Progress in China's Human Rights in 2013

Aiming to prevent and control air pollution, projects of emission-reduction by means of updating facilities are being greatly boosted. The large-scale smog in China's central and eastern areas since 2013 has caused great concern of the public. The State Council issued the Action Plan for Preventing and Controlling Air Pollution in September 2013, imposing 35 concrete measures, including reducing the emission of air contaminants, upgrading the industrial structure, speeding up enterprises' technical transformation, optimizing the energy mix, and applying strict criteria for energy conservation and environmental protection. China established a joint prevention and control system for regional pollution, promptly reacted to severe pollution days, mobilized the whole of society to participate in the actions of maintaining clean air, promoted air pollution control and reduced smog. In 2013 the desulfurization facilities of the active thermal power generating units with a capacity of 34 million kw were retrofitted to increase capacity, and the ratio of generating units with desulfurization facilities came to account for 90 percent of all generating units in China's coal-fired thermal power stations. A capacity of 205 million kw were retrofitted with generating units with NOx reduction facilities in the year, reaching 50 percent of China's total thermal installed capacity. The gas bypass of desulfurization facilities of thermal power generating units with a capacity of 203 million kw was cancelled, with the capacity of desulfurization generating units without gas bypasses accounting for 46 percent of the total thermal power installed capacity. Cement clinker plants with a capacity of 570 million tons were retrofitted with NOx reduction facilities, accounting for 50 percent of the total capacity. The emissions of four major pollutants-organic pollutants (measured by chemical oxygen demand), ammonia nitrogen, sulfur dioxide and NOx-decreased by 2.93 percent, 3.14 percent, 3.48 percent and 4.72 percent, respectively, compared with 2012, with the emission of NOx dropping below the 2010 reduction benchmark for the first time. The daily sewage treatment capacity in towns (including both incorporated towns and industrial parks) increased by 11.94 million tons in 2013, and 84.8 percent of the garbage in cities at all levels was made harmless after treatment.

Specialized environmental-protection inspections are being conducted, and environmental crimes are being cracked down on. Some 1.83 million law-enforcement personnel were sent to inspect 710,000 enterprises in 2013, investigating and dealing with 6,499 cases of environmental violation and illegal activities, and handling 1,523 cases within a set time limit under the supervision of higher authorities. The central government paused project environmental approvals of 16 cities in the provinces that had failed the 2012 examination of the implementation of the Plan for Preventing and Controlling of Heavy Metal Pollution during the 12th Five-year Plan Period. More than 300,000 tons of chromium slag was treated in the year, almost equal the total discharged volume, and 17 batches of solid waste were prevented from illegal entry. The revised Civil Procedure Law, which went into force January 1, 2013, established the environment-related public interest litigation system, stipulating that law-designated governmental organs and organizations can legally challenge activities that damage the public interest, such as those polluting the environment and those infringing consumers' lawful rights and interests. According to the Interpretation of Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Environmental Pollution jointly issued by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate in June 2013, environmental crimes will be harshly punished, and the environmental regulatory authorities' misprisions in environmental monitoring will be liable to extra punishment. In 2013 public security organs all over China filed 779 environmental cases and roped in 1,265 criminal suspects; people's procuratorates at all levels charged 20,969 suspects with major contamination accidents, illegally mining or illegally felling trees, investigated 1,290 officials for work-related crimes in projects concerning environmental monitoring, pollution control and ecosystems restoration, and required related government departments to fulfill their statutory duty of supervision according to law by means of prosecutorial advice and urging them to bring to light illegal conduct; people's courts at all levels accepted and heard 134 environmental cases, with 104 concluded, and applied criminal sanctions to 139 persons. Moreover, the Supreme People's Court announced such typical cases of environmental-pollution crimes as the Zijin Mining Group's pollution spill at the Zijinshan Gold and Copper Mine, pollution accidents of Chengjiang Jinye Industry and Trade Co., Ltd. in Yunnan, a pollution accident of Yunguang Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. in Chongqing, and the dumping of hazardous substances by Hu Wenbiao and Ding Yuesheng.

In 2013 China continued to take the initiative in exchanges and cooperation with other countries in the realm of human rights. It played a constructive role in the UN's human rights bodies and endeavored to promote the sound development of human rights on the international stage.

Participating in UN multilateral human rights conferences. Chinese delegations attended the relevant meetings of the Third Committee of the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly and the Committee on Non-governmental Organizations, and the 22nd to 24th sessions of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), and participated in the 15th to 17th sessions of the HRC's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Team. In those meetings, China played a constructive role by stating its views on human rights policies and proactively participating in reviews and discussions of human rights issues.

Passing the UPR second cycle. China passed its second UPR in October 2013 at Geneva. Representatives of most of the 137 states participating in the review fully acknowledged China's achievements and progress in human rights, supporting China in further promoting and protecting human rights based on its actual conditions. With an open mind and in a serious manner, the Chinese government positively responded to the suggestions and opinions raised by other countries' representatives during the review, accepting 204 opinions (81 percent of all the opinions) concerning over 20 fields, including poverty reduction, education and the judiciary. The review report of China's second UPR was adopted by the HRC on March 20, 2014.

Attaching great importance to the implementation of international human rights conventions. China has joined 26 international human rights conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In 2013 China submitted to the Committee Against Torture (CAT) the sixth report of its implementation of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. China's consolidated report of the third and fourth implementations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and first report of implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict passed the review of the Committee on the Rights of the Child without a hitch.

Taking an active part in UN activities concerning human rights. On November 12, 2013, China was elected with 176 votes an HRC member state for 2014-2016. China continued to support the work of the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), promising to raise its donations to the OHCHR to US$800,000 each year from 2014 to 2017. It received a visit from the HRC's working group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice. The Chinese government actively participated in and promoted the intergovernmental process of the UN General Assembly on strengthening and enhancing the effective functioning of the human rights treaty body system, and attended several rounds of multilateral unofficial negotiations and seminars to set forth its position and assertions on improving the human rights treaty body system. Chinese experts were elected as members of the HRC Advisory Committee and CAT.

Increasing mutual understanding through dialogues and communication on human rights. China held human rights communication and discussions with Russia and Pakistan, and human rights dialogues with the United States, the European Union, Germany and other countries. It sent legal experts to hold dialogues with their US counterparts, conducted technical cooperation projects on human rights with Australia and received a visit from the European Union's Special Representative for Human Rights. It also sent a delegation to attend the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Informal Seminar on Human Rights. The China Society for Human Rights Studies and the China Foundation for Human Rights Development jointly held the sixth session of the Beijing Forum on Human Rights. Focusing on "Constructing an Environment for Sustainable Human Rights Development," the forum discussed in a broad and profound way the relationship between human rights and the rule of law, social progress and regional security.

Working closely with other countries, China will continue to spare no efforts to promote the healthy development of human rights worldwide.