Human rights progress as a matter of fact

In its World Report 2013, Human Rights Watch, a New York-based international non-governmental human rights group, has distorted China's judicial system and judicial reforms by twisting or ignoring some basic facts.

Turning a blind eye to the progressive amendments China has made to the Criminal Procedure Law and the Mental Health Law in March and October and ignoring the fact that the country has raised the level of its judicial guarantee for human rights, the report, published on Jan 31, criticizes China by saying that its legal reform has been at a standstill. "When challenged by its citizens, repression or tactical retreat rather than systemic reform remains the Chinese government's default response," the report says.

However, it is an established fact that 2012 marked a milestone in China's judicial reforms, for significant progress was made in that field last year. In terms of steady advancement of the reform and opening-up policy, China has achieved a series of major breakthroughs in recent years in its bid to reform its judicial system.