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
Khabar 24:
Besides parasports, how will the Chinese government ensure a barrier-free environment in the everyday life, education and employment of persons with disabilities? What will you do over the next few years? Thank you.
Guo Liqun:
Thanks for your question. The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting the rights and interests of persons with disabilities. Therefore, it strengthens the building of an accessible environment in all aspects to provide a convenient environment for them to live, study and work.
First, we strengthened legal construction for an accessible environment. China has set up a legal system based on the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities, with the Regulations on Building an Accessible Environment as the backbone, and supplemented by local laws and government regulations. This system provides a fundamental legal enforcement basis for constructing, managing, and supervising an accessible environment.
Second, we included building an accessible environment in the country's overall economic and social development plans and its relevant specialized plans. Creating an accessible environment is strengthened in the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, Vision 2035, and a batch of specialized plans focusing on protecting and developing persons with disabilities, improving elderly life, and boosting informatization, tourism and transportation. It is also underlined in the National Human Rights Action Plan, which clarifies China's human rights commitments and fulfills the relevant requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In addition, central departments issued a series of policies and measures to promote accessible environment construction, significantly improving its level.
Third, we promoted accessible environment construction in all aspects and continued to increase the coverage of accessible facilities.
The first is to ensure that newly-built (renovated or expanded) roads, buildings, and residential areas in urban and rural areas are equipped with barrier-free facilities, and increase the barrier-free renovations of existing facilities. 81% of the entrances and exits, 56% of the service counters, and 38% of the toilets among comprehensive service facilities in villages (communities) nationwide have been upgraded for barrier-free access. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, home adaptation was carried out for 650,000 registered families with severely disabled members, helping them shake off poverty and improve the quality of their life.
The second is to create a barrier-free travel and service environment. The Chinese government continues to strengthen building and upgrading of accessible transport infrastructure, so as to create a barrier-free travel environment. It promotes the application of barrier-free passenger vehicles across the country; 3,598 trains have reserved seats for the disabled; public transport vehicles have special seats for the elderly, the infirm, the sick, and the disabled, and have adopted low-floor buses and barrier-free taxis; and city buses are equipped with visual and audio announcement systems.
The third is to comprehensively promote information accessibility. China strives to solve the difficulties encountered by special groups such as the elderly and the disabled when using intelligent technologies such as the internet, increase the supply of accessible terminal products, push forward the promotion and application of barrier-free products and service technologies, broaden the channels for persons with disabilities to participate in the information society, promote the application of information technology to foster an accessible environment,, and work hard to bridge the "digital divide" to help the disabled enjoy the digital life.
The fourth is to actively promote the construction of a barrier-free environment on campuses and at workplaces. The Chinese government vigorously promotes inclusive education, strengthens the construction and installment of accessible facilities and equipment in schools, and provides relevant supporting services and adequate convenience for students with disabilities to study and live in schools. We have fully guaranteed the employment rights and interests of the disabled; encouraged Party and government organs, public institutions, and state-owned enterprises to take the lead in helping the disabled find jobs; and required employers to improve accessibility of workplaces and provided adequate support for people with disabilities, so as to create necessary labor security conditions for the disabled to find employment.
In the future, the Chinese government will actively implement the requirements of the implementation plan for barrier-free environment construction during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and related regulations and policies, accelerate legislation on the construction of barrier-free environment, implement the working mechanism, improve the policy and standard system, and enhance accessibility of urban and rural infrastructure. It will carry out home adaptation for 1.1 million households with disabled members in financial difficulty and severely disabled members, vigorously promote information accessibility, and further raise the accessibility awareness of the whole society. The government will speed up the building of an accessible environment with complete facilities, complete functions, smooth information, and comfortable experience so as to better facilitate work, life, and study of the disabled, and promote their all-round development and shared prosperity.
Thank you.
People's Daily:
How does the General Administration of Sport of China (GAS) coordinate the development of parasports in the process of implementing national strategies such as the Fitness-for-All initiative, and Building China into a Country Strong in Sports? Thank you.
Liu Guoyong:
Thank you. As you know, sports for the disabled are an important part of the cause of people with disabilities, and it is also an important part of the sound development of our sports. The Party and the state have always attached great importance to sports for the disabled, and especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has given top priority to the development of sports, including sports for the disabled, and has made a series of new arrangements for sports from the perspective of national strategy, and put forward a series of new requirements. We believe that in order to implement the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, it is very important to strengthen top-level design, especially to strengthen policy guarantees for people with disabilities to participate in sports activities. The "Regulations on the Nationwide Fitness Program" stipulates that "citizens have the right to participate in fitness-for-all activities in accordance with the law,” which clarifies that participation in fitness-for-all activities for all citizens, including people with disabilities, is a basic right that must be ensured. The "National Fitness Plan (2021-2025)" proposes: "support the holding of various sports events for the disabled, and carry out sports and fitness activities involving both the disabled and those in good health,” and further "improve accessibility of public fitness facilities, and carry out rehabilitation and fitness activities for the disabled.” Meanwhile, the "Outline for Building a Leading Sports Nation" proposed: "promote the extensive development of rehabilitation sports and fitness sports for the disabled,” and the "14th Five-Year Plan for Sports Development" proposed to "further improve national fitness public services for the elderly, professional groups, and the disabled."
The GAS and the CDPF have jointly issued the notice on printing and distributing the implementation plan for the development of parasports during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and the guiding opinions on further developing rehabilitation and fitness sports for persons with disabilities, which incorporate the rehabilitation and physical fitness of the disabled into the whole process of national fitness work, so as to guarantee the disabled people's equal right to enjoy sports, realize equal access to basic public services in sports, and further enhance the disabled people's sense of gains and happiness. We believe that with these laws and regulations and the support of relevant policies, governments at all levels will have the basis for exercising law-based administration and the sports sector can also strengthen supervision according to these laws, regulations, and policies so that the disabled people can enjoy a healthier and happier life.
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