NPCSC Examines Implementation of Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law

July 25, 2006

The National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) will examine the implementation of the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law (REAL) from July to September, according to a June 24 Xinhua article posted on the State Council Information Office Web site. Four NPCSC inspection teams will visit 11 provincial-level areas, while local people's congress standing committees in nine other provincial-level areas will conduct their own inspections of the law's implementation. The article did not specify which areas the inspection teams will visit. On June 23, the inspection teams met in Beijing, where Vice Minister Mou Benli of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission (SEAC) reported on work to implement the REAL, according to a June 28 SEAC report. On July 1, an inspection team began a six-day trip to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to examine the law's implementation there, the SEAC reported on July 6.

The National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) will examine the implementation of the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law (REAL) from July to September, according to a June 24 Xinhua article posted on the State Council Information Office Web site. Four NPCSC inspection teams will visit 11 provincial-level areas, while local people's congress standing committees in nine other provincial-level areas will conduct their own inspections of the law's implementation. The article did not specify which areas the inspection teams will visit. On June 23, the inspection teams met in Beijing, where Vice Minister Mou Benli of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission (SEAC) reported on work to implement the REAL, according to a June 28 SEAC report. On July 1, an inspection team began a six-day trip to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to examine the law's implementation there, the SEAC reported on July 6.

Enacted in 1984 and amended in 2001, the REAL defines ethnic minority rights and outlines the government's system of ethnic minority autonomy. In 2005, the State Council issued Provisions on Implementing the REAL. Article 30 of the Provisions requires that ethnic affairs offices at every level of government monitor implementation of the Provisions and submit findings and recommendations to their local governments each year. The current inspection represents the first annual review of the REAL, according to the Xinhua article.

For more information, see a related CECC analysis on the Implementing Provisions and section III(a), "China's Minorities and Government Implementation of the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law," in the 2005 CECC Annual Report.