China allowed the publication of the first report on human
rights by a non-governmental organization (NGO) after the
protection of human rights was enshrined in the Constitution.
Titled "China's Human Rights in Action" and written by the China
Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS), the report discusses
achievements China has made in protecting human rights.
It records China's enshrinement of human rights in its Constitution
last March, Premier Wen Jiabao's commitment to retrieve defaulted
payment for rural workers, official measures to protect AIDS
patients' rights and interests, and the nationwide crackdown on
human rights infringement by government officials.
But the report is not only laudatory. It also discusses human
rights violations, such as in the case of Sun Zhigang, who was
beaten to death while detained at the Guangzhou Police Holding
Center for having no ID on him in March, 2003.
By addressing China's human rights problems, the report both alerts
China's government and judicial organs, and helps citizens become
aware of their newly sanctified human rights, said scholars with
the CSHRS.
The China Society for Human Rights Studies, the country's largest
NGO on human rights protection, was listed in the World Directory
of Human Rights Research and Training Institutions by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
in December, 1996.
(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2005)
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