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Beijing Holds Sino-German Human Rights Dialogue

Participants in the Seventh Sino-German Human Rights Dialogue in Beijing said that China has made noticeable progress in its legal protection of human rights, according to Xinhuanet.

The Chinese Constitution and relevant laws guarantee people's exercise of national power and enable the public to be the real masters of the nation, said Qiao Xiaoyang, a member of China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, China's top legislature.

"To improve human rights, NPC deputies and governmental heads are produced by means of multi-candidate elections, and the direct election of local people's congress deputies has been expanded to the county level from the township level," Qiao said.

German Ambassador to China Volker Stanzel said the court in Chaoyang District of Beijing, where he lives, handles seven cases every day on average.

"It demonstrates that a growing number of Chinese are aware of using laws to protect their rights," he said. "As a foreigner, I see how China is doing its utmost to improve human rights."

China incorporated an item, "The nation respects and safeguards human rights," into the Constitution during its latest revision in March 2004.

Professor Hans-Peter Schneider, director of the Institute for Federal Studies in Germany, said it is a striking progress for China to accept human rights as part of its Constitution.

China has signed 21 international pacts concerning human rights, with the number surpassing that signed by the United States.

China's human rights issue is undergoing development and improvement. However, the Constitution still omits some rights of citizens, such as privacy protection, economic self-determination and the right to organize and participate in independent trade unions, said Professor Zheng Yongliu of the China University of Political Science and Law.

Zheng attributed this to a lack of emphasis on the significance of human rights from the government and people's weak awareness of human rights in the past decades.

"I wish and believe the new item of 'The nation respects and safeguards human rights' in the Constitution can change it," he said.

The Sino-German Human Rights Dialogue, sponsored by the China Foundation for Human Rights Development, Chinese Association for International Understanding and German Friedrich Ebert Foundation, had held six sessions since 1999 either in China or Germany.

The seventh session was held in Beijing on October 28 and 29.