LI Yunlong*

 

Abstract: Poverty is a denial of human rights. Addressing poverty is to protect human rights. Poverty eradication is the foundation for the comprehensive development of all human rights. The goal of poverty alleviation in China is to eliminate absolute poverty by 2020 and guarantee the basic human rights of the poor, including the rights to subsistence, education, health and housing. Poverty alleviation has improved the human rights protection in China and contributed to the development of human rights in the world.

 

Keywords: poverty alleviation · human rights· poverty

 

China’s battle against poverty is not only a program of economic and social development,but also a program of human rights protection. It provides “Two Assurances and Three Guarantees” (“assurances of adequate food and clothing, and guarantees of access to compulsory education, basic medical services and safe housing”) for over 80 million impoverished rural residents, and helps them achieve self-reliance and self-development leading to a moderately prosperous life and changing their destiny for the better. Therefore, the battle against poverty is of great significance for human rights.

 

 

The Chinese government has long recognized the significance of poverty eradication. As early as 1986, it adopted development-based poverty alleviation as the core and foundation of its policies for rural poverty alleviation. It also established a central government poverty alleviation leading agency to organize, lead, coordinate, supervise, and inspect poverty alleviation and development efforts in impoverished areas. The governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, prefectures (cities), and counties have all established poverty alleviation and development leading groups, created poverty alleviation offices, and employed staff members based in township governments dedicated to and responsible for local poverty alleviation and development. In March 1994, the Chinese government announced the Seven-Year Battle Against Poverty Program (1994-2000), which stated that by the end of 2000 it would basically ensure access to food and clothing for the rural poor.¹

 

Later, the Chinese government formulated the Outline for Development-Oriented Poverty Reduction for China’s Rural Areas (2001-2010) and the Outline for Development-Oriented Poverty Reduction for China’s Rural Areas (2011-2020), which set out more ambitious goals for the battle against poverty. China’s poverty alleviation is characterized by government-driven fiscal investment in infrastructure construction in poverty-stricken areas. The government promotes and develops industries, and helps poor people lift themselves out of poverty by relying on their own efforts. Driven by economic development and poverty alleviation policies, China saw a significant decrease in its number of poor people.

 

The battle against poverty is the largest poverty reduction project in human history. Despite the tremendous progress made in rural poverty alleviation, China still had 701.7 million rural poor people by the end of 2014. The Party and the government then made it a priority to help them get out of poverty. In November 2015, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Decision on Winning the Battle Against Poverty, which stated that “by the end of 2020, rural people who will have been lifted out of poverty will not worry about food or clothes and have reliable access to compulsory education, basic healthcare services, and housing. China will ensure that the per capita disposable income of farmers in these areas increases faster than the national average and that indicators for the main types of basic public services there approach national averages. All rural residents falling below China’s current poverty line will be able to lift themselves out of poverty, all poor counties will be able to rid themselves of poverty, and regional overall poverty will be solved.”² In June 2018, the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council put forward the Guiding Opinions on Winning the Three-Year Battle Against Poverty, which further clarified the goal of poverty alleviation, stating that “in poor areas with favorable conditions, townships and organized villages should be equipped with hardened roads; all impoverished villages should have access to electricity; housing and safe drinking water should be ensured for poor people; poor villages should meet the basic requirements for a clean and tidy living environment; and no students in compulsory education should drop out of school due to poverty; the basic endowment insurance, basic medical insurance, and insurance for major illness should fully cover poor people; and subsistence allowances should be guaranteed for all eligible people.”³ In order to achieve the goal set out in the battle against poverty, the Chinese government has adopted a targeted poverty alleviation strategy, which requires targeted solutions by precisely identifying people living in poverty, tailoring arrangements and fund use to help them, providing support to household and sending dedicated personnel to help meet the needs of villages and deliver results. Policies are adapted and implemented to address the root causes of poverty and different types of poverty in different regions so as to achieve targeted poverty reduction.⁴ The Chinese government adopted a classification-based approach in the battle against poverty, which means that poverty alleviation measures are adapted to regions and people living in poverty, including the development of characteristic industries, guided export of labor, relocation, ecological protection, education, medical insurance and medical aid, rural subsistence allowances, and asset earnings. China also strengthened the leadership in the battle against poverty, establishing a working mechanism whereby the central leadership makes overall plans, provincial governments take overall responsibility, and city and county governments take charge of implementation.

 

Party committees and governments at various levels have signed written pledges to fight against poverty. The main leaders of the provincial Party committees and governments facing heavy tasks of poverty alleviation and development have signed written pledges with the central leadership. Each year they must report to the central leadership on the progress of the battle against poverty.⁵ 

 

Over the last five years, China has achieved tremendous progress in its efforts to eradicate poverty. By the end of 2019, according to the rural poverty standard of 2,300 yuan per person per year (in 2010 constant prices), China had 5.51 million rural poor people at the end of the year, a decrease of 64.66 million people compared to 2014, with a poverty incidence of 0.6 percent and a per capita disposable annual income of 11,567 yuan for poor rural residents.⁶ China has achieved most of its goals in its battle against poverty.

 

 

Poverty is a major human rights challenge. Poverty debases human value, deprives human dignity, restricts personal freedom, and excludes the poor from participating in politics. It is difficult to realize human rights when people are in a state of poverty, and poverty is the biggest obstacle to human rights. To eliminate poverty is to protect human rights, and it is also a prerequisite and condition for the fulfillment of other human rights. China has eradicated abject poverty in the country, and in doing so strongly promoted the development of human rights in the country.

 

First, China has fundamentally safeguarded the right to subsistence of its poor people. China has continuously increased fiscal support to poverty-stricken areas. In 2015, central finance authorities provided 46.745 billion yuan as a special poverty alleviation fund. Since then, the central finance authorities have increased subsidies for local special poverty alleviation funds by 200 billion yuan each year; and in 2020,these subsidies reached 146.1 billion yuan. From 2016 to 2020, the central finance authorities have provided accumulatively 539.5 billion yuan in subsidies to local governments for poverty alleviation.⁷ The central finance authorities continue to increase general transfer payments to poverty-stricken areas, using transfer payments to provide greater support for agriculture, education, medical care, transportation, and ecology which help poverty alleviation. Since 2016, the Ministry of Finance, together with the State Council Leading Group Office for Poverty Alleviation and Development (CPAD) and other departments, have continuously promoted the integration of agriculture-related funds in poverty-stricken counties, which have exceeded 900 billion yuan in the past three years. The Chinese government has established a comprehensive investment system to wage its battle against poverty, which provides powerful fiscal, financial, and land policy support. Every year, more than 1 trillion yuan is invested in poor counties and villages to help lift the poor out of poverty.⁸ Such massive investment has greatly improved the working and living conditions of the poor. By the end of 2019, all townships and organized villages had access to hard roads, and 99.1 percent of organized villages in poor areas had transport services, significantly improving transportation conditions for local people.⁹ In places where poverty eradication is impossible, the Chinese government relocates people and thus helps them out of poverty. During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) period, the Chinese government raised 946.3 billion yuan (including 592.2 billion yuan for the relocation of registered poor people), and relocated 16.28 million people (of which 9.81 million were registered poor people, and 6.47 million were relocated in conjunction with the registered poor).¹⁰ During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China achieved decisive progress in promoting poverty alleviation by relocating people living in poverty. So far, China has built more than 2.66 million resettlement housing units for more than 9.6 million relocated people. Poverty alleviation by relocation has entered the final stage, and the remaining poor people are to be relocated by the end of the year.¹¹ So far, China has ensured food and clothing for the poor, which is a primary task in the battle against poverty.¹²

 

Second, China fully ensures the education rights for its poor people. During the13th Five-Year Plan period, the Chinese government aims to establish a more balanced basic public education service system covering both urban and rural areas. It stipulated that by the end of 2020, 95 percent of counties (cities, districts) should have achieved a basic balance of compulsory education.¹³ In order to better achieve this goal, the Ministry of Education, together with six other departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, issued the 13th Five-Year Plan for Education Poverty Alleviation, and proposed the goal of providing basic public education services to all poor people in China by 2020 and “to guarantee full funding for all stages of education,from enrollment to graduation, ensure that children from poor families can go to school, and not to allow students to drop out of school due to family difficulties.”¹⁴ After that, the Ministry of Education has successively formulated the Implementation Plan for Education Poverty Alleviation in Severely Impoverished Areas (2018-2020), and issued documents including the Notice on Winning the Battle against Poverty and Further Improvement in Compulsory Education in Rural Areas and the Work Plan of Resolving Prominent Issues in Compulsory Education for School-age Children of Registered Poor Families, the Notice on Further Regulating Living Allowances for Students Compulsory Education from Financially Challenged Families, so as to ensure compulsory education for school-age children and teenagers from poor families. The Ministry of Education has implemented a special action for compulsory education to ensure that no students drop out of school during compulsory education, and established and improved a set of targeted student-centered assistance policies. Key groups including people in severely impoverished areas and registered poor people are given preferential financial support. They are accurately identified and receive assistance as needed. For impoverished areas, preventing students from dropping out of school in compulsory education is of key importance. The Ministry of Education has identified 374 key counties for dropout control and schooling protection, and has formulated county-specific work plans. The Ministry of Education has established a unified work database for dropout control and implemented dynamic updating and cancellation management, by connecting the school enrollment system with the population information database of the Ministry of Public Security and the poverty registration system of poverty alleviation offices. As of November 20, 2019, the number of students who dropped out of compulsory education in 832 national-level poverty-stricken counties has been reduced from 290,000 to 23,000. Among them, the number of drop-out students from registered poor families decreased from 150,000 to 6,000.¹⁵ Children from poor families can benefit from nine years of compulsory education.

 

Third, China ensures the right to health of its poor population. Since the reform of rural and urban medical security at the beginning of this century, China’s mainly gov-ernment-funded basic medical insurance system for urban and rural residents has been rapidly adopted by the people. By the end of 2019, the number of people participating in the basic medical insurance scheme had risen to 1.35 billion.¹⁶ In 2016, 15 central ministries and departments including the National Health Commission jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on the Implementation of Health and Poverty Alleviation Projects, which required that by the end of 2020, everyone living in poverty-stricken areas should have access to basic medical and health services, that the rural poor should receive timely and effective treatment for serious illnesses, that individual medical expenses should be greatly reduced, that major infectious diseases and endemic diseases in poor areas should be effectively controlled, and that basic public health services in poor areas should be close to the national average.¹⁷ The National Health Commission and the State Council Leading Group Office for Poverty Alleviation and Development (CPAD) issued the Three-year Action Plan for Health Promotion in Poor Areas to implement six projects for poor people: catch-all basic medical security; targeted treatment of serious and chronic diseases; improvement of medical and health services in poor areas; comprehensive prevention and treatment of infectious and endemic diseases in poor areas; health promotion in poverty-stricken areas; and health poverty alleviation in severely impoverished areas. The aim was to ensure that all rural poor are covered by basic medical insurance, critical illness insurance, and medical assistance by the end of 2020.¹⁸ The Chinese government has included all rural poor people in the scope of its basic medical insurance, critical illness insurance, and medical assistance. Common and chronic diseases can be diagnosed and treated in a timely manner in county, township, and village medical institutions. Rural poor people have access to basic living conditions in case of serious illnesses. While generally increasing the level of critical illness insurance, China continues to implement a policy that reduces the deductible line for the poor by 50 percent, increases the reimbursement payment ratio by 5 percent, and removes caps for the registered poor population.¹⁹ The Chinese government has expanded the scope of its special treatment for serious diseases of the rural poor to include lung cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, acute myocardial infarction, cataracts, pneumoconiosis, neuroblastoma, child lymphoma, osteosarcoma, hemophilia, thalassemia, cleft lips and palates, and hypospadias. 

 

The number of major diseases eligible under the special treatment program for the rural poor increased from seven in 2017 to 21 in 2018, to 25 in 2019, and to 30 in 2020. By the end of August 2018, the special treatment program had benefited 261,000 rural poor people diagnosed with serious illness, saved 226,000 people, and served a total of 906,000 hospital visits. The accumulative reimbursement rate for the special treatment program was 81.12 percent, an increase of 37.3 percentage points from before the launch of the special treatment program. The actual reimbursement rate for poor children with leukemia increased from 49 percent in early 2017 to 81 percent in September 2018.²⁰ Health authorities directed 1,007 Class III hospitals to offer point-to-point assistance to 1,172 county-level hospitals in poverty-stricken areas, and established telemedicine networks. A total of 832 poor counties achieved the goal of each having one public hospital. More than 99 percent of townships and administrative villages are each equipped with health centers and clinics. In poor counties, their own medical service providers serve over 90 percent of local medical service needs. A total of more than 90,000 medical workers have been sent to townships and villages in poverty-stricken areas, and 98 percent of towns and townships are staffed with at least one general practitioner or practicing (assistant) physician, while 98.2 percent of administrative villages are staffed with one qualified village-based doctor. The rural poor have access to local diagnosis and treatment services for common and chronic diseases. From 2016 to 2019, the central finance authorities provided 89 billion yuan in medical assistance subsidies to help people in straitened circumstances pay for basic medical insurance and for deductible costs. In 2019, the medical insurance subsidy for urban and rural residents was raised to 520 yuan per person per year, while central finance authorities provided 333.722 billion yuan in medical insurance subsidies for urban and rural residents through transfer payments.²¹ The Chinese government implements a classification-based approach to medical services, which provides centralized treatment of serious illnesses, agreement-based services for chronic diseases, and provides catch-all services for serious illnesses. This approach has benefitted more than 15 million poor patients. The basic medical insurance systems such as the basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents cover all rural poor, and their medical expenses burden has been significantly reduced.²² In the first half of 2019, the national self-pay percentage of medical expenses for poor patients averaged about 10 percent, and 6.7 million poor households who became poor or relapsed into poverty due to illness were all lifted out of poverty.²³ 

 

Fourth, China enforces the right to housing for the poor. Housing security is an important task in the battle against poverty. The 13^th Five-Year Plan for Poverty Alleviation clearly stipulates China must accelerate the transformation of rural dilapidated houses, and ensure safe housing safety for registered poor families, subsistence families, extremely poor people receiving decentralized support, and poor families with disabilities. The Three-Year Action Plan for Poverty Alleviation through the Reconstruction of Rural Dilapidated Houses issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Finance requires that the renovation of dilapidated houses for the existing 2 million registered poor households should be completed by the end of 2020, thus ensuring safe housing for poor families.

 

In August 2019, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Finance issued the Notice of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development on Achieving Poverty Eradication and Further Reconstruction of Rural Dilapidated Houses, which requires the renovation of dilapidated houses for four types of poor families including those with disabled family members, focusing on registered poor families. China has identified 1.352 million dilapidated houses for four types of poor families, of which 643,000 are registered poor families.²⁴ As of the end of November 2019, construction had begun on 97.9 percent of the 1.352 million dilapidated houses.²⁵

 

Construction work on the dilapidated houses included in the scope of the central renovation and subsidy programs for rural dilapidated houses before the end of 2019 will be completed by the end of June 2020. The central finance authorities earmarked renovation subsidies for rural dilapidated houses in severely impoverished areas including the Tibet autonomous region, the Tibetan areas in Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan, the four prefectures in southern Xinjiang and Liangshan prefecture in Sichuan, Nujiang prefecture in Yunnan, and Linxia prefecture of Gansu (often referred to as “Three Areas and Three Prefectures”), and increased the subsidy for renovation of the dilapidated houses of the four types of poor families by 2,000 yuan in addition to the national average subsidy of 14,000 yuan.²⁶ The renovation of rural dilapidated houses has been basically completed. In 2019, only 2,260 rural dilapidated households had not yet been renovated. In addition, large-scale re-examinations were conducted to look into poverty alleviation efforts in various regions. 100,000 families were newly included as registered poor families, and these families own about 11,300 dilapidat-ed houses which were put under expedited renovation.²⁷

 

Fifth, China ensures safe drinking water for the poor in rural areas. According to the 13^th Five-Year National Special Plan for Water Conservancy Poverty Alleviation, by the end of 2020, China will significantly improve rural drinking water safety and the penetration rate of tap water, increase the home water supply capacity to 40 liters per person per day in rural areas, provide drinking water whose quality reaches the national standard, increase the rural centralized water supply rate to 83 percent, and increase the tap water penetration rate to 75 percent, thus comprehensively consolidating and improving the safety of rural drinking water.²⁸ The Three-Year Implementation Plan for Water Conservancy Poverty Alleviation Actions (2018-2020) formulated by the Ministry of Water Resources states that by the end of 2020, China is to have fully solved the problem of safe drinking water for the poor, accelerated the consolidation and improvement projects for safe drinking water in poverty-stricken areas, strengthened the construction and transformation of water conservancy projects adapted to local conditions, and further increased the rural centralized water supply rate, tap water penetration rate, water supply security rate and water quality compliance rate in rural areas, thus ensuring the supply of safe drinking water in rural areas.²⁹ According to the Notice on Resolutely Winning the Battle of Rural Drinking Water Safety and Poverty Alleviation formulated by the Ministry of Water Resources and other departments, by the end of 2020, China will fully solve the problem of drinking water safety for poor villages and poor people, and guarantee at least 20 liters of water a day in areas where supplying water is difficult.³⁰

 

Since the 13th Five-Year Plan, the Chinese government has implemented projects to consolidate and improve rural drinking water safety. By the end of September 2018, the central finance authorities had invested 14.3 billion yuan in the consolidation and improvement of rural drinking water safety, bringing the total investment to 100.2 billion yuan, benefitting 136 million people, and ensuring 14.78 million poor people have access to safe drinking water. Chongqing and Shandong and Gansu provinces were among the first to complete the task of guaranteeing safe drinking water as part of the battle against poverty in rural areas.³¹ At the end of 2018, China still had 1.04 million poor people without access to safe drinking water. In order to ensure safe drinking water for these people, the Ministry of Water Resources adopted a work plan to more quickly ensure rural drinking water. It established a work mechanism that included a list of tasks involving counties, villages, and households. The tasks were managed dynamically. Local authorities at various levels were urged to complete all the tasks. At the same time, the Ministry of Water Resources also coordinated with relevant ministries and commissions in the allocation of the remaining central finance subsidies of 7.67 billion yuan for the rural drinking water safety to ensure safe drinking water supplies to all poor people by the end of June 2020. The Ministry of Water Resources determined that it would solve the drinking water safety problem for 800,000 or more poor people by the end of 2019, and ensure safe drinking water for all the poor people by the end of 2020.³² By the end of 2019, China had altogether ensured drinking water safety for 1.016 million registered poor people, consolidated and improved water supply security for 54.8 million rural people, solved the problem of too much fluorine in drinking water for 6.15 million people, exceeding the annual target. In 2020, the Ministry of Water Resources focused on the remaining registered poor people who still had no access to safe drinking water, ensuring safe drinking water for all poor people by the end of June, and it will basically complete the transformation of drinking water supplies that contain too much fluorine before the end of the year. It will increase the rural centralized water supply rate to 87 percent, the rural tap water penetration rate to 83 percent, and complete the goal of ensuring safe drinking water for 60 million rural residents.³³

 

 

China’s battle against poverty has greatly improved the living standards and conditions of its poor population, accelerated the pace of eliminating absolute poverty and effectively promoted the protection of human rights for the rural poor, thereby bringing the development of human rights in China to a new level. It has also made a significant contribution to the cause of international poverty reduction and has effectively promoted the cause of global human rights protection.

 

This has comprehensively improved the level of human rights protection in China. Its success means that for the first time in history will have no people living in absolute poverty. Poverty has been an inescapable nightmare for the majority of Chinese people over the past 5,000 years of history. Low productivity, feudal rule, and imperialist aggression caused widespread poverty in Chinese society, with the vast majority of people barely having enough to eat.

 

When natural disasters such as locusts struck, a large number of people would starve. The successful battle against poverty has enabled China to put an end to absolute poverty and fundamentally improve the living conditions of its people. The battle against poverty is much more than simple survival, food, or clothing. It encompasses a wider range of components, including infrastructure, basic public services, basic pension insurance and basic medical insurance, living environment, safe housing and drinking water, and industrial development. Getting rid of poverty not only solves the problem of food and clothing, but also helps the poor to move towards a moderately prosperous society and satisfies their yearning for a better life. In fact, the battle against poverty is regarded by the Chinese government as a key part of building a moderately prosperous society and achieving common prosperity. It requires that the battle against poverty “solve this problem to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and never allow a region or an ethnic group to fall behind.”³⁴

 

The successful battle against poverty is a sign of China’s great progress in the field of human rights. Since the founding of New China in 1949, especially since the launch of reform and opening-up, China has experienced rapid development of its human rights, and is universally recognized for its development achievements. However, the existence of a large number of poor people and low-income people has always been a challenge for China. In particular, the problem of severely impoverished people has remained unsolved. Severely impoverished people refer to the poor who live in areas with harsh natural conditions and low levels of economic and social development such as “Old Revolutionary Base Areas, Minority Nationality Regions, border areas, and poverty-stricken areas”, as well as people living in poverty as a result of illness, chronic disease, serious illness, and disability. To complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and build socialism with Chinese characteristics, China must lift its remaining poor population out of poverty and help them march towards a moderately prosperous society and common prosperity together with other Chinese people. Eradication of absolute poverty is inseparable from China’s human rights development. Aiming to completely solve the poverty problem of more than 80 million registered poor people, China has mobilized national forces and invested huge amounts of funds to eradicate absolute poverty in the country. This is of inestimable significance to the development of the cause of human rights in China. The battle against poverty has promoted the overall development of China’s economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights, and has brought the development of China’s human rights to a higher level.

 

The battle against poverty has also contributed to the development of international human rights. For a long time, the international community has regarded the promotion of development and poverty eradication as a key goal of international human rights protection, and as such, it has been committed to reducing poverty through international cooperation. China plays a special role in international rural poverty alleviation, and its performance is particularly compelling. China was the first developing country to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. International public opinion generally agrees that the world’s achievements in the eradication of extreme poverty is mainly due to China. Thanks to massive poverty reduction actions and the large number of people lifted out of poverty, China’s battle against poverty is of great global significance and is an important part of international poverty reduction efforts. China’s remarkable contribution is as important to poverty alleviation as it is to the cause of international human rights.

 

China’s successful battle against poverty has inspired and encouraged many developing countries. Poverty is a global, chronic disease that has been difficult to eradicate for years. Although some developing countries have achieved economic development, they have failed to solve the gap between the rich and the poor and the poverty that results from this imbalance.

 

Many developing countries have even ended up with worse poverty despite the fact that they have attempted to reduce it. China’s success in poverty reduction strengthens the confidence of other developing countries facing similar poverty problems. This is of great significance to the development of human rights in developing countries.

 

China’s success offers inspiration and experience for many developing countries. The world currently has more than 800 million people living in extreme poverty, and achieving comprehensive poverty eradication remains a major human rights challenge.

 

The primary goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to eradicate poverty. International cooperation is an important dimension of poverty reduction. China’s experience in poverty alleviation has been highly recognized by the United Nations. In December 2018, the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution to eradicate rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This was the first UN General Assembly resolution on rural poverty. This resolution uses China’s experience in the battle against poverty to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, proposing new ideas for achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and providing Chinese wisdom for global poverty governance. Based on China’s rural poverty alleviation practices, the resolution proposes a basic policy framework for eliminating rural poverty, calls for increased infrastructure construction, promotes inclusive finance, eliminates the digital divide, increases employment, promotes high-quality education, and strengthens the development of a social security system. It also calls for implementing targeted poverty alleviation strategies, strengthening international cooperation, formulating rural development strategies, helping economic and social development of rural areas in developing countries, and building a community with a shared future for human beings.³⁵ This is a complete plan to eradicate global rural poverty. The decades of poverty alleviation practice in China offers inspiration for other developing countries.

 

(Translated by CHANG Guohua)