State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China

“ By the end of 2016, the incidence of poverty had dropped to 10 percent or less, thus better safeguarding the poor's rights to life and development.
The right to work has been effectively guaranteed. To achieve this, Xinjiang has given priority to promoting equal employment opportunities, and encouraged different sectors to create more jobs through multiple measures. It has emphasized the development of labor-intensive industries and promoted the growth of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, private enterprises and labor export service enterprises. ”

“ Xinjiang fully respects and effectively guarantees the civil rights of its citizens in accordance with the law, by respecting and protecting life and property, safeguarding the right to a fair trial, and promoting free expression.
Life and property are respected and protected. Since the 1990s, violent terrorists, nationalist separatists, and religious extremists have plotted and committed a series of violent terrorist crimes, causing loss of life to and damaging the property of people of all ethnic groups. ”

“ The central government has over the years set great store by Xinjiang. It has taken effective measures to develop the economy, improve people's living standards, enhance the well-being of the public, promote ethnic unity and progress, and safeguard the basic rights of all ethnic groups. ”

“ The government has strengthened scrutiny over the enforcement of laws and regulations on employees' rights and employers' duties and the handling of disputes over labor relations, given labor unions and employees' rights protection organizations scope to play their due role, and effectively protected the basic right to work and the essential interests of the people. ”

“ Freedom of religious belief is respected and protected. It is stipulated in the Constitution of China, "Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief." This principle is also reflected in the Regulations on Religious Affairs promulgated by the State Council and the Regulations on Religious Affairs of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It is up to the individual concerned to make his or her free decision to believe in or not to believe in any religion, and to believe in one religion or another. ”

“ Xinjiang has gradually created and improved a range of systems for safeguarding women's rights and interests, by eliminating gender discrimination in employment, ensuring that men and women get equal pay for equal work, promoting women's employment and encouraging and helping women to start businesses, and strengthening special labor protection for women employees. ”

“ Solid progress has been made in ecological development. Xinjiang has carried out a number of projects, including natural forest protection, returning farmland to forest or grassland, returning grazing land to grassland, prevention and control of desertification, ecological management and restoration, and wildlife protection, to constantly improve the ecological environment and create secure zones for ecological security. Since 2016, projects involving high energy consumption, serious pollution, and high emissions have been strictly prohibited in Xinjiang. ”

“ At the end of 2016, 12.63 million people in rural and urban areas of Xinjiang were employed and the registered urban unemployment rate was 3.22 percent, with 455,000 new jobs created in urban areas over the course of the year.
The autonomous region has made every effort to develop vocational education, and arranged a variety of employment training programs. It has provided growing support to key population groups, such as college graduates, impoverished families, urban residents who have difficulty in finding jobs, excess peasant and herdsman labor, and rural women. ”

“ Xinjiang has now 1.07 million people with disabilities. Of these, 225,000 are covered by the subsistence allowances for urban and rural residents, and 298,000 have participated in the basic old-age insurance schemes respectively for urban and rural residents. Personal contributions of the disabled living under the prescribed poverty lines are paid by the government on their behalf. 40,000 people with severe disabilities have been provided with nursing services, and 364,000 impoverished people with disabilities and severe disabilities have been granted living allowances and nursing subsidies. ”

“ There are in total 215 trial judges who are directly involved in the trial of juvenile cases in Xinjiang.
The mechanism for protecting the rights of the elderly has constantly improved. To meet the multi-level and diverse healthcare needs of the elderly, the autonomous region promotes the coordinated development of universal and customized services. It has increased coverage of community-based care for the elderly, and has explored day-care for the elderly and other ways within communities. ”

“ Expenditure on education accounts for over 5 percent of the total fiscal revenue, and continues to grow as government revenues increase. Compulsory education has been included in public finance, and schools offering compulsory education in both urban and rural areas now operate according to the same public expenditure baseline. Subsidies for boarding schools, smaller schools, schools in northern Xinjiang with winter heating, special education schools, and students with disabilities have risen steadily. ”

“ Xinjiang has 112 religious organizations, which receive help from the government to improve their conditions and allow them to play a broader role. Steady improvements have been made in the training system to cultivate clerics, by offering them systemic training, enhancing their overall qualities, and raising religious organizations' capacity of self-management. The government organizes trips for Xinjiang's clerics to study in the more developed parts of China and exchange with their counterparts there, so that they may broaden their vista and improve their overall qualities. ”

“ It ensures that all the people share the fruits of development, and effectively protects the various economic rights of citizens. Public well-being has improved.
The right to development has been promoted. Prior to the founding of the PRC, most of the farmland in Xinjiang was owned by serf owners and landlords, and most livestock, water sources and pasturelands were controlled by the nobility and tribal chiefs. Peasants and herdsmen, accounting for 93 percent of the local total population, did not even possess a basic livelihood and the means to work. ”

“ Citizens shall not subject to discrimination or unfair treatment because they believe in, or do not believe in, any religion. Anyone who encroaches on the citizens' freedom of religious belief shall bear legal liability. Xinjiang has strengthened its management of religious affairs in accordance with the law, protecting venues for lawful religious activities. ”

“ The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has taken a series of measures designed to strike against violent terrorist crimes, strengthen social protection and control, modernize the governance system and capacity, and safeguard the lives and property of all the people of Xinjiang, whatever their ethnic group. ”

“ Almost 97 percent of the rural population has access to radio and TV.
Spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities are widely used. The Constitution stipulates that the state promotes the nationwide use of Putonghua in accordance with the law; meanwhile, it safeguards the rights of various ethnic groups to use and develop their own spoken and written languages. Spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities are extensively used in such areas as judicature, administration, education, press & publishing, radio & television, the Internet and social public affairs. ”

“ The autonomous region has carried out a series of programs, including the Spring Bud Project, Happy Homes for Children, Heng'ai Action, Reborn Action- the poor family's children with cleft lip and palate operation rehabilitation program - and the Chunmiao Project - a program that provides free medical care to children in Xinjiang who suffer from congenital heart diseases. It has established a network for the protection of homeless children and a mechanism for early prevention and intervention in this regard. ”

“ It called governing Xinjiang in accordance with law, maintaining stability in Xinjiang through ethnic solidarity, and being committed to the development of Xinjiang for a long time to come; keeping to the goal of all ethnic groups working together for common prosperity and development; making energetic efforts to press forward with the development of various undertakings in Xinjiang and focusing on the protection and improvement of the people's living standards ”

“ The number of university students has risen from 400 to 420,100, and secondary vocational school students have increased from 2,000 to 235,100. A total of 1,022,100 students have graduated from colleges and universities. The nine-year compulsory education is now generally available to all children. In southern Xinjiang, all children have access to three years of preschool education and a 12-year basic education. Further progress has been made in adult education, and a multi-layered and diverse vocational training system has been established. ”

“ Urban living environment continues to improve. Xinjiang has worked to promote urban ecological restoration in an all-round manner, to speed up construction of urban ecological gardens and urban wetland resources, and to continuously enhance the quality of urban green space and comprehensive service functions. As of the end of 2015, the greening rate of urban built-up areas had reached 35 percent, the green coverage rate had reached 37 percent, and per-capita park green area had reached 11.5 sq m. ”

“ People had no guaranteed access to health care. In 1949, Xinjiang had only 54 medical institutions with 696 beds, placing the medical service capacity at 1.6 beds and 0.19 doctors per 10,000 people. After more than 60 years of development a basic medical care system has been established, with medical institutions covering urban and rural areas. ”

“ Social security has been improved. Once the People's Republic was founded, the government provided generous funding to reinforce Xinjiang's social security system. Now a multi-layered basic social security system with wide coverage is in place. In 2016, Xinjiang launched serious illness insurance for urban and rural residents and urban workers, and personal accident insurance was made available to all residents free of charge. ”

“ Xinjiang publishes 110 newspapers, including 52 in ethnic minority languages, and 200 periodicals, including 120 in ethnic minority languages. Published in four languages - Uygur, Han Chinese, Kazak and Mongolian - the official provincial-level newspaper, Xinjiang Daily, boasts the most editions of different languages in China. Qapqal News is the world's only newspaper published in the Xibe language. Xinjiang People's Broadcasting Station now provides 15 radio channels in five languages - Uygur, Han Chinese, Kazak, Mongolian and Kirgiz. ”

“ Citizens' right to use the spoken and written languages of their own ethnic groups in legal proceedings is protected. By implementing the Interim Measures for Legal Assistance of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the right to legal assistance for disadvantaged groups is guaranteed. ”

“ Transport has also been improved and the people now have access to convenient and rapid traffic facilities. From 1978 to 2016, the kilometrage of roads open to powered vehicles increased from 23,800 km to 182,100 km, and rail kilometrage grew from 1,435 km to 5,868 km. Expressways and high-speed railways developed from scratch, reaching 4,395 km and 717 km, respectively. About 97 percent of administrative villages now have access to metalled roads, and 96 percent have access to bus services. There are 18 civil airports in Xinjiang. ”

“ It took the lead in the country to start the program of "taking street children home", by such means as improving mechanisms for the life, education, management, return, placement and security of vagabond children, and correcting some serious misbehavior. The autonomous region has established more professional service organizations for nursing and caring for the orphaned and disabled children, protecting street children, and rehabilitating disabled children. ”

“ Xinjiang has also given more financial support to energy conservation and emission reduction in industry, construction, transport, public institutions and other key sectors. A mandatory standard of 65 percent reduction in energy consumption has been followed for newly built houses, and 95 million sq m of existing residential buildings have gone through transformation in heating metering and energy conservation. Xinjiang has developed urban public transport, and encouraged residents to use green means of transport. ”

“ A special project has been carried out on the joint guardianship of left-behind children in rural areas to strengthen intervention over and assistance to key individuals, especially the unsupervised, with a view of providing all rural left-behind children with effective guardianship by the end of 2017. Primary attention has been made on improving children service systems at county, township and village levels, and on building a protection and assistance mechanism incorporating compulsory reporting, emergency disposal, assessment and assistance, and guardianship and intervention. ”