Publication and Implementation of the Regulations to Guarantee Human Rights and Property Ownership in Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region

In February 1942, the government of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region formulated and promulgated a regulatory document on protecting the democratic rights as well as other rights of the people.

In order to defend the victorious achievements of the Agrarian Revolution and to mobilize the workers and peasants for production and to resist the Japanese as well as to mobilize the landlords and capitalists to resist the Japanese. In November 1941, the Second Senate of the Border Region adopted the “Program of the Government of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region”, which was published and implemented by the Border Region Government in January 1942. “The Program of the Government” stipulated that “all social classes and anti-Japanese parties within the border regions should be united and all human, material, financial and intellectual resources should be brought to bear to defend the border regions, the northwest, China and expel Japanese imperialism.” “The Program of the Government” ran with the spirit of anti-Japanese resistance and specifies the guidelines and policies of anti-Japanese resistance. In February 1942, in order to implement the provisions of “The Program of the Government of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region” on the protection of human rights, the border region government enacted the “Regulations on the Protection of Human Rights” and “Property Rights in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region”. It made the provisions of “The Program of the Government of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region” on the protection of human rights practical and henceforth inaugurated a new era of the protection of human rights by law in the revolutionary base areas. These provisions provide a reliable legal guarantee for the people's right to live. The Regulations consist of 22 articles.

The main provisions: all anti-Japanese people, regardless of nationality, class, party affiliation, sex, occupation, and religion, have freedom of speech, publication, assembly, association, residence, migration, and belief, and enjoy equal democratic rights; the private property and lawful gains of all anti-Japanese people in the border regions are protected by law. In areas where land has been distributed, the peasants are guaranteed the ownership of their share of land, and in areas where it has not been distributed, the landowners are guaranteed the ownership of their land and the claims of their debtors. The policy of rent reduction and interest payment is implemented. No one has the right to arrest and interrogate prisoners except judicial and public security organs carrying out their duties under the law; judicial organs must strictly follow the legal procedures in arrest and interrogation and are not allowed to extort confessions from prisoners by torture. The people have the right to appeal against the verdict of the judiciary in accordance with the law, etc.

The promulgation of the “Regulations on the Protection of Human Rights and Property Rights in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region” opened up a new era of the legal protection of human rights in the revolutionary base areas. This not only opened up a new area of the Anti-Japanese National United Front and strengthened the unity of the various revolutionary classes, but also had great significance in consolidating the cadres' concept of the legal system and human rights and the spirit of strict law enforcement, and in raising the civic consciousness of the masses and their self-consciousness in defending their rights.