Full Text: National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010)

I. Guarantee of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

In 2009 and 2010, the state will take proactive and effective measures to offset the negative impacts of international financial crisis, and ensure the economic, social and cultural rights of all members of society.

(1) Right to work

Efforts will be made to promote employment and re-employment, and guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of workers.

- Coordinating the rural and urban employment situations in accordance with the Law on Employment Promotion to secure the growth of employment. In 2009 and 2010, an additional 18 million urban workers will be employed and 18 million rural laborers will move to cities or towns and find jobs there. The registered urban unemployment rate will be kept below 5 percent, and the priority is to find employment for college graduates and rural migrant workers.

- Widespread introduction of labor contracts will involve encouraging collective contracts, improving the mechanism of coordination among employers, employees and the government, implementing the minimum salary system and steadily raising workers' salary levels in accordance with the Labor Contract Law.

- Expanding vocational training to bring the total number of skilled workers to 110 million nationwide, with technicians and senior technicians accounting for 5 percent of all skilled workers and senior workers accounting for 20 percent of all skilled workers.

- Adhering to the principles of "safety first, with focus on prevention and taking comprehensive measures to guarantee production safety," strengthening labor protection, and improving production conditions in accordance with the Law on Safe Production. The goal is to reduce the number of deaths caused by industrial accidents per 100 million yuan GDP by 35 percent compared with the figure for 2005, and the deaths per 100,000 workers in factories, mines and businesses by 25 percent.

- Solving labor disputes fairly and promptly to promote harmonious and stable labor relations; tightening supervision over salary payment, spreading the practice of employer leaving a deposit in banks to guarantee salary payment, and affixing the legal liability of deliberate default on payment in accordance with the Law on Mediation and Arbitration of Labor Disputes.

(2) Right to basic living conditions

Effective measures will continue to steadily raise the incomes of rural and urban residents, especially people with middle- and low-income, and improve the system of subsistence allowances so as to ensure the right of urban and rural residents to a basic standard of living.

- Raising citizens' incomes so that the average annual disposable income of urban residents will reach 15,781 yuan or more and that rural residents will see their net annual income increase by 6 percent every year from the 4,761 yuan in 2008.

- Intensifying efforts in poverty-alleviation work so as to smoothly solve the food and clothing problems of the target population as soon as possible, gradually raise their incomes, and help them shed poverty and make good. In this regard, the "Raindrop Program" (Launched in November 2006 by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, the program is aimed at training and qualifying 5 million young and middle-aged impoverished farmers and 300,000 demobilized soldiers from poverty-stricken areas for jobs elsewhere during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010).) will provide pre-employment training for 1 million impoverished laborers and practical skill training for 10 million laborers every year.

- Building more commercial and affordable housing to improve the living conditions of urban families with middle- and low-incomes; improving the low-rent housing program and accelerating the pace to solve the housing problems of the urban poor; and strictly implementing the relevant systems regarding demolition permits, fund supervision, relevant agreements, evaluation, examination and approval of projects to be transferred, housing security, compensation and aid, and public hearings, so as to guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of people whose housing is demolished to make way for new construction.

- Improving the system of subsistence allowances. The state will revise the Regulations on Basic Living Allowances to Urban Residents, and formulate the Methods on the Measurement and Adjustment of Urban Basic Living Allowances, the Methods of Calculating the Income of Urban Families Entitled to Basic Living Allowances, and the Implementing Methods for the Classification of Urban Basic Living Allowances. It will accelerate the drafting of the Regulations on the Rural Basic Living Allowances to standardize the practices for rural basic living allowances, the screening of the beneficiaries and the classified aid to them, so that those in need will receive the necessary help and the level of allowance will be raised gradually.