Baku, June 24, AZERTAC

China's State Council Information Office on Thursday issued a white paper on the practice of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in respecting and protecting human rights, according to Chinadaily.com.cn.

Here are the highlights:

- The CPC upholds the rights to subsistence and development as the primary and basic human rights, and works hard to ensure and improve people's wellbeing through development.

- The CPC has strived for people's liberation and wellbeing.

- Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the CPC has established systems that respect China's actual conditions and ensure the people's principal status as masters of the country.

- China has integrated its national human rights action plans with its national development plans.

- The principle of respecting and protecting human rights has been embedded in the governance of the CPC.

A total of 32.9 million senior citizens in China received advanced age subsidies, nursing subsidies, and other old-age subsidies in March 2021.

- China has put in place the world's largest social security system, including pensions, medical and health care, and social assistance, expanding coverage and improving protection.

- The life expectancy of Chinese citizens rose to 77.3 years in 2019, compared with 35 years in 1949.

- China's completion rate of the free nine-year compulsory education was 95.2 percent in 2020, making it reaching the average of high-income countries.

- China's achievements in poverty reduction have written a new chapter in the history of human rights, and created a miracle in the global human rights effort.

- Satellite images show that from 2000 to 2017, China contributed a quarter of the world's newly forested land, ranking first among all countries.

- China maintains that all ethnic groups are equal, and ensures that people of all ethnic groups have equal rights to administer state affairs in accordance with the law.

- China has been implementing policies on freedom of religious belief, building active and healthy religious relationships, and respecting and protecting citizens' right to believe in or not to believe in any religion.

- Of China's 55 ethnic minorities, 52 have their own spoken languages, with the exception of the Hui, who have used Han Chinese historically, and the Manchu and She peoples who now generally use Han Chinese.

- Students in Tibet autonomous region and south Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region enjoy free education for 15 years, part of China's efforts to ensure ethnic minority groups' right to education.

- The Communist Party of China (CPC) is committed to bringing peace and progress to the whole of humanity.

- The CPC applies the principle of universality of human rights to China's national conditions, and has opened a new path of human rights protection, adding diversity to the concept of human rights.

- China has sent more than 40,000 military personnel to participate in about 30 UN peacekeeping missions in Sudan, Lebanon, Cambodia, Libya, and other countries and regions.

- China actively participates in international arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, opposes arms races, and safeguards global strategic balance and stability.

- China is a contributor to international human rights standards.

- China has actively engaged in international human rights undertakings.

- China supports the reform of international human rights organizations in a fair, rational and inclusive direction.

- The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an initiative for common development and also for protecting human rights.

- China has signed 26 international human rights instruments, including six core UN conventions.

- China had already provided or was offering anti-epidemic assistance to 151 countries and 14 international organizations.