Beijing released its first action plan to improve human rights yesterday, promising to raise incomes, better protect legal rights and create more jobs, the South China Morning Post reported. The plan focused largely on economic rights. Beijing said it will create 180 million new jobs under the plan and keep the unemployment rate below 5%. The government plans to retrain a million impoverished workers and build affordable housing. Urban and rural disposable income, it said, would both be increased by 6% per year. On the civil rights front, the plan emphasizes the rights of detainees in China’s prison system. It says policies will be implemented to prevent torture, corporal punishment and verbal abuse. The plan says more channels will be created for filing complaints, including through the internet. “Under restrictions from nature, history, culture, and economic and social development, China still faces many challenges in development of human rights,” the preface of the plan stated.
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