Human rights now top priority in China

Xiao Jiao, China Daily, Asia News Network, Beijing

The draft constitutional amendment passed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) late last month includes some landmark initiatives.

To any freedom-loving person, the most remarkable is undoubtedly the enshrining of human rights.

The draft adds one short line to the preamble of the Constitution: "The State respects and protects human rights."

Behind the simple rhetoric is a long road to the rise of human rights in China.

Three decades ago, private rights were randomly overridden by political expedients in the country then swept up in the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976).

People's dignity got basic protection after the turmoil ended in the late 1970s, and has hence enjoyed constant improvement amid the restoration of a stable legal system.

Besides protection of private rights and property provided in civil codes, major statutes have banned abuse of administrative and judicial power at the expense of individual rights.

Criminal procedures also have precise articles to guarantee basic rights of the accused, such as banning torture and a death penalty waiver for female criminals who are pregnant.

In the 1990s the Chinese government signed two benchmark United Nations human rights charters: The International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and The International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

With growing income and better education, Chinese citizens" demand for individual rights has risen steadily. After the basic needs of food, shelter and clothing are satisfied, personal freedom and equality are increasingly important.

By putting forward the phrase "human rights" in a crystal clear way, the draft constitutional amendment properly answers the people's call.

However, cases violating individual rights still occur at times.

Many may still remember last year's tragedy of Sun Zhigang, a 27-year-old migrant worker in Guangzhou who was beaten to death by inmates after being detained by local police for not having a local residence permission paper with him.

Justice was finally meted out on the perpetrators, and Premier Wen Jiabao later signed the annulment of the unpopular regulation that often resulted in the deportation of the homeless and destitute.

But the aftermath lingers as the public are wary of old rules and practices that have the potential to endanger personal freedom and dignity, and demand prompt actions to scrap them.

Notably, steps have been taken in the past year. The government stopped the mandatory health exam for new couples which used to be prerequisite of marriage registration. A decree was issued to appoint free attorneys for poor citizens at court. Judicial organs also conducted massive campaigns to sort out cases involving extended custody.

Such changes are just the tip of the iceberg in the fight to bulldoze all anachronisms that fetter individual rights.

All-round efforts on legislative, governmental, judicial as well as ideological fronts will be needed to breathe real power into the constitutional rights article, likely to be passed by this year's NPC session in March.

However, the making of the article in itself justifies optimism, in that it has broken the authorities" old line of being reserved on this issue.

The phrase "human rights" rarely appeared in China's statutory books or official documents before.

Whatever the reason behind, it is not a problem any more.

During his recent visit to the United States, Premier Wen Jiabao admitted that the human rights situation in China is "not perfect."

His candidness was based on his confidence in China's emphatic progress in human rights in the past and further improvement in the future.

There is also growing public understanding of the step-by-step approach China takes in improving human rights, which has helped strike a balance between individual rights and overall prosperity.

China's efforts to cultivate a market-led economy and accept the rule of law " both affirmed in prior revisions to the Constitution " have paved way toward higher respect for individuality.

The sweeping changes Chinese people underwent over the past decades offer reasons to believe that the care for human rights, as to be written into the Constitution, will not be merely rhetoric.