“基本生活水准权利”在中国的实践——以国家人权行动计划实施为视角

The Practice of"the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living"in China:An Approach to the Implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plans

“基本生活水准权利”是国家人权行动计划中最基础的内容之一。作为一项基本人权,从诞生伊始就引发了其是否具有充足的法理基础与是否具有适当标准的争论,但在联合国人权框架下,还是达成了最低限度的共识。中国政府通过将国家人权行动计划与国民经济和社会发展五年规划挂钩,履行“基本生活水准权利”的指标要求,不仅实现了食物权、用水权、衣着权和住房权的最低标准,并取得了举世瞩目的脱贫成就,还超越了联合国人权框架下对该权利的规定,通过乡村振兴、优化交通条件、弥合城乡数字鸿沟的举措,丰富了“基本生活水准权利”的内容,为人的自由全面共同发展创造了条件。

On September 9th, 2021, the Chinese government released its fourth National Human Rights Action Plan(NHRAP), making China the only major country in the world that has consistently formulated and implemented four NHRAPs, which helps realize practically the country’s constitutional principle of respecting and safeguarding human rights. The Chinese government has always pursued a peoplecentered philosophy of human rights protection, and has made the realization of the "right to an adequate standard of living" a priority in its national human rights action plan, with the belief that it is the basis for other fundamental rights.However, the "right to an adequate standard of living" as a fundamental human right has been controversial among the international community ever since its birth: first, whether the "right to an adequate standard of living" is a fundamental human right? Liberal skeptics fear that the "right to an adequate standard of living" could be structured in such a way to allow the government to expand its power without boundary and thus violate human rights. However, the "right to an adequate standard of living" should be granted as a fundamental human right, both in terms of international law and in terms of the nature of right. Second, what is the criteria of the "right to an adequate standard of living"? Due to the imbalance of development between the North and the South, it is difficult for developed and developing countries to reach a universal standard. Hence consequently the international community agrees with the greatest consensus on the minimum level: what life is intolerable, what life is wrong without any objection, and what life is against the basic dignity of human beings. Therefore, in the framework of the UN human rights mechanism, the "right to an adequate standard of living" generally is confined to the right to food, water, clothing and housing.Since the beginning phase of the third National Human Rights Action Plan, the Chinese government has steadily implemented it in accordance with the five-year national economic and social development plan. In its national human rights action plan, the Chinese government has interpreted the "right to an adequate standard of living" into policy actions to safeguard people’s livelihoods. Through the protection of the right to food, the right to water, the right to housing, and the comprehensive implementation of poverty eradication efforts, China has fulfilled its obligations to protect the "right to an adequate standard of living" under the UN human rights framework. What’s more, the Communist Party of China and government have made the people’s aspiration for a better life their goal, and have proposed new requirements for "free and comprehensive common development," extending the content of the "right to an adequate standard of living" from a bottom-up guarantee to the promotion of comprehensive and high-quality development. By setting targets in the action plan for consolidating the achievements of poverty eradication and rural revitalization, optimizing transportation conditions, and bridging the imbalance digital gap between urban and rural areas, the content of the guarantee of "right to an adequate standard of living" has been enriched, with the connotation of giving everyone equal opportunities for development and enabling everyone to enjoy comprehensive and free common development.