Human Rights in Xinjiang: Development and Progress

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Overview

This white paper begins by emphasizing that prior to the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the ethnic groups of Xinjiang suffered oppression from invading foreign forces, the feudal exploiting class and the privileged religious hierarchy. Only under a socialist system after the founding of the PRC did the people of Xinjiang began to enjoy human rights. The paper then elaborates on specific decisions and programs that have been implemented for the benefit of the ethnic communities. It specifically mentions that since 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in 2012, under the leadership of Xi Jinping has worked hard to promote economic, political, cultural, social and ecological progress across the country. The rest of the paper is divided into sections each focusing on a set of rights, detailing the work done on these fronts. In total, the paper goes over eight rights. These are:

I. Political Rights
II. Civil Rights
III. Economic Rights
IV. Social Rights
V. Cultural Rights
VI. Environmental Rights
VII. Right to Freedom of Religious Belief
VIII. Rights of Women, Children, the Elderly and Disabled

All the sections are structured similarly; the initial emphasis is on the historically poor conditions in Xinjiang and the progress has been made since then. The section for political rights highlights the political empowerment of ethnic minorities by citing official government statistics on the number regulations passed and the involvement of ethnic minorities in the decision-making process. In the section detailing civil rights, the paper gives an overview of the judicial openness, legal assistance and free expression to illustrate how citizens are guaranteed their rights. The paper uses statistics such as the number of lawyers in the region and the number of judgement documents released to illustrate the progress made in civil rights. The subsequent sections addressing different rights also use official government statistics to highlight progress.
The paper concludes by emphasizing how the socialist system with Chinese characteristics is the foundation which provides a solid institutional guarantee to human rights development in Xinjiang.

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