朱宁宁

By Zhu Ningning

6月10日下午，十三届全国人大常委会第二十九次会议表决通过军人地位和权益保障法，将于今年8月1日起施行。该法共7章71条，规范军人荣誉维护制度，明确军人待遇保障基本制度，完善军人抚恤优待制度，明确法律责任追究机制。

BEIJING, June 15 -- On the afternoon of June 10, China passed a law on protecting the status, rights and interests of military personnel. The legislation was adopted at the 29th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC), and will be implemented since August 1 this year as scheduled. The new legislation includes 71 articles in 7 chapters, serving to regulate the protection rules to the honor and reputation of service members, define the basic system for guaranteeing their benefits, improve the pension and preferential treatment system, and clarify the legal accountability mechanism.

增设“军人地位”专章

A special chapter dedicated to “military personnel status” is added.

回顾此次军人地位和权益保障法的整个立法过程会发现，草案在全国人大常委会审议阶段作了较大幅度的修改。草案最初提请审议时只有48条，最终通过时增加到了71条。尤为值得一提的是，审议过程中，草案在一审稿的基础上增设了“军人地位”专章。“这一修改的主要考虑是多方面的。”全国人大常委会法工委社会法室主任郭林茂介绍说。

In reviewing the entire legislative process, the draft of the legislation was significantly revised during the deliberation stage by the NPC Standing Committee. The first version draft submitted for deliberation only contained 48 articles, which has been added to 71 in the final draft. What is particularly worth mentioning is that a special chapter dedicated to the “status of military personnel” has been added on the basis of the first review during the whole review process. “The main considerations for this revision are multifaceted”, said Guo Linmao, director of the Social Law Office of the Legal Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

“在常委会审议和征求意见过程中，大家普遍提出，作为我国第一部规范军人地位和权益保障的法律，应当突出法律的定位，对军人特殊地位和职责使命作出专门规定。”郭林茂指出。

“In the process of deliberation and solicitation of comments by the NPC Standing Committee, it’s been universally proposed that as China’s first law on military personnel’s status, rights and interests, it should put emphasize on the position of legislation and make special regulations on the unique status, and the duties and missions of the military personnel,” Guo added.

“设置这样结构和内容的目的，就是要让全社会充分认同军人是全社会尊崇的职业，充分理解军人是因为担负特殊使命、履行特殊义务、受到特殊约束、做出特殊牺牲奉献，才能享有与之相匹配的崇高地位和特定权益。”郭林茂说。

“The purpose of formulation in such structure and content is to make the whole society fully recognize that military is a profession which deserves wide respect across the entire society, and meanwhile fully understand that the lofty status and special rights and interests enjoyed by the service members are matching with their special missions to take, special obligations to fulfill, subjection to special restrictions, and special sacrifices to make,” said Guo.

关注基层官兵诉求

Paying close attention to the demands of service members at the grassroots level is emphasized.

今年全国人大会议期间，一位全国人大代表、海军航空兵女飞行员希望制定军人地位和权益保障法时考虑女军人生理等方面的特点作出特别的规定。全国人大常委会法工委接到意见反馈后，立即查找相关资料，认真研究有关法规政策，增加了女军人权益保护的相关条款。

During this year’s annual session of China’s national legislature, a female naval aviator, also deputy to this NPC, proposed to make special regulations in protecting service women in light of their characteristics in physiology and other aspects when enacting a law on protecting status, rights and interests of military personnel. Upon receiving the proposal as feedback, the Legal Work Committee of the NPC Standing Committee immediately searched for relevant information, while carefully studying relevant laws and policies. As a result, relevant provisions on the protection of the rights and interests of service women were added.

军人地位和权益保障法直接关系到军人军属的切身利益，考虑广大官兵战备训练任务繁重、可能无暇参与网上表达意见等特点，在立法过程中，立法机关通过各种方式与广大官兵面对面交流，听取他们的意见诉求，在修改完善草案时认真研究，积极回应。

The law on protecting the status, rights and interests of military personnel is directly related to the vital interests of military personnel and their dependents. Considering the fact that service members have to undertake heavy tasks in training for combat readiness and may not have spare time to give opinions online, during the legislative process, the legislature has taken various measures and resorted to multiple channels to communicate with service members face-to-face and listen to their real opinions and demands, while revising and improving the draft.

今年3月12日，全国人大常委会法工委在军委政工部的协助下，通过视频会议邀请西藏、新疆、黑龙江艰苦边远地区的一线部队官兵及家属代表参加座谈。

On March 12 this year, the Legal Work Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, with the assistance of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission (CMC), invited representatives of frontline troops and their families from the remote and difficult-to-reach areas in Tibet, Xinjiang, and Heilongjiang to attend the video conference.

结合实际困难，官兵们提出了一些意见建议。有一位义务兵说，因为身处艰苦边远地区，常年无法和亲人在一起，家人到公园、博物馆等地参观时，因为没有军人陪同，不能证明军属身份，享受不到相关的优先、优惠服务。针对这一意见，法工委专门与退役军人事务部、军委政工部和有关部门进行了认真研究，在法律中规定：“军人家属凭有关部门制发的证件享受法律法规规定的优待保障。”

 The service members put forward some opinions and suggestions given their actual difficulties. According to a soldier, the troops stationed in the most remote and difficult-to-reach areas can seldom get together with their families throughout the year, so it’s been hard for their families to prove their identity as military dependents without the military personnel present, and thereby cannot be preferentially treated or enjoy relevant priority while visiting parks, museums and other places. In response to this, the Legal Work Commission conducted a careful study together with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, the CMC Political Work Department and other relevant departments, and put forward the regulation that the families of military personnel can enjoy the preferential treatment as stipulated by laws and regulations with certificates issued by relevant departments.