Full text: New Progress in the Legal Protection of Human Rights in China (11)

Actively participating in the making of international rules related to the protection of human rights. As a founding member of the United Nations, China has been involved in creating the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments, making an important contribution to the development of international human rights rules. It has participated in formulating the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action, the Declaration on the Right to Development, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. China has played a constructive role in international climate change negotiations with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as the main channel, and made every effort to ensure that the Paris Agreement on climate change is concluded and comes into force. China has created the Belt and Road Initiative, and pressed forward with establishing international cooperation rules concerning the economy, environmental protection, healthcare, adolescents, the protection and development of children, cyberspace governance, anti-corruption and drug control.

Sincerely fulfilling its obligations to the international human rights conventions. China has acceded to 26 international human rights conventions including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. It has also actively created conditions for the approval of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. China cherishes the important role played by international human rights instruments in promoting and protecting human rights, and sincerely fulfills its obligations to the international human rights conventions. It submits timely reports on implementing the conventions to the treaty bodies concerned, holds constructive dialogues with these bodies, takes into full consideration the proposals they raise, and adopts rational and feasible measures in the light of China's actual conditions. In 2012 China's first report on implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was approved. In 2013 China's third and fourth combined report on implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child and China's first report on implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict was approved. In 2014 China underwent the second-round Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held by the UN Human Rights Council, which approved the UPR report on China. China's second report on implementing the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was approved. China submitted its combined seventh and eighth periodic report on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women for review. In 2015 China submitted its sixth report on implementing the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to the UN Committee Against Torture for review. China actively participates in international peacekeeping operations. From 1990 to August 2017, 36,000 Chinese military peacekeeping personnel were sent abroad to take part in 24 UN peacekeeping operations. In 2017 China built a peacekeeping standby force of 8,000 troops.

Effectively conducting international cooperation on legal matters. China has acceded to the Hague Service Convention (also known as the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters), the Hague Evidence Convention (also known as the Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters), and the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. By 2016 China had signed judicial assistance treaties or agreements on civil, commercial, and criminal cases with 19 countries, all of which had come into force. It had signed judicial assistance treaties or agreements on criminal cases with 40 countries, 32 of which had come into force, and it had signed judicial assistance treaties or agreements on civil and commercial cases with 20 countries, 17 of which had come into force. Between 2013 and 2016, China's central organs handled more than 3,300 requests for judicial assistance every year. China has strengthened international cooperation against corruption, and promoted the adoption of the "G20 High Level Principles on Cooperation on Persons Sought for Corruption and Asset Recovery" and the "2017-2018 G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan". Ten principles on persons sought for corruption and asset recovery have been established, the main provisions of which are "zero tolerance against corruption, zero loopholes in our institutions and zero barriers in our actions". China carries out "Sky Net" operation and intensifies efforts to pursue, repatriate and extradite fugitives accused of corruption. From 2014 to mid-October 2017, 3,453 fugitives were brought back from more than 90 countries and regions, including 48 on the list of 100 most wanted fugitives, and illegal assets worth RMB9.5 billion were recovered.

Taking an active part in international law-enforcement and security cooperation. China works with the international community to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism and drug-related crimes. Within the framework of international and regional organizations including the UN, Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization), SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization), ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian

Nations) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), China works to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation with other countries in order to combat all forces of terrorism. China has enhanced counter-terrorism exchanges and cooperation with other countries through high-level contacts, institutional consultation, and cooperation agreements, and intensified the fight against the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism. China is actively involved in creating international instruments to address the world drug problem, and fights alongside neighboring countries against drug trafficking and smuggling. It continues the Safe Mekong Joint Operation within the law-enforcement and security cooperation mechanism along the China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand sections of the Mekong River. In the Second Safe Mekong Joint Operation by China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, organized by China in 2016, 6,476 drug-related cases were solved, 9,927 suspects were arrested, and 12.7 tons of narcotics and 55.2 tons of precursor chemicals were seized. (more)