Although the compensation for victims of rights abuse by government bodies is being raised, the way it is arrived at still requires more thought, says an article in the Xi'an Evening Post. Following is an excerpt:

The Supreme People's Court recently said the compensation for victims of personal rights infringement by the government and judicial authorities will reach 111.99 yuan ($16.4) a day, 12.68 yuan more than that of last year. The revised compensation follows a release of the State Bureau of Statistics on April 9 that the average annual salary in the country was 29,229 yuan last year, or 111.99 yuan for every working day.

It is good news for those victims affected by personal rights infringement, but the calculation on the basis of the average daily salary of employees in China is still not reasonable enough.

First, different victims work in different industries so the losses incurred from the abuse of rights vary. This approach can be unreasonable when applied to victims in industries where average daily wages are higher than the national average. So, we should abandon the calculation based on national average daily salaries and instead adopt figures based on the practical losses of the victims.

Second, this type of calculation totally ignores the psychological damages inflicted on the victims of rights abuse. It is ludicrous to think of the losses of victims as equal to what they have incurred because of absence from work. This approach constitutes a blind disregard for the rights of citizens.

Third, when the government and judicial authorities violate the personal rights of citizens, the country should not only compensate the direct economic losses of those victims but also penalize those government bodies and judicial authorities as well as specific officials responsible for the infringement. Only by doing this can we check the behavior of officials and reduce the number of rights abuse cases.

(China Daily April 14, 2009)