing their legitimate labor rights and interests. The central government formulated the Plan to Raise the Vocational Skills of Migrant Workers, which improved social security and employment service at the community level for them, and provided funds to build 269 county-level employment and social security service centers, and 961 town and township service stations. It gave full play to the important role of the trade unions and other rights-protection organizations for safeguarding workers' rights, provided various kinds of employment services to more than five million people, and helped one million people sign labor contracts with a duration of over one year. In 2014 various central government departments and a social group jointly issued the Opinions of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, State Administration of Work Safety and All -China Federation of Trade Unions on Further Improving Work on Work-related Injury Insurance in the Construction Industry, further defining and detailing the relevant policies and measures. In the same year, human resources and social security departments at all levels investigated and handled 263,000 cases concerning wage arrears. People's courts at all levels investigated and settled 219,000 cases relating to the transfer of land-use rights, disputes over rural homestead and wage arrears, and convicted 753 persons for refusing to pay others for the labor rendered. The Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Administrative Cases Concerning Work-Related Injury Insurance was promulgated in the same year to define employers' responsibility in case of work-related injury insurance, and how to deal with cases of work-related injury caused by third parties. The Provisions also made clear the administrative trial procedures relating to labor relations confirmation, and defined such factors as "work-related, time and place of work" in the identification of work-related injuries.

Social insurance coverage widened. The State Council issued the Opinions on Establishing a Unified Basic Pension Insurance System for Non-working Urban and Rural Residents in 2014, establishing a unified basic pension insurance system nationwide, which solved the problem of laborers, especially migrant workers participating in the basic pension insurance system for urban workers or non-working people. A total of 341.24 million people had participated in the basic pension insurance for urban workers by the end of 2014, and 501.07 million people had participated in the basic pension insurance system for non-working people, increases of 19.06 million and 3.57 million, respectively, compared with 2013. At the same time, some 597.74 million people had participated in the basic medical insurance for non-working urban residents and 736.27 million people had participated in the new rural cooperative medical care system. The coverage of the basic medical insurance system for urban and rural residents exceeded 95 percent. In 2014 a total of 170.43 million people participated in the unemployment insurance scheme, an increase of 6.26 million over 2013, and the number of people receiving unemployment insurance allowances reached 2.07 million, making the average amount of 852 yuan per month. A total of 206.39 million people participated in work-related injury insurance in 2014, an increase of 7.22 million people over the previous year, among whom 73.62 million weremigrant workers, an increase of 980,000 people. As many as 170.39 million people participated in maternity insurance, 6.47 million more than in 2013.

Medical security system further improved. The central government has gradually raised the annual government subsidy for the basic medical insurance for rural and non-working urban residents. In 2014 government subsidies for the new rural cooperative medical care system and medical insurance for non-working urban residents reached 320 yuan per person per year, with the individual contribution rising to 90 yuan. Serious illness insurance for urban and rural non-working residents is now available throughout the country, and the reimbursement rate for patients with serious illnesses is 10 percentage points higher than that for the basic medical insurance. The central government appropriated 22.4 billion yuan in 2014 to improve the medical health service system, including the building of 152 disease prevention and control institutions, 257 maternal and children health-care institutions, 24 other professional public health and disease prevention and control institutions, 360 county-level hospitals, 2,645 town and township hospitals, 53 community health service centers, 44,000 village clinics and 18,000 dormitories in town and township hospitals. The government subsidy for the basic public health services rose from 30 yuan per person in 2013 to 35 yuan in 2014, covering 43 items of services in 11 categories, providing more services and benefiting more people. The central government appropriated 15.4 billion yuan as supporting funds for six major public health service projects, including the prevention and control of HIV, tuberculosis and other serious diseases, healthcare for women and children, supervision of food risks, raising public's awareness about health, and personnel training. The central government poured 9.1 billion yuan into implementing the basic pharmaceuticals system at grassroots medical and health institutions, and village clinics. Another 11.8 billion yuan was allocated to promote reform of state-owned hospitals and standardized training of physicians. (mo