The Launch of the Annual Report on the Rule of Law (2011) and the Seminar on the Development of Rule of Law Held in Beijing

The Launching of the Annual Report on the Rule of Law (the Blue Book on the Rule of Law) (2011) and the Seminar on the Development of Rule of Law were held at the First Lecture Hall of CASS on 24 February 2011. The event was participated by guests from the Supreme People’s Procuratorates, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Railway Transportation, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Population and Family Planning Commission, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the State Administration of Work Safety, the State Statistics Bureau, the State Bureau of Forestry, the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention, China Securities Regulatory Commission, State Electricity Regulatory Commission, State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, General Office of the People’s Government of Zhengzhou City, Lunan Prison of Shangdong Province, Judicial Bureau of Yuhang District of Hangzhou City, the People’s Court of Qingzhou City, Shangdong Province, experts from Chinese People’s Public Security University and other research institutes, reporters from dozens of news media, including Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily, CCTV, China National Radio, China Youth Daily, and Legal Daily. The event was broadcast live on China.com.cn, legaldaily.com and QQ.com.

The Book Launch was chaired by Xie Shouguang, the president of Social Sciences Academic Press. Ms. Li Qiufang, member of the Party Leadership Group of CASS, extended warm welcome to all the participants. She reviewed the history of the Blue Book, highly praised the achievements that had been made in recent years in the compilation of the Book, which had been closely integrated with the investigation on national situation of the rule of law. With its social influence increasing continuously, the Blue Book had become an important tool for people to carry out researches on the annual development of the rule of law and on hot legal issues in China and an important window for people to learn about the current situation of the rule of law in China.

Professor Li Lin, Director of the CASS Law Institute gave a keynote speech on the overall development of the rule of law in China in the year 2010. He pointed out that in 2010 China had made major progress in the construction of a basic socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics; the implementation of laws had been attached great importance to; progress had been made in the construction of a government under the rule of law; the judicial reform had been deepened, and the implementation of the policy of “administration of justice for the people” further strengthened. In the year 2011, the state would continue to strengthen the legislative work and further perfect the system of law, to strengthen the construction of government under the rule of law and of the public service system for guaranteeing people’s livelihood, to further strengthen the supervision over public power and increase the efforts on preventing and punishing corruption, and to steadily push forward judicial reform.

Mr. Yang Shuwen from the Department of Dereliction of Duty and Rights Infringement of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate gave a keynote speech on “Legislation and Judicial Practice against Dereliction of Duty and Rights Infringement in China in the Past Thirty Years”. He pointed out that the Communist Party of China and the government attached great importance to the prevention and punishment of the crimes of dereliction of duty and rights infringement and procuratorial organs had important responsibilities in this respect. The percentage of such crimes among various crimes investigated and punished in recent year had been on the rise.

Mr. Zhao Jianwen, research fellow of CASS Institute of Law, introduced the situation of economic, social and cultural rights in China in 2010. Mr. Zhao noted that, in 2010, China had made a series of new progress in safeguarding the equal enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, and in the enjoyment of the right to work, the right to social security, and the right to education, but had been faced with serious challenges in guaranteeing adequate living standard and the right to safe and healthy work conditions. He pointed out that in 2010, China would further strengthen the protection of human rights and promote the comprehensive development of all human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights, in accordance with the requirements of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan.

Associate Professor Jin Gaofeng from Chinese People’s University of Public Security delivered a speech on “Analysis of Crime Situation in China in 2010 and a Forecast of Crime Situation in China in 2011”. He pointed out that, in the year 2010, the total number of criminal cases remained high but there had been a marked reduction in the number of serious cases of violent crimes and crimes against property, people’s sense of safety continued to rise, and the general situation of public security had been stable. He predicated that the crime rate would remain high but may stop rising, even begin to drop, in the year 2011.

Mr. Ji Xiangde, Assistant Director of the CASS Law Institute, gave a speech on “the Situation of Criminal Defence in China”. He pointed out that criminal defence in China was neither in a “hopeless situation beyond remedy”, nor “almost on a par with developed countries and basically compatible with international standards”. But the work environment for defence lawyers urgently needed to be improved and the quality defence lawyers needed to be further enhanced. In the future, the state should vigorously develop legal aid and establish a system of public defenders.

Mr. She Shaoxiang, associate research fellow of CASS Law Institute, gave a report on “The Development and Reform of New Rural Old Age Insurance System”, in which he reviewed the historical development and analysed the current situation of the rural old age insurance system and compared the new system with the old system. He noted that the new rural old age insurance system was conducive to safeguarding the right to social security of rural people. However, in the future, an integrated old age insurance system not limited by household register system should be established.

And finally Ms. Tian He, head of Department of Survey and Studies of National Situation of Rule of Law of CASS Law Institute and executive editor-in-chief of the Blue Book on the Rule of Law, gave a report on the transparency of government and other national situation of rule of law. With regard to the transparency of the government, she pointed out that government websites had become an important channel for disclosure of government information; the awareness of openness of the staff of government organs had been greatly enhanced; and many systems of disclosure of government information had been implemented. However, she pointed out that some problems still existed in the work of disclosure of government information, which needed to be solved through further elimination of technical obstacles to the access to government information by the public and improvement of the mechanism for the evaluation of performance in disclosure of information. With regard to the issue of mechanism of legal supervision over the property of public servants, she pointed out that it had become common consensus that it was necessary to supervise public servants over their property and that the scope of the supervision should be expanded to include more public servants, and that supporting measures should be gradually adopted to increase the channels of supervision. With respect to television advertisement, the government should establish as soon as possible the relevant regulatory mechanisms, strengthen the law enforcement and further improve the legislation so as to solve the existing problems of advertising against regulations, false advertisement and unchecked spread of advertisement aimed at children.

Source: Editorial Office of the Blue Book and the Rule of Law in China