Editing Ethnic minorities in China (section)

==Guarantee of rights and interests==
[[File:Ethnic minorities areas in Yunnan.png|thumb|Major Autonomous areas within Yunnan. (excluding [[Hui people|Hui]])]]
[[File:Ethnic minorities areas in Guizhou.png|thumb|Major Autonomous areas within Guizhou. (excluding [[Hui people|Hui]])]]

{{Main|Affirmative action in China}}

The [[Constitution of the People's Republic of China|PRC's Constitution]] and laws guarantee equal rights to all ethnic groups in China and help promote ethnic minority groups' economic and cultural development.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://english.people.com.cn/constitution/constitution.html | title=Constitution of the People's Republic of China}}</ref> The constitution prohibits both discrimination and acts of disunity.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Lin |first=Chun |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/63178961 |title=The transformation of Chinese socialism |date=2006 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-3785-0 |location=Durham [N.C.] |pages=101 |oclc=63178961}}</ref>  Articles 115 and 116 of the constitution state that in the provincial level autonomous regions and the autonomous prefectures and counties set aside for minority administration, local states via the local people's congresses "have the power to enact regulations on the exercise of autonomy and other separate regulations in the light of the political, economic, and cultural characteristics" of those areas.<ref name=":4" />

One notable preferential treatment ethnic minorities enjoy was their exemption from the population growth control of the [[One-Child Policy]]. But according to an investigative report by The Associated Press published at 28 June 2020, the Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country's Han majority to have more children.<ref name="AP’s global investigative team">{{cite news |last= AP’s global investigative team |date=28 June 2020 |title= China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization |url=https://apnews.com/269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c|work=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=1 August 2020}}</ref>
While individual women have spoken out before about forced birth control, the practice is far more widespread and systematic than previously known, according to an AP investigation based on government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor. The campaign over the past four years in the far west region of Xinjiang is leading to what some experts are calling a form of "demographic genocide".<ref name="AP’s global investigative team" /> Ethnic minorities enjoy other special exemptions which vary by province- these include lower tax thresholds and lower required scores for entry into university. The use of these measures to raise ethnic minorities' human capital is seen by the central government as important for improving the economic development of ethnic minorities. Ethnic minorities are represented in the National People's Congress as well as governments at the [[Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China#Province level|provincial]] and [[Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China#Prefecture level|prefectural]] levels. Some ethnic minorities in China live in what are described as [[Autonomous entities of China|ethnic autonomous areas]]. These "regional autonomies" guarantee ethnic minorities the freedom to use and develop their ethnic languages, and to maintain their own cultural and social customs. In addition, the PRC government has provided preferential economic development and aid to areas where ethnic minorities live.  Furthermore, the Chinese government has allowed and encouraged the involvement of ethnic minority participation in the party.  Even though ethnic minorities in China are granted specific rights and freedoms, many ethnic minorities still have headed towards the urban life in order to obtain a well paid job.<ref name="yardley">{{cite news | last=Yardley | first=Jim | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=11 May 2008 | access-date=20 November 2008 | title=China Sticking With One-Child Policy | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/world/asia/11china.html}}</ref>

Minorities have widely benefited from China's minimum livelihood guarantee program (known as the ''dibao'') a programme introduced nationwide in 1999 whose number of participants had reached nearly twenty million by 2012. The nature of the selection process entails that the programme's providers be proactive and willing in seeking out impoverished prospective participants, as opposed to more comprehensive welfare schemes such as the Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance Scheme (URBMI), which is universally implemented. As such, the selection process for participants in the ''dibao'' programme has generated a perception among observers of the scheme that this programme have been used to mitigate dissent and neutralize any threat to the government that could lead to unrest- including negative performance evaluations of local officials.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

The Chinese government has committed a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}