From Chinese Press

From the chinese press

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-02-18 08:17

Begging no human rights

The use of microblogs to crack down on kidnappers has met with some success, and the media and police have supported the campaign. But some people are opposing the campaigners' proposal to "completely ban children from begging", saying that it would deprive them of the right to beg, says an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts:

Campaigners who want the government to ban children from begging cite the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in support of their argument.

China is not only a signatory to the convention, but also helped draft it. The campaigners argue that the convention does not have a clause saying begging is a child's basic right. On the contrary, many of the UN convention's articles are about protecting children from physical and mental torture, and maltreatment.

Other clauses stipulate some specific requirements such as government measures to protect children, irrespective of whether they are under the care of their parents, legal guardians or someone else. Such measures include legislation, effective administration and establishing a sound education system.

The convention does not say children have the right to beg for their survival. It does not consider begging human rights, either.

This is what makes the government's role very important, especially when parents or legal guardians cannot provide for their wards.

The government should provide all the necessities from food to education to ensure that the "deprived" children enjoy all the rights stipulated in the convention.

Children do not have the right to beg, but they have the right to get their needs fulfilled the government. And given the country's economic development, the government can provide them all the necessary help and prevent them from becoming beggars.

Reduce income gap

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security's Institute of Labor and Wage is trying to reduce the salary gap in different industries (which was up to 15 times in 2008) to 4.7 times by reinterpreting data. Now that authorities are making efforts to narrow the income gap, research scholars at the institute should stop playing with figures and words, says an article in Qilu Evening News. Excerpts:

There is disparity in income distribution in China, and the gap between the rich and the poor, rural and urban residents and among different industries is widening.

China's GDP has surpassed that of Japan, and the country has become the second largest economy in the world. But the country's per capita GDP is rather low, and 150 million Chinese people still live below the UN's poverty line.

In fact, at the last National People's Congress meeting, almost all the delegates appealed to the government to raise the income of urban and rural residents both. Under such circumstances, institutes conducting research on income distribution should find proper ways to narrow the gap instead of using figures to shift the public's focus to avoid conflict.

Common people are eagerly looking forward to the income distribution reform. Hopefully, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security would help expedite the reform plan to narrow the huge income gap.

(China Daily 02/18/2011 page9)