SCIO press conference on 'China's Parasports: Progress and the Protection of Rights' white paper
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 11, 2022
China Media Group:
You mentioned earlier that this is the first time China has issued a white paper on the development of sports for people with disabilities. How do you see the relationship between respecting and safeguarding human rights and sports for people with disabilities?
Lyu Yansong:
General Secretary Xi Jinping made important remarks while presiding over the 37th group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on China's position, perspective and the development path on human rights in a holistic and systematic way. He emphasized making further efforts to understand the importance and urgency of human rights work, unswervingly adhering to China's path of human rights development, paying more attention to respecting and safeguarding human rights, and better advancing the development of China's human rights cause. Xi said that the role of groups and organizations should be given full play to better protect the rights and interests of women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities.
Both respecting and safeguarding human rights will not be left behind. Protecting the rights and interests of people with disabilities and developing their cause, including sports, are an important part of the cause of human rights in China. Parasports on the rise mark the cause of people with disabilities in China moving up a notch and a vivid reflection of progress in China's human rights philosophy and practice.
We uphold the Party's leadership and the socialist system, ensure people's position as masters of the country, ensure people fairly share human rights and promote the all-round development of human rights. To provide better protection to persons with disabilities, we have formed a support system in which Party committees exercise leadership, the government assumes responsibility, the public gets involved, and organizations of people with disabilities play their full role. Party committees and governments at all levels should shoulder the responsibility of developing the cause of people with disabilities, incorporate programs for disabled people into their various undertakings, continue to improve the system of safeguarding rights and interests of people with disabilities to fulfill and protect the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people, including people with disabilities.
We uphold and respect the primacy of the people and stimulate their enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity, which engages them to become the main contributors, promoters, and beneficiaries of the development of the cause of human rights. China promotes the development of parasports, upholds the combination of improving the well-being of people with disabilities and building up their strength, focuses on respecting and protecting the personal rights and dignity of people with disabilities, respects their will, and pushes them to become real subjects of rights, to ensure their equal status and give them the equal opportunity to participate in social life and enjoy the fruits of the country's material and cultural progress.
We insist on a combination of the principle of human rights' universality and the nation's actual conditions. Acting based on China's actual conditions and people's demands, China has facilitated the progress of human rights, ensured its people enjoy extensive and substantive human rights. The Party and the government have rolled out a series of major measures to develop the cause of people with disabilities and improve their conditions, promoted the parasports and scored historical achievements. The goals of equality, participation and sharing have drawn closer.
China firmly believes that the rights to subsistence and development are the primary and basic human rights, treats people's wellbeing as the primary human right, and fully and faithfully implements the new development philosophy to protect the rights and interests of people with disabilities through development. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has set up a special welfare system covering tens of millions of people with disabilities. Persons with disabilities from poor households in rural areas, numbering in the millions, have become a focus in the final fight against poverty. The parasports development has been included in China's national strategies of Fitness-for-All, Healthy China initiative, and Building China into a Country Strong in Sports. The supply of basic public services for persons with disabilities has been improved, and the goal of "building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, leaving no one behind, including persons with disabilities,” was achieved. More and more people with disabilities have received better education, found jobs or started their businesses, and participated in social life on an equal footing. Therefore, their sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security continues to grow.
We safeguard human rights in accordance with the law, adhere to the principles of equality before the law, insist that respecting and protecting human rights should be strengthened to fully cover the whole process of legislation, law enforcement, administration of justice, and observance of the law, and enhance role of the rule of law in protecting human rights. China's legal and regulatory system for protecting the rights and interests of people with disabilities has been set up with the Constitution as the core and the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities as the backbone. It is backed up by the Regulations on the Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities, Regulations on Education for the Disabled, Regulations on Employment for the Disabled, and Regulations on Building an Accessible Environment.
We actively participate in global human rights governance, enhance common values of humanity, practice genuine multilateralism, and work to build a community with a shared future for mankind. China fulfills its responsibilities and obligations as a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and promotes the international cause of persons with disabilities. Regarding parasports as a significant part of international exchanges among the disabled, China has vigorously boosted regional and global sports development for persons with disabilities. Thank you.
Phoenix TV:
The recent Beijing Olympic Winter Games showed us the charm of winter sports. Could you brief us on China's development of winter parasports and the participation of persons with disabilities in winter sports? Thank you.
Wang Meimei:
China pays great attention to winter parasports. We have taken multiple measures to encourage more persons with disabilities to participate in winter sports in recent years. As a result, especially after China's successful bid for the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, more and more persons with disabilities took part in and enjoyed the charm of winter sports.
First, although winter Paralympic sports began late in China, they grew quickly in recent years. Before 2015, China only developed Paralympic cross-country skiing and wheelchair curling among six Winter Paralympic sports. In 2002, China participated in the Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City of the U.S. In the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, 10 Chinese athletes took part in 2 sports and 6 events, and the wheelchair curling team finished fourth, which was the best ever result for the Chinese winter Paralympic team. In the 2018 Pyeongchang Paralympic Winter Games, Chinese athletes won gold in wheelchair curling, marking China's first medal in Winter Paralympics.
Second, China's successful bid for the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games has generated great opportunities to develop its Winter Paralympic sports. In July 2015, together with Zhangjiakou, Beijing won the bid to host the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, which created major development opportunities for China's winter parasports. Thanks to unremitting efforts during the past few years, China's winter Paralympic sports have made great progress. From 2015 to 2021, the number of Winter Paralympic sports in China increased from 2 to 6, so all Winter Paralympic sports are now covered. In addition, the number of athletes increased from fewer than 50 to nearly 1,000. Since 2018, annual national competitions for sporting events in Winter Paralympics have been held. All the six Winter Paralympic sports - alpine skiing, the biathlon, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey, and wheelchair curling - have been included in the National Games for Persons with Disabilities. Since 2016, Chinese parasports athletes have participated in international events related to the Winter Paralympic Games, accumulating experience and improving their capabilities. In the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, 96 Chinese athletes will take part in all 6 sports and 73 events. Compared with the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, the number of athletes will increase by 86, the number of sports by 4, and the number of events by 67.
Third, taking the Winter Paralympics as an opportunity, China's winter parasports rise. China's successful bid for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games allowed persons with disabilities to feel the charm of winter sports. Since 2016, China has hosted Winter Sports Seasons for Persons with Disabilities for 6 consecutive years, providing them with a platform to participate in winter sports and fulfilling the Beijing 2022 bid commitment of engaging 300 million people in winter sports. The scale of participation has expanded from 14 provincial-level units in the first Winter Sports Season to 31 provinces and equivalent administrative units. Various winter parasports activities suited to local conditions have been held, allowing participants to experience Paralympic Winter Games events and participate in mass-participation winter sports, winter rehabilitation and fitness training camps, and ice and snow festivals. A variety of winter sports for mass participation have been created and promoted, such as mini skiing, dryland skiing, dryland curling, ice cuju (a traditional Chinese game of competing for a ball on the ice rink), skating, sledding, sleighing, ice bikes, snow football, and ice dragon boating. These novel and fun sports have proved very popular among persons with disabilities. In addition, the promulgation of materials such as A Guidebook on Winter Sports and Fitness Programs for Persons with Disabilities provides services and support for persons with disabilities to participate in winter sports and fitness.
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