China One Child Policy Criticized For Causing Violation Of Human Rights And For Infanticide

The one- child policy adopted by PRC, the People’s Republic of China is a population control policy. The Chinese Government under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping introduced this policy in the year 1979 with the objective of improving social and environmental situations in China.


As per this policy, couples in china should have only one child. But however, parents of twins or triplets would be entitled to the same benefits that are enjoyed by the parents of a single child. But the application of this policy has varied from one region to the other. For example, in the rural areas of China, couples are allowed to have a second child in case the first child was a female or retarded. The applicable birth spacing is 3- 4 years. Heavy monetary fines would be imposed on families who would violate the policy and penalties also include the cancellation of bonuses at the workplaces.

But children who take birth abroad and those who have not obtained Chinese Citizenship would not be included in the policy. But this policy has been found to be strictly restricted to the urban areas populated by ethnic Han Chinese. Implementation of this policy has led to the reduction in China’s population growth. China’s population of 1.3 billion has experienced a reduction by a remarkable figure of 300 billion in the first twenty years of implementation of this policy.

There are certain positive aspects of China’s one child policy. Some argue that this policy would ensure better health care services for the females who would now bear lesser risks arising on account of pregnancy and birth. This policy has also paved the way for greater savings to make profitable investments or to save for the old ages. This one- child policy was basically designed taking into consideration the economic well- being of the country as a whole- preservation of the natural resources by lessening demand for them and reducing unemployment by reducing the demand for labor.

With this policy in force, women can now spend more time in building up their careers and in contributing to the national GDP. A reduced population would also have its benefits felt in the environment in the area of reduced emission of carbon dioxide from human respirations and also in cases of reduced water sewage.

The recent scenario in China portrays millions of sibling less people who are stepping in their child bearing years. This has paved the way for a special provision by which couples can legally have two children. China has been taking recourse to birth control methods like IUDs, sterilization and abortions since the last few years but they have also arranged for educational campaigns to bring into practice alternative birth control methods.

Statistical data on China’s total fertility rate revealed a figure of 1.7 which is much lower than the U.S. figure of 2.1 births per woman. It is heard that in the year 2007, pregnant women who are prohibited to give birth had been forced by officials to undergo abortion in China’s southwestern Guangxi Autonomous Region. This created turmoil in the form of riots which led to the death of many individuals including birth control officials.

This policy has faced severe criticisms from the human rights advocacy groups for being a restraint to the human rights of reproduction. The other ill- consequence that takes birth out of this policy is the use of sex- selective abortion. This policy has had negative effects on the female infants- disrespect, abortion, neglect, abandonment and even infanticide. China is recently on its eleventh Five Year Plan period that stretches from 2006 to 2010 and Zhang Weiqing, the Minister of the State Commission of Population and Family Planning had made a declaration on the enforcement of the one- child policy for an indefinite period. one child