On the second day of a two-day review, the PRC delegation responded to detailed questions posed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child,  often citing formal law and statistics, and, at times, with anecdotal personal stories.

Questions from the experts on the Committee covered numerous areas, including the rights of some 60 million children left behind by migrant workers, access to education and religious freedom for children of ethnic minorities, whether the Internet has been used to disseminate information about the CRC, and the mistreatment of children.

Some examples of the PRC delegation’s responses:

• On the education of children of migrants: The central government has devoted more resources to advancing equal access to education in more developed areas, and in these areas, education of migrant children is basically resolved.
• On religious freedom for minors: China has never restricted minors’ religious freedom; religious followers can conduct activities freely and have never been discriminated against; Falun Gong is not a religion, but an evil cult.
• On disseminating the Convention on the Internet: Dissemination has made full use of the Internet, with special emphasis on laws, regulations, and rules; information on the Internet is free-flowing and smooth.
• On juvenile incarceration in black jails: There are no black jails.

In its concluding remarks, the Committee urged the Chinese to put their obligations into practice: “Implementation, implementation, implementation is the key word here.” The head of the Chinese delegation responded: “We will make more efforts, more efforts, more efforts in this regard.”

Next week, the Committee will issue its report on the review, with concluding observations and recommendations.

For more information on the Convention on the Rights on the Child, see:

• Video: UN Committee on Rights of the Child 2013 Review of China—Day 1, September 26, 2013
• Video: UN Committee on Rights of the Child 2013 Review of China—Day 2 Part 1, September 27, 2013
• Video: UN Committee on Rights of the Child 2013 Review of China—Day 2 Part 2, September 27, 2013
• HRIC’ tweets from the review: @hrichina
• China Faces Tough Questions on Its Protection of Children’s Rights from UN Committee, September 26, 2013
• UN Expert Panel to Review China’s Record on Children’s Rights Protection, September 24, 2013

2013 Review

• HRIC Briefing Note on China’s response to the Committee’s List of Issues Submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (EN, CH)
• HRIC Report, submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in advance of its review of the PRC’s third report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (EN, CH)