I. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The Chinese government is determined to press forward with precision poverty-reduction and poverty-eradication campaigns, improve the public service system, steadily enhance the level of equal access to basic public services, and protect citizens' economic, social and cultural rights.

(1) Right to work

More proactive employment policies shall be implemented, a system of lifelong vocational skills training shall be promoted for workers, and a wage and benefits system shall be further improved, so shall a long-term safety production mechanism. Prevention and treatment of occupational diseases shall be reinforced.

·Ensuring a fuller rate of employment and quality employment. Programs of employment promotion and entrepreneurship shall be introduced for college graduates, and surplus rural labor shall be encouraged to seek employment in other areas, and migrant workers shall get help in starting businesses back in their home villages. People with difficulties in finding jobs shall be registered so that the government can keep track of their employment situation and give them help according to defined categories, with particular attention being paid to families with no one holding a job. Counties and townships in poverty-stricken areas shall be given support in building employment and social security services platforms. It is planned for a minimum of 50 million new jobs to be created in urban areas.

·Pursuing a lifelong vocational skills training system for workers. Free vocational training shall be offered to young people from needy families, people with junior or senior middle-school education, migrant workers, people having lost their jobs, workers with reassigned jobs, ex-service people and people with disabilities. By 2020, it is expected that 40 million migrant workers shall have received such training, and the goal is to equip every worker with relevant occupational skills.

·Further improving the wage and benefits system. Efforts will be made to improve the wage-setting mechanism, the normal wage increase mechanism and payment guarantee mechanism, and the minimum wage adjustment mechanism. The collective wage negotiation mechanism shall be continuously implemented for enterprises; a salary system shall be improved for highly skilled professionals, the salaries of skilled workers be increased, and the paid vacation system be implemented.

·Improving the labor security supervision and law enforcement system and labor dispute settlement mechanism. Employment discrimination of any form shall be strictly prohibited. Measures will be taken to address arrears of wage payment for migrant workers, regulate layoffs by businesses, guarantee the rights and interests of workers informally employed, strictly regularize the application by enterprises of the special working-hour system, and strengthen supervision over labor dispatch pursuant to the law.

·Strengthening safety in production. By 2020 the death toll caused by industrial accidents of various types shall fall by 10 percent cumulatively, and the death rate from industrial accidents per RMB100 million of GDP shall drop by 30 percent.

·Strengthening the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases. In industries with high risks of occupational diseases, 90 percent and above of relevant workers shall receive special health checkups, and 95 percent and above of persons in charge of businesses and occupational health managerial staff shall receive the required training.

(2) Right to basic living standards

Full efforts shall be made to reduce poverty, and ensure basic housing, clean water, food security, and convenient transportation.

·Ensuring the increase of rural and urban residents' income in step with economic growth. By 2020 China's GDP and the per-capita income of urban and rural residents shall both double that of 2010. Efforts shall be made to increase the income of low-income earners, and enlarge the ranks of middle-income earners.

·Implementing the Decision of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Eradicating Poverty in China, and implementing the strategy of precision poverty-reduction and poverty-eradication. By 2020 some 30 million people shall be lifted out of poverty by way of developing specialty industries, 10 million by way of transfer employment, 10 million by relocation to other areas, and the remaining 20 million, who have partially or completely lost the ability to work, shall be covered by social security. In this way the whole of the impoverished rural population according to the current standards shall be lifted out of poverty and no county will be called a "poverty county" by then.

·Ensuring housing security. A total of 20 million units of housing in rundown urban areas shall be rebuilt, support strengthened to poor areas, and holders of residence permits ensured equal basic housing rights with locally registered residents. Efforts shall be made to press forward with renovation of dilapidated housing in rural areas, carry out anti-earthquake reinforcement projects for rural housing, and basically complete the renovation of registered dilapidated housing.

·Ensuring access to safe water. A total of 27 billion cu m of water supply capacity will be added nationwide on the current basis, and all urban water-supply sources shall meet the required standards. Efforts shall be made to improve drinking water security in rural areas, where 80 percent of the population shall have access to tap water, and 85 percent to centralized water supply.

·Ensuring food safety. The Food Safety Law shall be strictly enforced, and supervisory organs shall be held responsible for food safety in areas under their respective jurisdiction. Food safety supervision shall be strengthened on imported foodstuffs, and through the building of a professional team of food-safety inspectors, the supervision shall be made more effective. The system of food-safety credit shall be improved, so shall the mechanisms of protection of consumers' rights and interests.

·Improving the transportation network. A network of national trunk expressways shall be basically put in place. Where conditions permit, county seats shall have access to highways of Grade II and above, and townships and administrative villages have tarmac or cement roads and complete access to bus services.

(3) Right to social security

The social insurance system shall be improved, establishment of a social relief system covering urban and rural areas shall be promoted, and support shall be given to the development of social welfare and charity undertakings.

·Implementing full coverage of social insurance, and steadily raising the level of social security pooling. A more convenient social insurance transfer and renewal mechanism shall be established, and the system of social security card shall be implemented to ensure that 90 percent of the population enjoys social security coverage.

·Improving the basic old-age insurance system that combines social pooling and personal accounts for urban workers and endeavoring to materialize nationwide pooling for basic old-age pensions for urban workers, and introducing tax-deferred retirement insurance. By 2020 some 95 percent of eligible urban and rural residents shall be covered by the basic old-age insurance.

·Improving the medical insurance system. The coverage of medical insurance in urban and rural areas shall be stabilized at above 95 percent. A critical illness insurance system shall be continuously carried out for urban and rural residents, and mechanisms for steady and sustainable financing of the medical insurance and for adjusting medical care reimbursement rates shall be improved. Steps shall be quickened to promote the establishment of a nationwide network for basic medical insurance and trans-regional settlement of medical insurance accounts, so in-patient and out-patient medical expenses can be settled in the place of treatment if the patients meet the requirements for referral, despite having local coverage. The state shall integrate maternity insurance with basic medical insurance.

·Further expanding the coverage of unemployment insurance, and ensuring that eligible unemployed persons receive unemployment insurance benefits in full and in a timely manner, and that they have access to relevant re-employment services.

·Implementing provincial-level unified pooling of funds for work-related injury insurance, guaranteeing that the insured receive compensation when applicable, formulating regulations on the use and management of funds for prevention of work-related injury, and improving the system of rehabilitation services for work-related injuries. By 2020 work-related injury insurance shall be extended to cover all eligible workers as prescribed by the law.

·Pressing forward in coordinated manner the building of an urban-rural social relief system. All eligible families shall be brought into the coverage of the subsistence allowance system. The relief and support system for people living in dire poverty shall be further improved and the level of relief and support shall be raised. The system of temporary rescue shall be comprehensively implemented to provide timely help to those in urgent needs. Building of service facilities for the protection of minors shall be strengthened, so shall organs for the relief and management of vagrants and beggars, both at the grassroots.

·Improving the natural disaster relief system, and adjusting and improving the relief policies in the wake of natural disasters. A national natural-disaster relief supplies reserve system shall be launched.

·Improving the social welfare system with focus on supporting the elderly, disabled, children, and needy, and strengthening the building of welfare facilities.

·Enacting the Charity Law, and supporting the development of charities.

·Implementing the State Council's reform program of the household registration system, and establishing a unified urban-rural household registration system featuring the removal of difference between agricultural and non-agricultural household registration. The Interim Regulations on Residence Permits shall be implemented, and the system of residence permit shall be extended to cover all permanent urban residents that have not yet had their household registration. Equal development shall be promoted for citizens, making them share the benefits of development equally and have equal access to social security.

(4) Right to property

Establishing and improving a modern property-right system featuring clear ownership, clearly defined rights and obligations, rigorous protection, and easy transfer, and pressing forward with protection of people's property rights in accordance with the law.

·Forging ahead with the compilation of the Civil Law Code in an orderly manner and improving the system of property protection.

·Pressing forward with the amendment of the Land Administration Law and enactment of supporting laws and regulations. Proactive exploration shall be conducted on such systems as expropriation of rural collectively owned land, marketization of collectively owned rural profit-oriented construction land, management of homestead land, and the adjustment and handling of real estate ownership, and studies on legislation be started at the right time.

·Completing the confirmation and registration of rural land contracted for productive use, homesteads, housing and collectively owned construction land. Reform of the land expropriation system shall be implemented continuously, the land-contracting relationship shall be made stable in the rural areas, measures for separating the rights of land ownership, contracting and management shall be improved, and orderly transfer of land-management right shall be introduced pursuant to the law. Methods for confirming membership of collective economic organizations shall be improved, and so shall the forms of expression of collective economic assets ownership. The productive assets of collective economic organizations shall be converted into shares for distribution among their members.

·Defining the property right of enterprises in accordance with laws and regulations, and ensuring enterprises' right of operation.

·Implementing unified system of registration for immovables.

·Taking steps to quicken the enactment of a natural resource assets ownership system, deciding the owners of such assets, and innovating the forms of realizing the ownership. The rights and interests of the owners of natural-resource assets shall be protected, and proceeds from such assets shall be shared fairly. Further reform shall be carried out of the mining right system, and a system and platform shall be established for trading of ecological and environmental rights and interests.

·Implementing a rigorous intellectual property right (IPR) protection system. The IPR ownership system shall be improved to encourage innovation, and an IPR trading and services platform shall be built.

(5) Right to health

A basic medical and health system covering the entire nation shall be established and improved, and it is expected that the average life expectancy shall increase by one year by 2020.

·Promoting equal access to basic public health services. Improvements shall be endeavored of the basic public health service programs and key public health service programs, the quality and efficiency of health services shall be improved and equal access to them ensured, and adjustments made to the funds for basic public health service programs at the right time while continuing to give preference to primary-level health services when it comes to the allocation of funding. Private capital shall be encouraged to go to health services, and equal treatment be offered to non-profit private hospitals as well as public hospitals.

·Enhancing the capacity of primary-level medical and health services. Focusing on the central and western regions, each county shall be helped to run well at least one to two public hospitals (including hospitals of Traditional Chinese Medicine), and 95 percent of primary-level medical and health institutions shall be expected to reach the required standards. Endeavors shall be made to develop a primary-level medical care sphere that ensures all patients receive help within 30 minutes. A contingent of resident doctors shall be developed and offered standardized training. Two general practitioners shall be ensured for every 10,000 persons and 2.5 practitioners/assistants for every 1,000 persons.

·Strengthening prevention and control of major illnesses. Intensified efforts shall be made to accelerate the building of national - and provincial-level demonstration areas for chronic disease prevention and control, and the rate of premature deaths from major chronic diseases shall be reduced by 10 percent. The incidence of TB shall be reduced to 58/100,000; the infection rates of HBV in all groups be reduced; AIDS be controlled at a low-epidemic level; schistosomiasis be basically eliminated; and malaria and leprosy be eliminated. China shall improve the diagnosis, reporting and follow-up service of serious mental disorders, and register 85 percent of persons with serious mental disorders for health management. Primary attention shall be given to the prevention and control of endemic diseases, improving the capabilities of public health emergency response and the prevention and treatment of acute infectious disease epidemics. Health quarantine capacity of land border crossings and sea ports shall be strengthened to prevent the spread of major infectious diseases from outside China. The supply of medicines for the prevention and control of AIDS and some other diseases shall be increased free of charge, and medical relief shall be provided for all those suffering from severe or major illnesses.

·Ensuring medication safety. The system of basic medicines shall be improved, so shall the mechanism of medicine supply and system of drug inspection and testing, as well as the monitoring of adverse effects of drugs.

·Implementing the National Fitness Program (2016-2020). Fitness facilities shall be made accessible to urban communities within a 15-minute radius, and permanent residents in rural towns and townships shall be ensured access to basic public sports services and farmers in rural administrative villages shall be guaranteed access to sports and fitness facilities. By 2020 some 700 million people shall take part in physical exercises at least once a week, and 435 million people shall do it on a regular basis, with per-capita sports or exercise area being 1.8 sq m or more.

(6) Right to education

The 13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Education (2016-2020) shall be implemented, the quality of education be enhanced comprehensively and equality in education be promoted. By 2020 the average years of schooling for the working-age population shall reach 10.8 years.

·Making three-year pre-school education universal. Pre-school educational resources bringing universal benefits shall be expanded, and 85 percent of eligible children shall be enrolled in kindergartens. The support to the central and western regions and to weak links shall be strengthened, and a well-balanced network of pre-school education public service that covers both urban and rural areas shall be established.

·Promoting balanced and high-quality development of compulsory education. Urban-rural integration of compulsory education shall be accelerated, so shall the standardized construction of public schools of compulsory education. The conditions of disadvantaged schools of compulsory education in poverty-ridden areas shall be improved overall. Greater attention shall be paid to ensure equal access to compulsory education at local schools for the children of migrant workers. The system of education service for children left behind by their migrant-worker parents shall be improved.

·Making senior high school education universal. Diversified development shall be encouraged of general high schools. Support shall be continuously enhanced to the development of senior high school education in poverty-stricken areas of central and western China. Students from families with financial difficulties shall be exempt from tuition and other fees during senior high school. By 2020 some 90 percent of junior high school students shall enter senior high schools.

·Improving the vocational education system. The Vocational Education Law shall be amended. Integrated development of industry and education shall be promoted, and the system of cooperation between schools and enterprises shall be improved. So shall the diversified channels conducive to the development of students receiving vocational education. Support shall be extended to the development of vocational education in less-developed areas. A program shall be implemented gradually and by category to exempt students receiving secondary vocational education from tuition and other fees. A national basic vocational training package shall be implemented.

·Boosting higher education. A program shall be implemented to enhance the innovation capacity of institutions of higher learning. So shall a program for rejuvenation of higher education of central and western regions, and key institutions of higher learning shall be made to enlarge their enrollments in central and western China, and rural areas.

·Making great efforts to develop continuing education. A personal education account and number of credits system shall be established, and the channels for continuing education and lifelong education shall be expanded. Institutions of higher learning, enterprises and public institutions, and various agencies providing educational training are encouraged to engage in continuing education.

·Improving the training of teachers in rural areas. Life subsidies shall be provided to all teachers working in rural areas hit hard by poverty, and differentiated amounts of subsidies shall be implemented on the basis of the location and degree of poverty where the teachers work. Unified standards shall be adopted for faculty and staff of elementary and high schools in both urban and rural areas. So shall the exchange of teachers working in urban and rural areas. Greater efforts shall be made in training of teachers working in rural areas of central and western China.

·Improving state financial aid policies, and ensuring full coverage of financial aid to students with economic difficulties.

(7) Cultural rights

The Outline of the National Plan for Cultural Reform and Development of the 13th Five-Year Plan Period (2016-2020) shall be implemented, and the public cultural services shall be improved, so shall the cultural industry and cultural market, to ensure citizens' basic cultural rights.

·Quickening the pace of enactment of laws on public libraries, the promotion of the cultural industry, the provision of public cultural services, and promotion of the movie industry. The Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics, the Copyright Law and supporting administrative regulations shall be amended.

·Promoting the standardization of and equal access to basic public cultural services. The public cultural facilities network shall keep to be improved, and the building of primary-level cultural service capacity shall be strengthened. Support shall be strengthened for cultural development in former revolutionary base areas, ethnic-minority areas, border areas and impoverished areas. Public digital culture development shall be accelerated. Cultural products and services should suit the public's cultural needs. All social sectors are encouraged to take part in the provision of public cultural services. Free access to public cultural installations shall be further encouraged.

·Promoting the development of emerging cultural industries. Innovation shall be encouraged in the forms of cultural operations, and great efforts shall be made to boost the development of creative culture. The cultural market entry-and-exit mechanism shall be improved, and the cultural resources shall be encouraged to flow nationwide.

·Establishing a dissemination system of China's fine cultural traditions. Protection and development of key state cultural and natural heritage sites, major ruins, key cultural relics protection units, and historic and cultural cities, towns and villages shall be strengthened, and so shall policy support to non-state-owned museums. Efforts shall be made to press forward with the building of facilities for protecting and utilizing state intangible cultural heritages, and implement a research and training program for the inheritors of intangible cultural heritages. Traditional craftsmanship shall be further developed, and the project to collate Chinese classics and records shall be launched.

·Launching a nationwide reading project.

·Strengthening the development of the Internet and cyber culture. Fiber-optic networks shall cover all urban areas and provide a connection capacity of 1,000 Mbps, allowing home users of the Internet in medium-sized and large cities to choose from a variety of plans with speeds above 100 Mbps; fiber-optic networks shall cover 98 percent of rural administrative villages, an Internet connection capacity of 100 Mbps shall be available for areas where conditions allow, allowing more than half of rural home users to choose from a variety of plans with speeds above 50 Mbps. An Internet content development project shall be implemented, support shall be extended to the digitalization of traditional publishing resources, the knowledge-services capacity shall be enhanced, and encouragement shall be given to the creation of outstanding original works on the Internet.

(8) Environmental rights

Implementing the strictest possible system of environmental protection, forming an environmental-governance system involving the government, enterprises and the general public, and striving to address such pressing environmental problems as air, water and soil pollution, so as to strive for an overall improvement of the environment.

·Effectively implementing the Law on Environmental Protection and the Law on Atmospheric Pollution Prevention and Control, and improving environmental public interest litigation and other supporting mechanisms. The pace of legislation for water and soil pollution prevention and control, and nuclear safety shall be promoted in an orderly manner.

·Sparing no effort to curb air pollution. By 2020 the ratio of days with good air quality in cities above the prefecture level shall exceed 80 percent, the density of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in such cities that have not yet met the required standards shall drop by 18 percent, and the total emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitric oxides shall drop by 15 percent.

·Strengthening water pollution prevention and control. Efforts shall be intensified for pollution prevention and control in water-head areas and river basins, and a list of priority pollutants shall be screened and established for the country's seven major river basins. By 2020 bodies of water at or above the Grade-III level shall surpass 70 percent, with bodies of water at the Grade-V level reduced to 5 percent or less, and black and odorous bodies of water in built-up areas of cities above the prefecture level shall be limited to 10 percent or less. The chemical oxygen demand amount and total emission of ammonia nitrogen shall drop by 10 percent, and excessive exploitation of groundwater shall be brought under strict control.

·Formulating and implementing the Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan. By 2020 200 pilot programs shall be completed for the application of soil-pollution control and remedy technologies; six pilot areas of soil-pollution prevention and control shall be built; and area of polluted farmland treated and restored shall reach 10 million mu (less than 700,000 ha), with the area of lightly and moderately polluted farmland treated for safe utilization being 40 million mu (less than 3 million ha).

·Improving hazardous waste pollution prevention and control. Special programs shall be carried out in hazardous waste pollution control, and efforts shall be intensified for the prevention and control of heavy metal pollution in key areas and key industries such as non-ferrous metals. Capacity building shall be strengthened in environment and health risk assessment of toxic and harmful chemicals. Further efforts shall be made to promote the security improvement of nuclear facilities and prevention and control of radioactive contamination, and strengthen the security supervision system and capacity of nuclear and radioactive materials.

·Improving the protection of marine resources and environment. Strict control shall be enforced on the scale of sea reclamation, and protection and restoration of coastal belts, seeing to it that at least 35 percent of the country' s shorelines remain in their natural conditions. A system shall be implemented under which terrigenous pollutants shall be treated and meet required standards before they are discharged into the sea and the total amount of waste discharge shall be capped. An early-warning mechanism shall be established in relation to marine resources and environment carrying capacity. Strict control shall be imposed on fishing intensity; protection of rare marine species shall be enhanced; and a marine supervision mechanism shall be implemented.

·Promoting the improvement and upgrading of the energy structure. By 2020 the energy consumption per unit of GDP shall drop by 15 percent, water usage per RMB10,000 of GDP shall drop by 23 percent, non-fossil energy resources shall make up 15 percent of primary energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP shall decrease by 18 percent.

·Promoting ecological conservation. The pace of delimiting the "red lines" for ecological conservation shall be accelerated, and efforts shall be made to forge ahead with the establishment of a negative list of industries that are not allowed in key eco-function zones. By 2020 the country's forest coverage shall be raised to 23 percent of its land; the wetland inventory shall be stabilized at 800 million mu (over 53 million ha); and nature reserves shall remain steady at 17 percent of the country's total land area, in addition to another 10 million ha of improved desert land and another 270,000 sq km of land of which soil erosion control has been completed. In addition, the number of national "forest cities" shall increase to 200, and the ratio of green land shall reach 25 percent in over 80 percent of the administrative villages nationwide. A bio-safety inspection mechanism shall be set up at land and sea ports to prevent the spread of plant and animal epidemics and diseases across borders, as well as invasion by alien species.

·Improving environmental monitoring and supervision mechanisms. A trans-regional governance model shall be enforced for joint environmental prevention and control that covers all river basins and integrates urban and rural efforts. A system for paid use and trading of emission rights shall be established. So shall a system of environmental credit records for enterprises and a blacklist system of illegal waste discharge. The environmental damage compensation system shall be improved.