http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090413/ap_on_re_as/as_china_human_rightsBEIJING – China released its first human rights action plan Monday, pledging to improve the treatment of minorities and do more to prevent the torture of detainees but said that raising living standards would remain a central goal................The two-year plan promises the communist government will do more to prevent illegal detention and torture, and to boost the overall living standard of minorities, women, the unemployed and the disabled.
But it says a central tenet of its policy remains ensuring Chinese people have the right to make money.
China drew up the plan as part of preparations for its first examination before the U.N. Human Rights Council earlier this year.
Joshua Rosenzweig, research manager for the Dui Hua Foundation, a U.S.-based human rights group, said the plan was notable because it seemed to have more input from academics, activists and other elements of civil society than the government's previous human rights reports.
He also said issuing a plan with benchmarks, instead of a report summing up past progress, was also an "important step."
On preventing prisoner abuse, the plan promises that detainees, their families and the community will be informed of detainees' rights as well as law-enforcement standards and procedures.
It calls for a physical barrier between detainees and interrogators and mandatory physical examinations for detainees before and after they are questioned to prevent abuse.
Prisoners should be allowed to meet with a dedicated prison staffer to complain if they have suffered abuse, it said.
A recent string of inmate deaths in China that have sparked public concern. Since Feb. 8, at least five prisoners have reportedly died while in detention awaiting trial, the youngest just 18 years old, state media reported earlier.
Such accusations are widespread, with rights groups and Chinese media frequently reporting cases of prisoners being beaten or tortured. Authorities have prosecuted some of the worst offenders, but the charges persist..............Rosenzweig criticized the government for setting modest goals and not including more specifics.
"They have set some pretty soft targets for themselves," he said.
In all seriousness, if they intend to follow up on this then this is good news. China has 1/5 of the world's population. My understanding is the human rights/environmental movement has accelerated in the last 10 years, and hopefully it will get better in the future.