Although China ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008, significant gaps between international standards and domestic practices remain. These will likely be highlighted in the UN Committee’s second review of China, beginning in autumn 2018.

In echoing UN Sustainable Development Goals, China has made high-level policy commitments to ensure persons with disabilities benefit from development. Yet, as of late 2016 only about 9 million registered disabled were in employment, and around 10 million persons with disabilities live below the national poverty line.

Although China’s 2016 13th Five-Year Plan for “Accelerating Moderate Prosperity of Persons with Disabilities” prioritized improving legislation on social welfare, education and anti-discrimination and called for expanding channels for democratic participation –there are few opportunities for persons with disabilities to meaningfully engage in policy-making.

Our work seeks to support representative civil society to have a greater role in the disability policy-making process in China. In the past, this has included supporting training on public participation tools, small grants towards the development of grassroots organizations, and research to inform policy proposals.

 

Previous page image by Jonathan Kos-Read