The Plan that Never Was: Reassessing China’s Assessment Report on National Human Rights Action Plan (2009-2010)
In April 2009, the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) released a report titled National Human Rights Action Plan (2009-2010).
The National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) was the Chinese government’s first formal document that ‘guaranteed’ human rights to Chinese citizens and pledged to address human rights violations in the PRC.
The international community warmly welcomed the document, calling it a giant step forward in the right direction, and expressed hope that its provisions would be implemented to improve the dismal state of human rights in the PRC and not remain just another tool for external propaganda.
The NHRAP guaranteed human rights in five major sections viz., Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Civil and Political Rights; Rights and Interests of Ethnic Minorities, Women, Children, Elderly People and the Disabled; Human Rights Education for the Public; and Performing International Human Rights Duties and Conducting Exchanges and Cooperation in the Field of International Human Rights.
On 14 July 2011, the State Council Information Office of the PRC issued the Assessment Report on the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009- 2010), prepared by a group of officially-approved experts and scholars. The report called the government’s performance during the action plan period a success, saying all provisions and guarantees made in the plan were implemented within the two-year time frame.
The reality is the human rights situation has deteriorated to such a degree that violations and abuses of fundamental rights and freedoms occur with alarming regularity in both China and Tibet.
Download the full report here.
