Xing Huina:

Friends from the media, good afternoon. Welcome to today's briefing held by the State Council Information Office (SCIO), which will expound on the Human Rights Action Plan of China (2021-2025). The speakers at today's briefing are Mr. Li Xiaojun, director and second-level inspector of the Publicity Department of the Bureau of Human Rights Affairs of the SCIO; Ms. Li Xiaomei, special representative for human rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Bie Tao, director general of the Department of Laws, Regulations and Standards in the Ministry of Ecology and Environment; and Chang Jian, professor and director of the Research Center for Human Rights of Nankai University. The speakers will first give you a brief rundown and then take your questions. First, I will give the floor to Mr. Li Xiaojun. 

Li Xiaojun:

Friends from the media, good afternoon. The realization of all-round moderate prosperity is an extraordinary human rights achievement that China has made and a new starting point on the country's quest for human rights. The National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2021-2025) is born of the times. It is a phased policy document for the Chinese government to implement the principle of "respecting and protecting human rights" from the Constitution of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Constitution, and to implement "promoting comprehensive progress in human rights" as proposed during the Fifth Plenum of the 19th CPC Central Committee. It is the first declaration and road map to respect and protect human rights on the new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country. This is the fourth national human rights action plan issued and implemented by the Chinese government.

This action plan highlights characteristics and favorable conditions of advancing the cause of human rights in China. It has four main features.

First, the formulation and implementation of the action plan is guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. We have implemented General Secretary Xi's important expositions on human rights and stayed committed to a people-centered philosophy of development, believing that a happy life for the people is the most important human right. We defined new objectives and missions to meet new expectations in a new stage, working to resolve the most pressing difficulties and problems which are of great concern to the people. For example, in protecting the right to health, the plan proposes providing a complete range of health services to the people throughout their lifespan; it sets new targets and tasks to meet the people's ever-growing cultural needs after the realization of moderate prosperity; and it protects the right to education for ethnic minority groups and promotes standard spoken and written Chinese in ethnic minority areas while protecting their right to learn, use and develop their own spoken and written languages. 

Second, it reflects characteristics of the all-round development of China's human rights cause in the new era. Covering multiple areas, the action plan includes eight sections: introduction, economic, social and cultural rights, civil and political rights, environmental rights, protecting the rights of particular groups, education and research on human rights, participating in global human rights governance, and implementation, supervision and assessment. Nearly 200 objectives and tasks are proposed. Compared with the previous edition, the length of the fourth action plan has been greatly increased, and nearly 30 objectives and tasks have been added, of which indicators with obligatory objectives account for approximately one third. The new action plan reflects China's characteristics, favorable conditions and confidence in human rights theories, systems for respecting and protecting human rights, the human rights development path, and human rights culture.