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Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports.
Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity.
Reports:
- Working Group on Discrimination Against Women
- UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to education
- UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
- UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
- Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (2004)
- Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (1997)
Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice
A/HRC/26/39/Add.2
Country visit: 12 to 19 December 2013
Report published: 12 June 2014
Background: China is facing the challenge of demographic change on an unprecedented scale, both in rapid rural-urban labour migration and in an increasingly ageing society. The gap between urban and rural Chinese is widening and urban incomes are now estimated to be more than three times higher than rural incomes. These trends are, undoubtedly, major features of the Chinese economy today and have distinct implications for women, who assume a major burden of care both for children and the elderly (para 6).
Anticipating the intensification of the transition to a market economy, the Group considers that, along with the opportunities which may open up for women’s employment, there is an inherent risk of a negative impact on women, as such transitions have generally involved privatization, a reduction in public service jobs and a reduction or privatization of public care services for dependent children. The Group also welcomes the loosening of the one-child policy which, although targeted at parents in general and not exclusively at mothers, has resulted in some serious violations of women’s reproductive health and physical integrity. The Group welcomes the growing openness of China to global engagement and its ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (paras 9,10, 14).
Institutional framework: The All-China Women’s Federation is a mass umbrella organization dedicated to the advancement of Chinese women, with a large national network at the provincial, township and village levels. The Working Group appreciates the singular and important role of the Federation in society for addressing the special needs of women, e.g., establishing childcare service networks, training for employment and promoting women’s political participation .The National Working Committee on Children and Women is a State Council organization in charge of encouraging the relevant government departments to implement laws and regulations and policy-related measures concerning women and children, and coordinating those efforts (paras 31, 32).
Child care: China established a public childcare system under central planning, which contributed significantly to the high level of participation of women in the labour force. However, the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy has led to a decline in publicly funded childcare and rising childcare costs in private kindergartens. The Working Group notes that, as women bear the burden of childcare, this has a detrimental impact on women’s ability to engage in the labour force, particularly for low- and middle-income families, except for those who have parents or grandparents available to take care of the children. The Group commends the work carried out by the Shanghai chapter of the All-China Women’s Federation, which resulted in the establishment of a State-funded pilot project aimed at helping professional women gain access to affordable, quality childcare services for children aged 0-3 years (paras 48, 49).
Care of parents: Article 49 of the Constitution affirms that children have a duty to support and assist their parents. The requirement of care for the elderly in an increasingly ageing population presents a serious barrier to women’s equal access to economic opportunities, as women are the primary caregivers for the elderly, both parents and parents-in-law (para 50).
Girls’ education: China has made remarkable progress in achieving many of the Millennium Development Goals, most notably increasing the level of education for girls (para 100). The Working Group commends the Compulsory Education Law, as amended in 2006, which provides children, regardless of sex, ethnic status, family financial conditions or religious belief, with nine years of free compulsory education. This was achieved in 2008 for girls and boys in urban and rural areas, with a net enrolment ratio for both boys and girls of 99.8 per cent. However, the Group is concerned at reports that some colleges in China have lowered the minimum pass scores for entrance examinations in certain subjects for males only, thereby discriminating against female candidates (para 59). The Working Group commends the Government for its success in making the education of girls a high priority, as required by Millennium Development Goal 3 and increasing the level of education of girls ahead of 2015 (para 98).
Discrimination of women: The Group welcomes the announcement made at the 18th Central Committee in relation to a reform of the hukou, which recognizes the opportunity for women to obtain greater freedom of choice regarding occupation and residence together with their children (para 72).
Girls with disabilities: The Group reiterates the concerns of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, set out in its concluding observations on the initial report of China, regarding the lack of definition of discrimination against persons with disabilities, forced sterilization and abortion and the prevalence of violence perpetrated against women and girls with disabilities (para 75).
Ethnic minority women: The Working Group appreciates the attention given by the Government to ethnic minority women, as witnessed during its visit to Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Xishuangbanna province, where it held discussions with members of the village committee and women’s group and visited the Xishuangbanna women and children’s counselling and legal aid centre. It observed the role played by women grass-roots leaders in shaping the development of women in their communities through raising awareness of trafficking in persons, domestic violence, land and property issues and employment, and psychological counselling and mediation for local families in difficulties (para 82).
The Group is also concerned at reports of unmarried Uighur women as young as 16 being forced to participate in a labour transfer programme from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region to urban factories in eastern China, enduring appalling working conditions, which has led to some families in the region arranging the marriages of their daughters to older men in order to escape transfer to the factories (para 83).
Trafficking in persons: China is a source, destination and transit country for trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation. There is an urgent need to increase efforts, as an increase of almost one third in the annual number of recorded cases of trafficking in women and children was reported between 2008 and 2011 (para 84).
The Group has been informed of an increase in the number of women leaving the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for China. It is concerned that these women who, according to the findings of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, have been trafficked to China and often sold into forced marriages, and have been classified as irregular foreign migrants not entitled to health care or basic education for their children, rather than refugees or asylum seekers, or refugees sur place, entitled to international protection. (para 85).
Violence: The Group observes that cases of sexual assault of girls in schools have been reported in some provinces. In one survey of 5,000 students, at least 50 cases involved sexual assaults on girls by their teachers. In the wake of such child sex abuse scandals and the jailing of an activist who launched a campaign against the teachers concerned, a group of prominent women lawyers from across the country joined forces to represent the girl victims of sex attacks. The recent scandals have prompted widespread anger and calls for a review of the laws on sex with minors (para 90).
The Group also notes the inconsistency between articles 236 and 360 of the Criminal Law. Article 236 states that individuals who have sexual intercourse with girls under the age of 14 shall be deemed to have committed rape and punished severely, which includes the possibility of the death penalty. Article 360 states that whoever “whores with a girl” under the age of 14 shall receive a minimum five-year sentence and a fine. Although the Working Group notes with appreciation the 2013 Opinion of the Supreme People’s Court on the punishment of sexual abuse of minors, it considers that intercourse with any underage girl, including so-called child prostitutes, should be treated as rape and subject to the maximum penalty. Child prostitution is one of the worst forms of systematic sexual violence and children do not have the capacity to give consent (para 91).
The Group notes that the quality of support services for women and girl victims of violence, such as shelters, legal aid and medical services, is currently insufficient to meet national demand and would benefit from concrete policy and budgetary measures (para 93).
Beyond this, the Group observes the need for additional legislation to address violence against women and girls in all its forms and contexts. Although the Criminal Law, as amended in 1997, contains provisions prohibiting violence such as rape, there is a need for targeted measures to prevent, prosecute and punish perpetrators and to protect and provide redress for women and girls who are victims of violence in all contexts, including in schools, in the public arena and if perpetrated against individuals because of their sexual orientation. The Group stresses the importance of prohibiting sexual intercourse with girls under the age of 16, marital rape and female infanticide (paras 25, 107).
Women living with HIV/AIDS: The Working Group notes that China is experiencing a feminization of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Increases in infection rates are observed in mother-to-child transmission and heterosexual transmission, predominantly through intimate partner transmission, which is linked to domestic violence and women’s resulting inability to negotiate safe sex. The Group received information regarding discrimination by medical institutions which refuse to give treatment to patients, violate their right to privacy and withhold important information (para 94).
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to education
Katarina Tomaševski
(E/CN.4/2004/45/Add.1)
Country visit: 9 to 19 September 2003
Report published: 21 November 2003
School attendance:
The Special Rapporteur found that:
China had set for itself the goals of eliminating illiteracy and attaining nine years of compulsory education by the end of the Ninth Five-year Plan (1996-2000), but neither was accomplished. The latter objective has been postponed to 2007. The population is divided into urban and rural pervade education policy. In the 1990s, 40 per cent of children of compulsory school age in the poorest provinces could not attend school. Government’s policy of aiming for nine years of compulsory education is, in the case of the poorest parts of the country, reduced to six, thus diminishing rather than increasing the urgency of equalization transfers.
The Special Rapporteur recommends an immediate affirmation of China’s international obligation to ensure free education for all children by eliminating all financial obstacles. (para 10)
Gender:
The Special Rapporteur found that:
A series of warning signs have highlighted the detrimental effects of the recent economic changes on girls and women. Women’s income diminished from about 80 per cent of men’s in 1990 to about 70 per cent by the turn of the millennium. The increased private costs of public education, with girls deemed not to constitute a good investment, have led to estimates that 80 per cent of the “new illiterates” may be girls. Indeed, female illiteracy increased in the 1990s from 68 per cent to 71 per cent. Girls have overtaken boys in primary education with 50.6 per cent of enrolments, but are lagging behind at the university level with 38.2 per cent.
The Special Rapporteur recommends the adoption of a comprehensive strategy for attaining gender equality both in and through education at the highest level of the Government. (para 26)
Migration:
The Special Rapporteur expresses concern that:
Restrictions upon freedom of movement and residence are exemplified in hukou, the requirement of local residence permits to access public education or health care. This requirement is based on registration at birth, and the local authorities are responsible for providing services to their registered residents. The existing statistics refer only to those people who have been registered. Children who are not registered at birth - almost always girls - do not acquire an entitlement to any services. Nor do migrants and their children. An unauthorized change of residence deprives migrants of services and exposes them to the risk of enforced return. An unknown number of migrant children are denied their right to education because they lack permits, and a series of regulations have been adopted. Those migrant children who are allowed into school are required to pay a “temporary schooling fee” amounting to 20,000 yuan in Beijing, as the Special Rapporteur heard to her dismay. That sum is beyond the reach of most migrants.
The Special Rapporteur recommends an explicit and authoritative affirmation that all children have the right to education, and an invitation to all school-age children to enrol. This will reveal the exact number of schoolchildren, as nobody knows how many migrant or out-of-plan children there may be. It will also create the necessary background for assessing the cost of educating all the children and the public funding that ought to be provided. (para 27)
Disability:
The Special Rapporteur notes that:
According to the 1990 Law on the Protection of Disabled People, the Government should guarantee the right to education to all of them. However, only 0.4 per cent of the education budget was allocated in 2000 to the education of people with disabilities, according to the official statistics. Some schools do exist for children with disabilities, catering for the selected few, while there is not even an estimate of how many others are left with no access to education as there is no definition of learning disability.
The Special Rapporteur recommends revising the definition of disability, and initiating comprehensive and sustained public education aimed at eliminating the underlying prejudices and stereotypes. (para 30)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
Olivier De Schutter
(A/HRC/19/59/Add.1 )
Country visit: 15 to 23 December 2010
Report published: 20 January 2012
Underweight Children Progress: This recent setback should not lead to underestimations of the considerable progress that has been made over the past three decades, lifting several hundred millions out of poverty. This was made possible through a series of economic reforms that led China to achieve impressive levels of economic growth: between 1979 and 2007, the absolute GDP in China increased on average 9.8 per cent and the per capita GDP 8.6 per cent each year. Among the most important economic reforms are the introduction of the Household Responsibility System in agriculture after 1978, the development of Township and Village Enterprises in rural areas and, especially after 1987, an export-led type of growth stimulated by the opening up of the economy to global trade and investment. The impacts on poverty alleviation were real and measurable. Assessed in terms of the World Bank poverty standard (of 888 yuan per person per year at 2003 rural prices), the absolute number of poor fell from 652 million to 135 million between 1981 and 2004. Using the current international measure of poverty of $1.25 per day in 2005 purchasing power parity dollars, the number of poor was 254 million in 2005, the latest year for which direct survey-based estimates are available. This overall progress in reducing poverty led to significant improvements in food security. The number of undernourished people went down from 1 in 3 30 years ago to 1 in 10, and the prevalence of underweight among children under 5 years old decreased from 19.1 per cent in 1990 to 6.9 per cent in 2005 (stunting rates went from 33.4 per cent to 10.5 per cent in the same period). (Paragraph 10)
Child Abandonment: Rural migrant workers are also affected by the gap between the rural and the urban levels of public services. Over the past decades, some 153 million people have migrated from rural areas all over China to work in urban areas, particularly in the eastern provinces. An estimated 20 per cent of all rural migrant workers move with their family;24 given that this proportion currently represents about 30 million such workers, the total number of rural-urban migrants can be estimated at around 200 million. Despite efforts to gradually align the situation of migrant workers with that of urban residents, these migrants still are often excluded from social services and social security benefits, including the di bao guaranteed to urban residents. In part, this stems from the fact that the vast majority of rural migrants (likely about 85 per cent) work in the informal sector, which increases their vulnerability to abusive labour conditions, including non-payment of wages. Another source of exclusion is the household registration system (hukou), the result of which is that, depending on their place of registration, individuals have different entitlements to basic services in the areas of health, education and basic income guarantees. The hukou system also leads to restrictions to the right to respect for family life, as the parent (or parents) migrating to the city often are obliged to leave the children behind in the rural areas, as they fear that these would not have access to education. (Paragraph 17)
Right to Social Security: As the right to social security gets strengthened by the further extension of the di bao and a gradual phasing out of the hukou system, it should also be affirmed as a human right. In particular, the clear definition of beneficiaries in legislation and improved information for the beneficiaries about their rights may limit the risk of resources being diverted as a result of corruption or clientelism, and can improve the accountability of the administration responsible for implementation, particularly if courts are empowered to monitor implementation. The definition of the programme benefit as deriving from a right held by all citizens (even where the programme is needs-based or benefits only people meeting certain conditions) can reduce the element of stigma attached to participating in the programme, which could otherwise reduce significantly the participation of eligible persons. The participation of beneficiaries in the design and implementation of programmes can improve their effectiveness. Consideration could also be given to making women the direct beneficiaries of the cash transfer system, rather than the men as heads of households, as is done successfully in some other countries. This would help ensure that the resources will be used in the best interest of the children and of the household as a whole, and it would contribute to rebalancing power relationships within the family. (Paragraph 19)
Malnutrition: As noted above, the achievements of China in combating malnutrition are remarkable. However, important challenges remain concerning nutrition and the adequacy of diets of both the rural and urban population. In 2009, the prevalence of anaemia among children under 5 years old was 28.6 per cent in general rural areas and 41.2 per cent in poorer rural areas, while 22.7 per cent of children aged 12 months in the poorer rural areas were stunted.27 According to official data provided by the Government, the low-weight rate among children under 5 years in rural areas was 4.6 per cent in 2009, while the rate of moderate-to-severe anaemia among children under 5 years in rural areas was 21.9 per cent in 2005, about twice that among urban children. Despite great increases in fruit and vegetables consumption for most households, a significant proportion of households in poor counties eat vegetables only one or two days per week. At the same time, obesity is appearing: in 2002, 9.2 per cent of Chinese children were overweight for their age, a figure only slightly under the percentage of Chinese underweight (11 per cent). 28 Surveys by the World Health Organization also found overconsumption of salt, leading to hypertension and related diseases, a threat for an ageing population. China thus is meeting the same challenges as other countries undergoing nutrition transition. (Paragraph 20)
A comprehensive approach to address these problems could be based upon four complementary strategies. First, the promotion of diverse and balanced diets, including through agricultural policies or other adequate schemes aiming at cheaper vegetable prices for poor urban and rural consumers, could both decrease malnutrition and prevent a further aggravation of obesity levels. Second, the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months after birth and complementary feeding after six months are the most effective strategies to avoid malnutrition during the first 22 months and to strengthen the immune system of children. According to some national-level data received by the Special Rapporteur, the opportunity for improvements in this area is relatively large: only 27 per cent of Chinese children under 6 months are currently exclusively breastfed, and the World Health Organization estimates that the percentage is even lower (at 10 per cent) in rural areas. However, according to data provided by the Government, 92.24 per cent of children under 6 months of age were breastfed (an increase of 22 per cent compared to the 71.6 per cent of the 2002 National Nutrition and Health Survey, according to the same Government source). However, the Special Rapporteur understands this to refer to children who are breastfed, but not exclusively breastfed. Third, the promotion of mandatory biofortification of staple foods, including wheat flour—as done today in 56 countries across the world— could complement the first two preventive strategies. Finally, a stronger regulation of the marketing efforts of the food industry to sell unbalanced processed products and ready-to- serve meals too rich in fat and sugars is certainly needed to curb obesity levels. (Paragraph 21)
Food safety represents another important challenge. Following the 2008 incident of melamine-contaminated infant milk powder, a series of important measures to strengthen food safety supervision has been taken and a Food Safety Law was adopted in March 2009. The authorities should be commended for their efforts in this domain, despite the difficulties they face in a fast-developing agrifood processing and retailing industry. Against this background, the Special Rapporteur is, however, concerned that, according to information received, individuals organizing those affected by food safety risks may face legal sanctions, as illustrated by the case of Zhao Lianhai who was reportedly convicted for causing a public disturbance for seeking to organize parents whose children, like his own, had been affected by the melamine-contaminated infant milk powder. This creates a chilling effect on all those who would like to rely on article 10 of the Food Safety Law in order to report violations of the requirements set by this legislation. It also seems to underestimate the contribution that the exercise of freedoms of expression and association can make to the right to adequate food. (Paragraph 22)
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
Manfred Nowak
(E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6 )
Country visit: 20 November to 2 December 2005
Report published: 10 March 2006
International Obligations: China is a party to five of the seven major international human rights treaties. Of these, the following expressly prohibit torture and ill-treatment: the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The competence of the Committee against Torture to receive individual complaints has not been recognized by China under article 22 of CAT. Further, China has declared that it does not consider itself bound by articles 20 and 30, paragraph 1, of CAT. China has signed and is preparing to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). (Paragraph 13)
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
(E/CN.4/2005/6/Add.4 )
Country visit: 18 to 30 September 2004
Report published: 29 December 2004
Relevant Visits: The Working Group visited the following 10 detention facilities included in a list previously submitted to the authorities: the Beijing Municipal Detention Centre No. 501 in Chaoyang District; the Beijing Juvenile Reformatory; the Beijing Tuang He Re-education through Labour Camp; the Chengdu Reformatory Penitentiary; the Jinjiang Prison; the Chengdu Detention Centre; a police station in the city of Chengdu; Prison No. 1 of the Tibet Autonomous Region (Drapchi Prison) and the Lhasa Detention Centre (Gutsa); as well as the Mental Health Hospital at Fangshang District, Beijing. (Paragraph 5)
At these detention facilities, the Working Group was able to meet with and interview more than 70 detainees, chosen at random and from a list previously submitted to the authorities, including pre-trial detainees, convicted individuals serving their sentences, women, minors, and persons held in administrative detention in re-education through labour camps. (Paragraph 6)
Administrative Deprivation of Liberty: Forms of administrative detention still in force include the following:
− Work Study Schools (gongdu xuexiao), implemented to correct what is described in the Law on Preventing Juvenile Delinquency adopted on 28 June 1999 as “Seriously unhealthy behaviour that seriously harms society but does not qualify for criminal punishments”. (Paragraph 40)
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
(E/CN.4/1998/44/Add.2)
Country visit: 6 to 16 October 1997
Report published: 22 December 1997
No mention of children's rights.