This research examines the human-rights status of young people and women in the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.). The research will set forth the historical and cultural background in which human-rights issue fronts have emerged in the P.R.C., particularly with respect to conditions faced by women and children in the country, and then discuss the prospect of improvement of those conditions.
In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated by unanimous vote of the United Nations General Assembly. That Declaration articulated what the title implied:
respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The declaration proclaims the personal, civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of man, none of which is subject to limitation except to secure recognition for the rights and freedoms and to meet the requirements of morality, public order, and general welfare (U.N., 2001).
It is difficult to overstate the geopolitical conditions under which the U.N. Charter and the Declaration emerged, notably the aftermath of World War II, replete with "reaction of the internal community to the horrors of that war and the bestiality of the regimes which unleashed it" (U.N. Department, 1984, p. 1).
It has been custom and practice in the U.N. to distinguish between civil and political rights on one hand and economic, social, and cultural rights on the other, though as a matter of official policy U.N. has long acknowledged overlap and convergence of all fundamental human rights (U.N. Centre, 1991). The U.N. Charter acknowledges the standing and value of nonofficial channels of information on the subject of human rights and authorizes the Economic and Social Council "to make suitable arrangements for consultation with non-governmental organizations [NGOs] which are concerned with matters within its competence" (U.N. Department, 1988, p. 21). NGOs are meant to function as the link of advocacy between individuals an...