As the chinese news agency Xinhua reported, yesterday the chinese government published for the first time a human rights action plan for China. During the next 2 years human rights shall be protected and promoted with an focus on:
- Civil and Political Rights
- Rights and Interests of Ethnic Minorities
- Education in Human Rights
- Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- Performing International Human Rights Duties
As stated in Spiegel Online, specially the promise of better social benefits would be highly welcome from a vast majority of the population.
It is arguable how many of these good intentions can be realised and in which time frame because it takes a lot of time until a governmental policy in China becomes reality in local government decision making. But for the first time at all the chinese government approved that there might be a need for change in the human rights policies in China.
One of the first things which should be changed is the disparity between countryside and city citizens as explained in Lizhens article about the chinese Hukou. This disparity in my eyes is a shame for an communist country where all brothers should be seen as equal.
[Update]
The full text of the action plan can be found here: National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010) .
For me as computer scientist I am specially interested to see the implementation of II. Guarantee of Civil and Political Rights, (5) The right to be informed. Will this point cover a less strickt filtering of the internet as well?
As far as the chinese government does not exactly explain what they want to change and how they want to achieve these goals a slight suspiciousness about this program is indicated.