Full Text: Assessment Report on the Implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012-2015) (12)

(2) Women's rights

Figure 1: Proportions of females in various-level people's congresses and people's political consultative conferences

Women enjoy the chance to participate on an equal footing with men in the management of state and social affairs. Female deputies account for 23.4 percent of all deputies in the 12th NPC, 2.07 percentage points higher than the previous congress. There are 25 female members in the12th NPC Standing Committee, accounting for 15.5 percent of all members. There are 399 female members in the 12th CPPCC, accounting for 17.84 percent of the total. Women deputies who served their tenures from 2011 to 2013 accounted for 24.76 percent of all deputies in the provincial people's congresses, and female members accounted for 22.22 percent in the provincial people's political consultative conferences. In 2015, the proportion of females in the leadership of provincial governments increased notably from that in 2012. In 2014, females in enterprises made up 40.1 percent and 41.5 percent of the members on boards of directors and boards of supervisors, respectively.

Women enjoy the equal right with men to employment. The state implemented the same-age retirement policy for both cadres of section rank in authority organs and public institutions and technical personnel with senior professional titles. In 2014, female employees accounted for 44.8 percent of all people employed across the country. The state implemented an interest-deducted small loan policy, where the government pays part of the interest, to encourage women's employment and self-employment. Since 2009, it has provided 260.704 billion yuan in guaranteed loans for startups, with subsidized interest payments, to aid nearly 10 million women to start businesses or find a job.

The freedom of women in rural areas to enjoy land rights in accordance with the law is basically guaranteed. The state carried out legal publicity and training in grassroots village committees and strengthened the efforts to file, review and rectify village regulations and folk rules. In the process of determining and registering the right to land contracting and management, and in the process of issuing certificates concerning this right, women's rights to land were reflected through registration books and real estate ownership certificates.

The level of health services for women has been raised continuously. In April 2012, the State Council promulgated the Special Rules on the Labor Protection of Female Employees, revising and improving some items including the scope of application and range of forbidden labor, as well as extending statutory maternity leave to 98 days. In 2015, maternity insurance covered 77.12 million women across the country and per capita treatment expenditure reached 16,456 yuan, 2,000 yuan more than in 2014. In 2015, 12.05 million couples who wanted to have babies received free physical tests, with the average coverage rate in target groups amounting to 96.5 percent. During the period of 2011-2015, nearly 50 million pregnant women in rural areas received hospital delivery subsidies, and the rate of women in the countryside giving birth in hospitals increased from 97.8 percent in 2010 to 99.5 percent in 2015. The maternal mortality rate lowered from 30 out of 100,000 in 2010 to 20.1 in every 100,000 in 2015. By the end of 2015, 51.95 million and 7.47 million rural women had free tests for cervical cancer and breast cancer, respectively.

The state legislated to protect women from domestic violence. On December 27, 2015, the NPC Standing Committee approved the Anti-domestic Violence Law, in which systems, such as police cautions, writ of habeas corpus and mandatory reporting, were specially set up. The Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued the Opinions on Handling Domestic Violence Cases in Accordance with the Law, so as to intensify the prompt judicial intervention in domestic violence. From 2014 to 2015, the Supreme People's Court published a total of 15 typical cases related to domestic violence. Some local public security organs and courts effectively prevented and stopped domestic violence in a timely way by actively exploring and using police cautions and personal safety protection orders.

The state has made headway in cracking down on the crimes of abduction and trafficking of women. The General Office of the State Council published China's Action Plan Against Human Abducting and Trafficking (2013-2020) in order to strengthen efforts to crack down on such crimes. From 2014 to 2015, a total of 2,412 cases of abducting and trafficking women were cleared up by public security organs. China also launched campaigns against cross-border crimes of abducting and trafficking women, promoting cooperation processes with six Mekong River Sub-region countries.

(3) Children's rights

Children's right to health is effectively guaranteed. The mortality rate of infants reduced from 13.1 out of 1,000 in 2010 to 8.1 in 2015. And the mortality rate of children under the age of five was 10.7 out of 1,000, 5.7 points lower than in 2010. In 2014, the incidence rates of low weight in infants and children under the age of five were 2.6 percent and 1.48 percent, respectively, with the expected goals achieved ahead of schedule. Over 97 percent of children were vaccinated in the national immunization program. In 2014, the average vaccination rate exceeded 99 percent going forward.

The state has steadily implemented a nutrition enhancement program for students receiving compulsory education in rural areas. By the end of October 2015, the national pilot program was launched in 699 concentrated destitute counties in 22 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government), benefiting 21.1516 million students. Also by the same time, the program was carried out on a local trial basis in 673 counties in 23 provinces, benefiting 10.9078 million students.

The situation regarding school buses and campus safety has been continuously improved. A series of normative documents, including the Regulation on School Bus Safety Management formulated by the State Council and the Standard for Compulsory Education School Management set up by the Ministry of Education, have been promulgated since 2012. By the end of 2015, a total of 37 pilot zones on safety education had been set up throughout the country, covering 128,000 schools with 52 million students.

Left-behind children are taken good care of. The central government supported the implementation of the "Pilot Project on Community Care Services for Rural Left-behind Children," benefiting more than 200,000 left-behind children. It has collected 67 million yuan in social charity funds to aid the establishment of 670 "Happy Homes for Children" across the country since 2014. A series of care activities, including acting parents, twinning and help for children in need, was carried out, benefiting 13.129 million such children.

Female minors' rights are further protected. The Amendment (IX) to the Criminal Law abolished the crime of prostituting female minors under the age of 14, improving the legal system on protecting female minors from sexual abuse. The state continues to launch special operations to combat attempts to identify the sex of a fetus other than for medical purposes and attempts to terminate a pregnancy once the sex of a fetus identified is not desired. In 2015, in terms of the gender ratio, for every 100 females there were 113.5 males, the seventh narrowing of the gap in a row since 2009.

Efforts to protect and support minors have been further intensified. By the end of 2015, there were 1,605 welfare institutions for children and 407 independent relief and protection agencies for minors nationwide, both of which increased substantially over the same period in 2012. In 2015, 23,000 orphans with disabilities were adopted by families, accounting for 4.4 percent of all such orphans, and a total of 149,700 children across the country were provided with relief. The state made sure that children affected by AIDS/HIV related illnesses can learn or continue their study at school without being affected by family difficulties. It has made efforts to protect the privacy of AIDS/HIV-affected children and prevent them from any form of discrimination. The Amendment (IX) to the Criminal Law strengthened criminal punishment for buyers of abducted women and children, and those engaged in any activity concerning the buying of abducted women and children will be held criminally responsible. By the end of 2015, the national anti-trafficking DNA database had helped over 4,000 missing children find their parents. From 2014 to 2015, the state solved 2,216 cases of trafficking in children. The Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and related departments successively promulgated the Opinions on Punishing the Crime of Sexual Assault against Minors and the Opinions on Legally Handling Several Issues on Guardians' Infringement upon the Rights and Interests of Minors, so as to beef up judicial protection on juveniles. The state implemented the Provisions on the Prohibition of Using Child Labor, and further intensified efforts to safeguard children's rights and interests in the field of labor. (mo