The National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2026-2030) (the Plan) was unveiled on June 11 at the opening of the 2026 Forum on Global Human Rights Governance in Beijing. It was released by the State Council Information Office and it outlines China’s vision for protecting human rights over the next five years. It is comprehensive and commits China to championing humanity’s shared values, advancing the protection of economic, social and cultural rights, strengthening the protection of environmental rights, and promoting global human rights governance. This will be achieved in ways that are more just, reasonable and inclusive.

The two-day forum, held on the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development, focused on promoting human rights through development. It was attended by over 400 Chinese and international guests from more than 100 countries, as well as by representatives from the UN and other international and regional organizations.

By any yardstick, the Plan is a remarkable document that provides encouraging reading. It indicates the direction of travel across numerous areas and safeguards the rights and interests of the populace as a whole, with an emphasis on the circumstances of particular individuals. They include ethnic minority groups, women, the elderly, people with disabilities, and, crucially, children.

The Plan’s concern for child welfare is palpable and takes their rights to a new level. It makes clear, for example, that the State respects the “personal dignity” of minors, and will “promote the healthy, safe and well-rounded development of children”. Domestic violence against children is taboo, and “will be comprehensively banned”. Also strictly prohibited is “any form of corporal punishment against minors, any act that degrades their dignity, and school bullying”.

Addressing new-era threats, the Plan makes clear that the privacy and personal information of minors must be “protected”. To strengthen the protection of children in cyberspace, China will “improve the systems for protecting minors online”. It will also “reinforce the primary responsibilities of online platforms and regulate content”, echoing calls from child-rights campaigners everywhere. There is even a welcome commitment to “listening carefully to children’s voices”, which is music to the ears of everybody who considers that the views of minors should always be taken into account (not least because they can positively influence the decision-making process).

The Plan also addresses juvenile justice, with a commitment to strengthen judicial protection and crime prevention for minors. China will continue “to improve minors’ literacy of the rule of law”, and improve the mechanisms for prevention, handling and correcting cases of juvenile delinquency. Those who commit crimes against children “will be severely punished in accordance with the law”, and a mandatory reporting system for those who abuse children will be considered.

By any yardstick, the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2026-2030) is a remarkable document that provides encouraging reading. It indicates the direction of travel across numerous areas and safeguards the rights and interests of the populace as a whole, with an emphasis on the circumstances of particular individuals

Indeed, the Plan dovetails nicely with the national 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), which was adopted by the National People’s Congress in March and envisages the healthy development of the younger generation. With the release of the Plan, the specifics involved in child welfare have been fleshed out. The central government clearly wants to promote a child-friendly development, with a zero tolerance of child abuse and proper protections for the most vulnerable. It is determined to do whatever is necessary to achieve its objectives, and this will be instructive for others.

For example, this development will inevitably have a knock-on effect at a time when the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government is considering what matters should be included in its first-ever five-year plan. The national and regional five-year plans need to be aligned, and, when it comes to child welfare, the national plan has clearly pointed the way. Although the two-month public consultation for the HKSAR’s blueprint began on June 15, the laws required to protect minors have been in the public domain for some years, and their early implementation must now be incorporated into the five-year plan.

Whereas, for example, the child cruelty law requires updating so that psychological abuse of a child can be as readily prosecuted as physical abuse (as has already been done under the English law, from which the Hong Kong law derives), those who fail to protect children in their care in a way that causes death or serious injury should also be prosecutable if they are criminally negligent or have committed an unlawful act (as recommended by the Law Reform Commission in 2021). The maximum penalty for child cruelty should also be raised beyond the current 10 years’ imprisonment to cater for extreme offenses (as proposed by the Court of First Instance in 2018, and again by the Court of Appeal in 2023).

If, moreover, “any form of corporal punishment against minors” is unacceptable on the Chinese mainland (given that it offends a child’s human rights), it can no longer be countenanced in the HKSAR.

As children in the mainland are entitled to protection in cyberspace, so also are those in the HKSAR. Sexual grooming of children on the internet must, therefore, be criminalized, together with sexual messaging. Those who allow access by minors to adult websites should also face the full rigors of the law. If, for example, a duty of care were to be imposed on internet service providers/adult-site operators, it would help to protect children from the harm associated with early exposure to online pornography.

When it comes to child protection, the Plan shows exactly what types of conduct violate the human rights of minors and should be criminalized. This greatly facilitates the task of those involved in drafting the HKSAR’s five-year plan. If, therefore, it is to be aligned with national objectives, that plan must clamp down decisively on all forms of child abuse and close the loopholes that have endangered children and benefited offenders for far too long.

The author is a senior counsel and law professor, an honorary consultant to the Child Protection Institute of Against Child Abuse and was previously the director of public prosecutions of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.