Rights watch gets it wrong on China

The annual report of Human Rights Watch, an international non-governmental organization, released recently distorts the facts on China by claiming that the protection of disabled people's rights in the country is "inadequate".

Let facts speak for themselves. In September 2012, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities reviewed China's implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In response to the review, China quickly implemented the promised measures, which was a breakthrough in protecting the rights of disabled people in the country.

The Chinese government has issued policies favorable to special groups of disabled people. Since many intellectually challenged people were forced to work in "underground" factories or coal mines, the central government ordered all local governments to take immediate steps to end the practice and help the victims lead a respectable life.

The government has paid special attention to disabled women and children. While implementing the State Council's detailed plans for the development of women and children in March 2013, China Disabled Persons' Federation emphasized the importance of gender equality in policymaking and urged that special policies be passed to ensure that disabled women and children get help on a priority basis.

Disabled people's right to free access to information is better protected today than ever before. In August 2013, relevant departments issued a guideline on how to accelerate local legislation for establishing facilities that provide disabled people with barrier-free access to information, with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development cooperating with the CDPF in building such facilities.

The central government has also taken measures to promote employment of disabled people, and labor departments at all levels have been coordinating to help such candidates in the job market. In its cooperation program with the International Labor Organization aimed at supporting employment, the CDPF authorities asked the federation's branches at all levels to promote the employment of physically challenged people.

A document jointly issued by seven ministries clearly says that more civil service posts should be created for disabled people. The document also says that by 2020, physically challenged people should account for more than 15 percent of all officials in provincial-level disabled people's federations and they should be selected on a priority basis for certain posts.

The Regulations on the Education of Persons with Disabilities is scheduled for revision, which will make "merging education (of able and disabled people)" the basic principle of education for the physically challenged. In the first months of 2013, the revised draft specifically required schools and families, in fact, society as a whole, to offer "reasonable convenience" to people with disabilities to receive education. This is a big step toward combining China's domestic laws with the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Ministry of Education and other government departments have worked out the Special Education Promotion Plan (2014-16), which makes it further clear that the government aims to fully promote inclusive education, or, in other words, that every child with disability should receive proper education. The plan also requires that at least 90 percent of all disabled people (that is, the physically and intellectually challenged, and the visually and hearing impaired) ought to receive compulsory education.

Moreover, disabled people's organizations have been further regulated and standardized. Another example of the government better serving the disabled is the formation by the CDPF of a service association for disabled people's social organizations, which is open to all social organizations in the country for membership.

The author is a researcher at the Public Interest and Development Law Center, Wuhan University.