Editor's note: Following is the interview with Civil Affairs Minister Li Xueju on how his ministry and local civil affairs departments perform their duties. These duties include disaster rescue and relief, protection of senior citizens' rights and interests, care of orphans, physically or mentally retarded children and persons with disabilities, and promotion of grassroots democracy. By performing their duties, we believe, they have contributed much to the development of China's human rights cause.
　　　　　
Mr. Li Xueju, Civil Affairs Minister.

Question: We’d like to know what functions your ministry performs and how they are related to protection of human rights.


Answer: As an organ operating directly under the State Council, China highest governing body, we have four functions to perform. The first is to promote grassroots democracy, e.g., self-government by people in town and countryside, as well as development of urban communities. The second is to oversee social welfare and relief and ensure disaster rescue and relief. The third is to give special care to families of active servicemen and servicewomen and families of revolutionary martyrs, confer posthumous honors on those who have died for public good, and help demobilized army officers and soldiers return to civil life. We are also responsible for registration of non-governmental organizations, marriage registration, matters related to funeral services, matters related to place names and demarcation of border lines between administrative areas, and provision of help to waifs and beggars in cities. To sum up, we are charged with the task of providing adequate protection to the vital interests of the Chinese people. ¡°serve the people¡±--this is our motto. We have set for ourselves a guiding principle for our work, which obliges us to place the people interests above everything else and help citizens extricate from practical difficulties. To put it another way, protection of the people vital interests is the point of departure for our work and its result.


Q: Would you elaborate on your disaster-relief work?


A: The Chinese government attaches paramount importance to disaster rescue and relief. When a major disaster strikes, top leaders are always found in the afflicted area giving on-the-spot instructions on ways of effectively fighting back, investigating into conditions there and talking with local officials and people on relief work. The State Council meets every year on disaster rescue and relief. The central government spending on disaster rescue and relief has grown year after year, to 4.05 billion yuan for 2003 while averaging 2.2 billion yuan for each of the most recent years. So has the spending of local governments--from 840 million yuan in 1995 to 2.44 billion yuan in 2003. People in disaster-afflicted-areas are encouraged to tide over the difficulties by engaging in production and by helping one another. While giving them relief in cash and kind, governments allow them a range of policy privileges to help them stand on their own again. Non-governmental organizations play a role by collecting donations from people of all walks of life.


The Ministry of Civil Affairs is responsible for coordinating relief and rescue efforts by all sides. First of all, we have set up a system of natural disaster forecasting, pre-warning and assessment, which involves experts from concerned government departments, research institutes and schools of higher learning. After a major natural disaster is reported to us, we’ll make sure, jointly with the Ministry of Finance, that a special fund is earmarked for rescue and relief within 24 hours. At 20:00 on August 12, 2004, the most violent typhoon in a century hit Zhejiang Province, east China and the following day, we made a special fund of 46 million yuan available on the account of the Zhejiang Provincial Government. Secondly, we have also set up an emergency rescue and relief mechanism whereby to ensure emergency response by governments at different levels to natural disasters. The Work Procedures of the Ministry of Civil Affairs for Emergency Handling of Natural Disasters divides natural disaster-induced emergencies into four classes and specifies the measures to be taken by governments at the corresponding levels for their handling. All this has effectively ensured timely supply of money and human and material resources for disaster rescue and relief. In 2003, the Ministry of Civil Affairs successfully organized rescue and relief work for flooding of the Huaihe River system and several destructive earthquakes. The same year saw publication by 17 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of preplans for fighting against natural disasters and such plans were also published by 80% of the cities and counties in the country. Thirdly, we have set up a system to ensure that sufficient materials are reserved for disaster rescue and relief. Fourthly, the ministry provides, through investigation, guidance to local governments in post-disaster reconstruction and arrangements for the life of people in afflicted areas. And last, we have improved our work to collect and distribute donations from society at large for disaster rescue and relief. Such donations collected in 2003 included 967 million yuan in cash and 82.2 million pieces of clothing and quilts.


Not long ago, President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu gave written instructions on natural disaster rescue and relief work in 2004, demanding that still more effective job be done to ensure a basic living standard for people in disaster-afflicted areas. Acting accordingly, staff members of the Ministry of Civil Affairs now take turns to be on duty in preparations against any emergency at any time. We have had 100,000 tents provided and the central government ten disaster relief warehouses replenished with food, clothing and other supplies. These are now ready for shipment.


Q: Poverty is a worldwide problem, and social relief systems are practiced in all countries to ensure a basic living standard for all citizens. What has China done in this respect?


A: Social relief in China consists of two parts-subsistence allowances for the urban poor and social relief for the rural poor.

　　　　　
Grain to be sent to a snow-disaster hit area in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The system of subsistence allowances was instituted in the 1990s to ensure the livelihood of those urban people who live below the poverty line through a subsidy to make up what is short of the per capita minimum incomes. In September 1999, the State Council published a set of regulations concerning the provision of such allowances. Local governments then published rules for implementation of these regulations in light of the actual conditions in their respective areas. To sum up, China now boasts a fairly complete legal system for social insurance in cities, along with fairly efficient mechanisms to administer the related affairs.


The Ministry of Civil Affairs, on its part, has worked in real earnest to implement the State Council regulations. We see to it that all eligible citizens receive subsistence allowances, and that funds for providing such allowances are earmarked in full and as planned. We pay special attention to helping those in dire poverty-people unable to work for an income while having no relatives to depend on, people suffering from serious diseases while unable to pay for treatment, and families with members suffering from serious physical or mental handicaps. We have also played a big role in instituting special funds for helping poor families get medical care, increasing their living space and send their children to school. In most Chinese cities, people living below the poverty line are entitled to electricity, heating and running water sold at reduced prices and their children, to exemption of tuition and other school fees. In some, families living below the poverty line may get low-rent housing built by the government along with monetary aid for treatment of major and serious diseases.


By 1999, the system of subsistence allowances had been instituted in all the 667 cities on the Chinese mainland, as well as the 1,638 towns serving as seats of county governments. At the end of 2003, 22.468 million people in Chinese cities were receiving subsistence allowances, 1.82 million more than a year ago. That means all eligible citizens had come to be covered by the system. Such allowances vary in sum, averaging 155 yuan per person per month. The central government has substantially increased its funding to subsidize local social insurance schemes-from 800 million yuan in 2000 to 2.3 billion yuan in 2001, to 4.6 billion yuan in 2002 and then to 9.2 billion yuan in 2003. Local governments, on their part, have also ensured a constant increase in such spending.

　　　　　
Laid-off workers in Qinghai still enjoy medical care.

The "five-guarantee system" is an important part of social relief practiced in the countryside. The system came into being in the 1950s, under which rural collectives were obliged to ensure food, housing, medical care and proper burials for the aged and disabled unable to make a living on their own while having no relatives to depend on. In addition to these, orphans were entitled to one more guarantee-- education with the expenses covered by the collectives. Though Chinese farmers have become independent agricultural producers, the ¡°five-guarantee system¡± still stands there while improved. In 1994, the State Council published a set of regulations on improving the system under China new conditions. Then in 1997, the Ministry of Civil Affairs published the Provisional Methods for Managing Homes for the Aged in Rural Areas. At the end of 2003, there were 24,343 ¡°homes for the aged¡± in the countryside, which were either private undertakings or undertakings run by township or town governments or villagers committees. These together housed more than half a million people. We need to make it clear that though named as homes for the aged, such facilities house orphans and disabled people as well.


A system of subsistence allowances, similar to that practiced in cities, has been instituted in rural areas under the jurisdiction of Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai municipalities and Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces, which are in fact the best developed regions in China. The system is being tried out in a selected number of county-level cities and rural districts in other regions. Altogether, 3.671 million rural people are now receiving such allowances.


Nearly 8 million rural people are now receiving relief money provided by local governments regularly. In the past, such money was given as a temporary measure to help families in need tide over financial difficulties.

　　　　　
An opera show at a senior center.

In 2003, the ministries of civil affairs, health and finance jointly issued the Opinion on Rural Medical Assistance and the Provisional Methods for Managing Rural Medical Assistance Funds, suggesting that a legal framework be set up for medical assistance to the poverty-stricken in the countryside. At the end of the year, the ministries of civil affairs and finance together earmarked a special fund of 300 million to subsidize medical assistance schemes in relatively underdeveloped central and western regions. Up to now, medical assistance is, to varying degrees, available in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and governments in 14 of them have published policies designed to promote and regulate it. To be more specific, medical assistance has been institutionalized in 732 county-level cities and counties. The figure includes 303 designated to showcase how to manage it, which are also involved in state programs for prevention and treatment of AIDS, snail fever and other infectious diseases.


Q: Would you tell us in what direction social assistance and relief will develop in China?


A: Social assistance and relief systems of a new type are being established to cover both the town and countryside, which consists of schemes in diverse forms for subsistence allowances, the five-guarantee, regular relief for the poverty-stricken and emergency medical aid. On that basis, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has called for work to develop supplementary social assistance and relief schemes for housing, education and heating and for provision of relief to citizens in temporary financial difficulties. The various social assistance and relief systems and schemes will be closely associated with one another, forming a social assistance and relief network broad in scope, easy to manage and highly efficient. These will feature an operational mechanism with the government playing the leading role and the civil affairs authorities taking charge of the day-to-day affairs in coordination with other concerned authorities while involving people from all walks of life. Our social insurance and relief systems and schemes will constantly expand to the benefit of more and more people, thus playing an increasingly significant role in protecting the people rights to subsistence and to development and promoting China human rights cause as a whole.


Q: According to the State Bureau of Statistics, China now has 130 million citizens aged at 60 or older, who account for 10% of its entire population. The figure suggests that China is becoming a senile society, and that it cannot afford to take light of the increase in the population of the aged. What are the civil affairs authorities doing in reaction to this problem? What have you done to protect the legitimate rights and interests of those senior citizens?


A: The Chinese government attaches great importance to the welfare of senior citizens. Protection of senior citizens’ rights and interests is explicitly provided in China Constitution and a range of laws including the General Provisions of the Civil Law, the Criminal Law and the Marriage Law. In 1996, the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly was promulgated, thus providing one more legal guarantee for the right of senior citizens to care and support.


At present, senior citizens are cared for either by their families or by homes specially set up for them. At the end of 2002, the country had nearly 50,000 homes for the aged, of which 815 were private facilities. These together had 1.2 million beds and were housing 862,000 senior citizens. Such homes were found in 70% of the rural towns and townships. Side by side with full-fledged homes for the aged were 11,000 community-based daytime centers to take care of aged people in cities.


In 2001, the Ministry of Civil Affairs launched what it chose to call the ¡°starlight Program¡± to promote senior citizens’ welfare across the country. Since then, 32,490 Starlight centers have come into being, where senior citizens may enjoy themselves over reading or by taking part in recreational activities and fitness exercises. Nearly 13.5 billion yuan has been invested in developing such centers.


Q: How about protection of children rights and interests?


A: Civil affairs authorities at different levels are charged with ensuring welfare for orphans and physically handicapped and mentally retarded children. They are responsible for setting up and managing welfare institutes for children in grave difficulties, including orphans, street urchins, babies abandoned by their parents, and physically handicapped and mentally retarded children. At the end of 2002, 38,000 welfare institutes were operating across China, including nine SOS villages.


Besides welfare institutes, there are nearly 10,000 community-based rehabilitation centers serving physically handicapped children and training mentally retarded children. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has also launched a program to entrust children in welfare institutes to the care of wholesome families so that in an environment permeated with parental love, they will grow better physically and mentally. The Program for Children Development in Families is being implemented in accordance with a set of provisional regulations which, published by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, became effective on January 1, 2004.

　　　　　
Families are encouraged to adopt orphaned children at the welfare institute in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.

Since the beginning of 2004, one more program, the Program of Tomorrow, has been under way under the auspices of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which calls for surgical correction and rehabilitation for handicapped children living in welfare institutes who are aged at 18 and younger. Altogether 600 million yuan will be invested in the program, breaking down into 100 million yuan by the ministry and 500 million yuan by provincial, municipal and autonomous regional bureaus of civil affairs. In both cases, the money is earmarked from welfare funds established through welfare lottery sales. Up to 30,000 handicapped children eligible for surgical operations are to benefit from the program.


Q: What the civil affairs authorities have done for the welfare of persons with disabilities?


A: According to division of labor approved by the central government, the civil affairs authorities are responsible for formulating policies and legislation for work related to persons with disabilities while overseeing welfare production in the country.


In our terminology, ¡°welfare production¡± refers to productive and business operations organized by the state, collectives and individual citizens to provide jobs to persons with disabilities who are able to work. These include, for example, welfare factories and massage hospitals and clinics staffed by blind people who have been trained in masso-therapy. This way of helping persons with disabilities stand on their own is unique to China. Civil affairs authorities are charged with helping disabled people find job in welfare enterprises, to which the state allows a range of tax privileges to encourage their development. The country currently has more than 32,000 welfare enterprises, which together employ 668,000 persons with disabilities.


Welfare enterprises are not the only venues of work for persons with disabilities. Government institutions, people organizations and enterprises, in light of their specific conditions and job requirements, offer a selected number of posts to persons with disabilities. The government is obliged to assist persons with disabilities in starting either individually or collectively owned undertakings. In the countryside, persons with disabilities are also helped go in for jobs suiting their physical conditions, in crop farming, animal raising or handicraft production.


Q: Not long ago, the economic channel of Hunan TV gave a live coverage of the direct election of a villagers’ committee, in which more than 90% of the eligible voters cast their ballots. Villagers were satisfied with the result of the election. Would you comment on election of villagers’ committees across the country?


A: Direct election of villagers’ committees, which replaced the old practice of having village heads appointed by local governments, is a major achievement in the on-going reform of primary level administration in China.


Our story goes back to the early 1980s, when people in a village in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region set up, through direct election, the first villagers’ committee in the country. Currently, there are more than 600,000 villagers’ committees in the country, each serving a term of three years. These committees have been reelected five to seven times, involving up to 600 million voters each time. By taking part in elections and reelections of this kind of self-government bodies, the rural people have become more aware of the need for democracy, rule of law and competition. As you know, more than 70% of the Chinese live in the countryside. We believe that direct election of villagers’ committees will provide a solid popular base for China democratic rule while accelerating its improvement.


In 1998, the National People Congress, China highest legislature, published the Organic Law of the Villagers’ Committees (revised). Since then good progress has been achieved in institutionalizing the election and reelection of villagers’ committees. The voter turnout rate exceeds 80% for most elections and reelections. Neishe Village of Fujian Province in southeast China had 32 voters working in Hunan Province, of whom 26 flew back to take part in reelection of the villagers’ committee. To make sure that the reelection would be fair and legally valid and that the new committee would truly represent their interests, people in the village were keen to study the relevant laws and painstakingly oversaw the procedures.


In most cases, the results of elections and reelections conform to the will of the majority of the voters. Candidates for an election or reelection are selected through direct balloting, with each voter casting just one vote for one potential candidate, and no organization, either governmental or non-governmental, has the right to nominate any of the candidates. An electoral committee, comprising voters exclusively, oversees the entire process of election or reelection, and none of its members shall be a candidate to the election or reelection. The final list of the candidates is made public. Candidates outnumber members of the new villagers’ committee, and have the legal obligations to answer questions from voters. Secret balloting is the way of choosing the villagers’ committee. During the committee term of service, members of the committee are subject to recall in accordance with the will of the majority of the voters. It is worthwhile

to take note of the fact that all the 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions on the Chinese mainland have published detailed rules for implementation of the Organic Law of the Villagers’ Committees (revised). In September 2001, Jimmy Carter observed the entire process of the election to set up the Seventh Villagers’ Committees of Quanwang Village in Jiangsu Province, east China. “The villagers are more enthusiastic about their village heads than about the provincial governor or city mayor,” he said. “The Chinese government favors such elections because the people like democratic elections, which in fact constitute an irreversible trend.” The results of most elections and reelections have won favorable comments from the voters. In most cases, members of Villagers’ Committees are younger and better educated than those old village heads, and they know what to do to help the people they serve to get rich.


We have to admit that there are still problems with Villagers’ Committees, a democratic practice still new to China and its rural population. In 2002, the general affairs offices of the Chinese Communist Party Committee and the State Council jointly issued a circular calling for a better job in reelections of Villagers’ Committees. The circular demands full respect for the will of the voters, guarantee for the voter right to nomination of candidates and election of Villagers’ Committees, along with the right to know and to recall committee members.


Q: The circular you mentioned is the Opinions on Improving the System for Making Public Village Affairs and for Democratic Management of Such Affairs, which calls for improvement in related work. How would you comment on the currently practiced openness of village affairs and their management? What should be done for improvement?
　　　　　
Persons with disabilities work at the Beijing Telecommunication Bureau.

A: You’ve asked an important question. Villagers’ Committees are of, for and by the rural people, enabling them to be masters of their own villages. Openness of public affairs to villagers and their democratic management have been institutionalized in many parts of rural China, and this is true especially since the publication in 1998 of a central government circular on the question and the promulgation of the Organic Law of the Villagers’ Committees. In accordance with the law, the congress of villagers’ representatives has become an institutional practice. The congress makes decisions on major and important public affairs through democratic discussion, which are to be executed by the Villagers’ Committees. Included are decisions on matters that concern the vital interests of villagers. To name just a few: the use of public incomes, subsidies to those who have lost working time for serving the public and the rates of such subsidies, allocation of land for private housing construction and contracting by individual families for use of public land for production. In the past, the government-appointed village head had the absolute say in all such matters. In many villages in Shandong and Liaoning provinces, it is up to the congress of villagers’ representatives to decide how much members of the Villagers’ Committees are to be paid. Decisions made by the Villagers’ Committees or the village Party cell committee are subject to scrutiny by the congress and more often than not, changes are made to them according to the will of the villagers’ representatives.


The new system of grassroots democracy makes it possible for China rural people to be directly involved in the management of their own villages. Self-government has been institutionalized in many villages under charters of autonomy drawn by local people themselves. Such villages each practice a code of conduct for all, which is based on the will of all. Villagers’ Committees are obliged to report their work to villagers’ congresses for examination and approval, and meetings are held regularly at which villagers comment on work done by Villagers’ Committees and by individual committee members. Bulletin boards are found in all such villages, carrying public information including public finance and wages paid to members of Villagers’ Committees. In not a few villages public hearings on major and important matters are held before villagers’ congresses convene to discuss them. Transparency and direct participation of villagers in managing public affairs have effectively curbed corruption involving village leaders, which was a prominent problem under the old system. The new system has also helped improve the relations between the rural population and the Chinese Communist Party and government.


We have to admit that the new system has worked well in only one third of the villages throughout the country. In some villages, self-government by villagers exists only in name, where Villagers’ Committees and their leaders release false public information or refuse to release any public information. To varying degrees, villagers there have their democratic rights infringed upon. It is against such a background that China top authorities published the Opinions on Improving the System for Making Public Village Affairs and for Democratic Management of Such Affairs.


The Party Central Committee and State Council are paying increasingly great attention to protecting the material interests of the rural population in a bid to encourage higher agricultural production and ensure food safety for the country. To achieve the purpose, aid and relief in cash and kind worth many billion yuan are issued to rural families directly, mainly through Villagers’ Committees, hence the urgent need to promote openness of public affairs in villages and democratic management of such affairs. The document comes as a convincing proof that the Chinese government is keen to improve China socialist democracy while working hard to promote economic development. This is in fact a part of the scientific approach advanced by the Party toward development, which calls for attaching paramount importance to the interests of the people.



Q: As far as we know, your ministry sets great store by participation of women in self-government in rural villages. Could you explain why?
A: Protection of women political rights and effort to increase women representation in Villagers’ Committees and congresses of villagers’ representatives are an important part of our work to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the entire rural population. We need to work well in this regard to ensure equality between men and women, which is one of China basic state policies, and to develop grassroots democracy in the countryside.


Self-government by the rural population has brought forth a range of opportunities for women development. Meanwhile, there are barriers and challenges to participation of women in democratic management of village affairs. Women account for only 16% of the membership for Villagers’ Committees in the country. Even smaller is the proportion of women to the total number of the committee heads--just 1%.


We have been doing the following to set the things right:


--Urging local authorities to publish policies and legislation in favor of women participation in self-government by villagers. This has worked. Under local legislation practiced in Hunan, Henan and Gansu provinces and Tibet Autonomous Region, Villagers’ Committees shall each have at least one woman member. In 1999, the Ministry of Civil Affairs circulated a notice, specifying the proportion of women to the total membership of Villagers’ Committees in different regions, and many local governments responded positively. In 2002, election was held in Hunan Province to set up the fifth Villagers’ Committees. Altogether, 49,902 women were elected to the 47,463 new committees, meeting our demand that committees have at least one women member for each.


--Improving the publicity of the importance of getting women involved in village-level self-government. We have prepared stacks of teaching materials and posters to encourage women participation in self-government in the countryside. These are meant for free distribution in the countryside. One is a handbook written specially for rural women, telling them why they should get actively involved in elections of their own Villagers’ Committees, why they should not be daunted in competing for membership and what they should do to win in elections. Training classes are organized for local civil affairs officials to make them know what to do to help women candidates win in elections.


--Getting all sides involved in promoting women participation in village autonomy. In June 2003, the Ministry of Civil Affairs launched a project at Tanggu District, Tianjin Municipality, to showcase how to do it. The local civil affairs bureau played a leading role in the project, which has the participation of the local Party, government and people organizations. Not long ago, the ministry organized a seminar at which women members of Villagers’ Committees in Beijing and Tianjin municipalities shared their experiences in work.