1. In November 1978, "bourgeois rightist" labels were completely removed from all the rightists in China.
2. On December 18, 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of Communist Party of China (CPC) was held. The session put forward the principle of "all civil rights stipulated in the Constitution should be safeguarded resolutely, nobody should infringe on them." This action opened up a new era of human rights protection in China.
3. In July 1979, the 5th National People's Congress (NPC) passed the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedural Law.
4. On September 9, 1979, the CPC Central Committee promulgated the "Instruction of Resolutely Guaranteeing the Conscientious Implementation of the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedural Law," and put forward to cancel the party committees' authority to approve cases.
5. On August 26, 1980, the Standing Committee of the Fifth National Congress passed the "Provisional Regulations on Lawyers."
6. On January 1, 1981, the new Marriage Law was implemented.
7. In April 1981, China was elected to be a member state of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
8. On December 4, 1982, the Fifth CPC National Congress passed China's fourth Constitution, which is also the current constitution. It contains more clauses and provisions on civil rights than the previous constitutions.
9. On May 31, 1984, the Sixth CPC National Congress passed the "Law on Regional National Autonomy."
10. On April 12, 1986, the Sixth National Congress passed the "Compulsory Education Law" and the "General Provisions of Civil Law."
11. On March 15, 1988, China Disabled Persons' Federation was established.
12. In October and December 1989, the Standing Committee of the Seventh CPC National Congress passed the "Law on Assemblies, Processions and Demonstrations" and the "Environmental Protection Law" respectively.
13. On November 1, 1991, the State Council Information Office published a white paper on "Human Rights in China." This was the first official document on human rights issued by the Chinese government to the outside world.
14. In April 1992, the Seventh CPC National Congress passed the "Law on the Protection of Women's Rights" and "Trade Union Law."
15. In April 1992, the Chinese government sent personnel for the first time to take part in the United Nation peacekeeping mission in Cambodia.
16. In March 1993, China Society of Human Rights Studies was established. In July 1998 it was approved to take part in relevant activities of the UN Economic and Social Council.
17. In July 1994, the Standing Committee of the Eighth CPC National Congress passed the "Labor Law."
18. In August 1996, the Standing Committee of the Eighth CPC National Congress passed the "Law Guaranteeing the Rights and Interests of Senior Citizens."
19. In September of 1997, the 15th CPC National Congress report put forward the concept of "respecting and safeguarding human rights," and for the first time, the concept of "human rights" was written into an official document of the CPC National Congress.
20. In October 1997, the Chinese government signed the "International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights," and on February 28, 2001, the Standing Committee of the National Congress ratified the covenant.
21. In October 1998, the Chinese government signed the "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."
22. In March 1999, the Ninth National Congress wrote "Run the Country According to Law and Build a Socialist Country Under the Rule of Law" into the Constitution.
23. In February 2002, China's first international human rights magazine the "Human Rights" started publication.
24. In August 2003, the "Measures for the Custody and Repatriation of Urban Vagrants and Beggars" was abolished.
25. On March 14, 2004, the Tenth National Congress wrote the amendment "the State respects and preserves human rights" into the Constitution.
26. In 2005, the "Human Rights Law," the first textbook compiled for national use by the Ministry of Education was published. Prior to this, Shandong University started China's first Master's Degree program on human rights in 1997, and in 2004, China University of Political Science and Law started China's first PhD program on human rights.
27. On January 1, 2006, the "Agricultural Tax Regulations" was abolished.
28. In 2007, the 17th National Congress entered new versions of human rights laws including the right to know and the right to participate.
29. On May 1, 2008, the "Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information" was promulgated and implemented.
30. In November 2008, the Chinese government announced that it would formulate its first "National Action Plan on Human Rights."
By People's Daily Online
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