Law being drafted to protect people's rights of free movement,settlement ( 2003-12-08 09:36) (people's Daily)
A law on household register
management is being drafted in China to create conditions for the people's free
movement and settlement 25 years after the country launched the reform, opening
and modernization drive.
The Ministry of Public Security is working on the draft, according to the
General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
(NPC), China's top legislature.
The new law, which has been pushed by the public, the media andNPC deputies,
is expected to replace the existing provisions on residence registration adopted
by the NPC Standing Committee in 1958.
The outdated mode for household register management can no longer meet the
demand of a swiftly-changing society, where rural residents move into cities in
large numbers, small towns spring upacross the country; and a uniform system of
household register management seems imminent.
For the past decades, urbanites and villagers in China have been treated very
differently in almost all aspects of life, ranging from medical care and
education to job opportunities. It has been very difficult for rural residents
to settle in cities and their children to enjoy schooling the way as urban
children.
Transient rural laborers working and living in cities often fall victims to
malfeasant officials and criminal gangs. Transients, especially those from the
countryside, have become oneof the most vulnerable groups in the country.
Children from transient families account for a major part of the school
dropoutsin cities.
In recent years, people from different circles have been pushing hard to
abolish the old residence registration system and to replace it with a law that
could secure people's rights for free movement and settlement.
During the First Session of the 10th NPC, 34 deputies tabled a joint proposal
on the making of the law. Meanwhile, a series of media reports on the
maltreatment of transients in some cities have aroused the attention of the
central leadership, giving a strong boost to the issue.
In fact, the State Council, or the cabinet, has issued a seriesof documents
on improving the residence registration management system. In some provinces,
local governments have given rural and urban residents the equal status and
rights of citizenship. All this has created favorable conditions for the
drafting of a national law on that issue.
The NPC Committee for Internal and Judicial Affairs, which seesit a necessity
to have a law on household register management, hassuggested the draft law be
submitted to the NPC Standing Committeefor deliberation at a proper time.