Prime Minister Announces Series of Initiatives in Human Rights, Democratic Development and Good Governance in China

"We have been working more intensively with China on the human side of development over the last few years," said the Prime Minister. "While we do not always see eye to eye with the Chinese Government on human rights questions, we have a productive dialogue, a track-record of engagement that makes a real difference for people, and a shared commitment that economic progress without civil and human progress is meaningless."

Canada-China cooperation in human rights can be grouped into three areas: judicial development and legal reform, institution building and political dialogue.

In the area of legal reform, a new project was approved that will improve training in due process for state prosecutors in criminal trials. The project was signed by Ambassador Balloch earlier today, just before he and Mme Huguette Labelle, the President of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), reviewed a cooperative project with a Legal Aid Centre in Beijing aimed at developing a national legal aid system to improve access to justice. Another project under development in this area is a University of Ottawa initiative in cooperation with Chinese partners to develop a strategy for the integration into Chinese law of the UN Conventions on Economic and Social Rights, and Political and Civil Rights, both recently signed by China.

With respect to policy and institutional development, three new agreements were signed today: on public sector reform, cooperation in legislative system development(with the National People's Congress), and integrated municipal development. These three agreements were signed by the President of CIDA and are aimed at helping China modernize its political and administrative infrastructure, improve the responsiveness of that infrastructure to social and community needs and facilitate public participation.

In the area of political dialogue, Canada and China announced today that the second Asia-Pacific Plurilateral Symposium on Human Rights, co-hosted by Canada and China, would be held in Beijing during the first half of 1999. The first such symposium was held in Canada in March of this year. It was also noted that the third meeting of the Canada-China Joint Committee on Human Rights was held in Winnipeg in early November.

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CANADIAN INITIATIVES TO PROMOTE GOOD GOVERNANCE
AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

New Initiatives

Training Material on Criminal Procedures

The purpose of this initiative is to enable Chinese Prosecutors and other legal experts to become more familiar with the fundamentals of criminal procedures and prosecution in relation to due process, fair trial and the rule of law. The project will allow for the publication of a book, in Chinese, providing high quality materials on the systems of criminal justice and prosecution in Canada and some other common law countries. The book will be used as training material by the National Prosecutors College, and will also be distributed to relevant law libraries and bookstores throughout China. The project will receive a $20,000 contribution from a CIDA fund administered by the Canadian Embassy in Beijing.

China-Canada International Human Rights Implementation Project

This project will focus on studying strategies for the integration of UN Conventions that China has signed in recent years into Chinese law. Funded by CIDA, this initiative will be implemented by the University of Ottawa jointly with Chinese partners.

Memorandum of Understanding on Public Sector Reform Program

The Canada-China Public Sector Reform Program (PSRP) will enhance China's governance capacity for continuing reforms in various sectors. The purpose is to provide training and share experiences to enable senior Chinese public sector decision-makers to gain access to a good range of relevant Canadian expertise, ideas, approaches and experiences in social, trade, economic, financial, and other strategic policy areas.

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) budget for this project is $4 million.

Memorandum of Understanding for a Legislative Co-operation Project involving the National Peoples' congress

The National Peoples Congress (NPC) is China's legislative body. This institutional development project will assist China's drive to match progress in economic reform with the restructuring of its government and the decision-making process.

A program of joint activities involving the NPC and the Parliamentary Centre of Canada will permit the study of legislative systems and processes (such as approaches to collection and dissemination of information, analysis, consultation with the public, debate and legal review), develop the capacities and skills of various levels of NPC staff and experts, and carry out case studies of legislative development. The project will receive a $350,000 contribution from the Canadian International Development Agency.

Canada-China Legislative Association

The Senate and House of Commons approved the establishment of the Canada-China Legislative Association in October. The Co-Chairs of this Association are Senator Jack Austin and Mr. Reg Alcock. The first meeting of the Association was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 18. Other Canadian Parliamentarians at the inaugural meeting were: The Honourable John Buchanan, P.C., Q.C., Senator The Honourable Pat Carney, P.C., Senator The Honourable Thelma Chalifoux, Mr. Jim Abbott, M.P. (Kootenay-Columbia), Mr. Bill Blaikie, M.P. (Winnipeg-Transcona), Mr. Jim Jones, M.P. (Markham), Mr. Inky Mark, M.P. (Dauphin-Swan River), and Mr. Robert (Bob) W. Mills, M.P. (Red Deer). At the meeting issues of common concern to the two legislatures were addressed in a frank and forthcoming atmosphere of discussion. The next full meeting of the Association will take place in Canada next year.

Memorandum of Understanding: China Integrated Municipal Development Project

This initiative between the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and China's State Council Office for Restructuring the Economic System will assist Chinese municipalities in dealing with priority development issues, such as economic reform, environmental management, and the delivery of public services. Its goal is to improve governance capacity and public participation in selected municipalities. A series of "model" projects will be implemented. The projects will attempt to strengthen the links between government and the community by improving flow and quality of information around key issues, and by improving the systems for government-community dialogue.

The Canadian International Development Agency's contribution of $4 million over the five-year term of the Project will be supplemented by an additional $4.3 million by other project partners.

Ongoing and Past Initiatives

Canada and China have been cooperating on governance, democratic development, law and human rights for a number of years.

We have two government-to-government led dialogues on human rights:

- the Canada-China Joint Consultations on Human Rights which met for the third time in Winnipeg in November 1998 with extensive participation by Canadian non-governmental organizations. The two Governments have agreed to meet again in this forum in Canada
next year;
- the Asia-Pacific Plurilateral Symposia on Human Rights, co-hosted by Canada and China met for the first time in March of this year. It addressed the theme "Legal Questions Relating to Human Rights in a Civil Society." The next meeting of this Symposium will be held in China during the first half of 1999.

The main development cooperation and institutional development initiatives (ongoing and completed) in this area include:1

- A series of cooperation initiatives in criminal law reform, which contributed to significant changes and improvements in the Code of Criminal Procedure. Another output is a potentially highly influential book recently published in Chinese on "The United Nations Standards and China's Legal System of Criminal Justice";
- A project to assist in the development of a legal aid system in China, to improve access to justice and protect citizen's rights;
- The Canada-China Senior Judges Training Project;
- A research and dialogue project on "Human Rights, International Organisations and the Right to Development";
- A research and exchange program with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (an influential research unit in China) on the subject of democracy;
- A Program to Support the Implementation of China's Women's Law, in order to raise awareness of the law, improve access to justice and support women's rights.

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1 For more details, see the pamphlet: "Rights, Democracy and Governance: CIDA's Support to Development in Asia", published by the Canadian International Development Agency. (November 1997; Supplement September 1998)