White Paper: Protected Rights for Chinese Citizens

“Rights of Women, Children and Senior Citizens"

According to the white paper, "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."

The paper leapt right into the realm of women's rights, addressing public affairs. The paper described that several cities and 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." Rural women's inclusion in various elections and councils was improved and more than 33,000 mutual-assistance groups of women in the countryside were established, as stated in the paper.

Efforts to employ women more effectively have definitely been successful. "In 2014 some 217.275 billion yuan of small-sum secured loans were granted to women…" In addition to government support given to thousands of modern agricultural scientific and technological demonstration bases run by women, "more than 4,000 domestic service training bases were built for women, [where] more than 580,000 women received training…" As indicated in the paper, programs helping female college students find jobs or start businesses has also impacted more than 500,000 students.

China also made improvements to systems guarding women and children. In fact, the paper stated that "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", and "efforts were made to improve the joint response mechanism for protecting minors", "that integrates efforts of family, society and government." Additionally, "The Anti-domestic Violence Law of the People' s Republic of China (draft) was published to solicit the public's opinions."

Upon issuing many Opinions documents on the care and processes for children living in difficult circumstances, the Ministry of Civil Affairs "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 paper also said, "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."

"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." As such, in-patient childbirth subsidies were granted to rural women, free pre-pregnancy physical examinations were ensured and free cervical cancer and breast cancer screening examinations practices continued, impacting millions of women.

According to the white paper, 300 counties in 21 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government benefited by a "pilot program of nutrition improvement for infants in poverty-stricken areas." Millions of children were also helped by an anemia-prevention program, free nutrition packages and disease-screening examinations.

For senior citizens, the government "implement[ed] the 12th Five-Year Plan for Helping Senior Citizens and 12th Five-Year Plan for the System of Old-age Services (both 2011-2015)", as well as several Opinions documents. The white paper also briefly explored the several provinces that drew 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 which "allowances were provided for senior citizens over a certain age, and old-age service subsidies were issued to the elderly in financial difficulties."

Many much-needed measures have been taken to care for the elderly, from information platforms to home care and welfare institutions and community services. However, the white paper reports that "by the end of 2014 the number of nursing home beds nationwide had reached 26 for every 1,000 senior citizens", despite the "one billion yuan from the central special lottery public welfare fund was provided to 33,300 rural nursing homes."

Pension benefits varied drastically in 2014, depending on employment, for instance, the paper reports that the per capita monthly amount for enterprise retirees is 2,050 yuan, while the lowest monthly basic amount of the pension insurance of 70 yuan is for rural and urban non-working residents.

Despite the difficulties relating to a lack of nursing home room and pension inadequacies, "China had 490,000 community-level associations of senior citizens" and "2,137 legal assistance centers offering timely services for the elderly."