The National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC),
China's watchdog of population issues, has started to investigate
media reported illegal family planning practices in east China's Shandong
Province, a population official said?in
Beijing?Friday.
Yu Xuejun, NPFPC's spokesman, said complaints about family
planning work in Linyi City of Shandong Province were on the rise
earlier this year, on which NPFPC and local population and family
planning commissions have since then initiated investigations.
According to some media reports, population-control abuses such
as forced abortion in rural villages and detaining close relatives
of those who decline to have sterilization operations were found to
occur in Linyi City.
As stipulated by the Law on Population and Family Planning,
entering into effect in September 2002, staff members of government
agencies who "infringe on a citizen's personal rights, property
rights or other legitimate rights and interests" when promoting
family planning should be investigated for criminal liability or
given an administrative sanction.
Yu promised a "thorough probe" to ensure that all parties
concerned are treated in a fair and objective manner.
"The investigation remains unfinished, but once it is finished,
any infringements?of the law that are proven to be factual
will be punished."
Yu urged those personnel from family planning authorities to
take the lead in enforcing the law and other relevant laws and
regulations.
He said China has worked hard to implement the human-centered
principle in population and family planning programs since the
convocation of 1994 International Conference on Population and
Development (ICPD) in Cairo.
?
(Xinhua News Agency September 10, 2005)