First UN rights probe in China blasts widespread violations
| May 14, 2005 | ||
| By AFP | ||
China struggled through its first ever examination by a UN human rights committee after a panel reviewed evidence of forced labour, forced abortions, exploitation of children, evictions, discrimination against internal migrants, low wages and other violations. The UN Committee on Economic and Social Rights, which examines compliance with a treaty China ratified in 2001, urged Beijing to take action to tackle more than 27 major points of concern in its concluding report released here. After cross-examining a Chinese government delegation last week, the panel of legal experts welcomed new legislation on labour security, minimum wages, new social security schemes, a rural poverty relief plan and measures to tackle HIV/AIDS. But its 30-point list of recommendations urged the Chinese government to abolish the use of forced labour as a punishment, to “effectively” enforce the prohibition of child labour and to tackle discrimination against asylum seekers, Chinese migrants, women and the handicapped. The panel also said it was “deeply concerned about the high rate of abortion of girl foetuses” and reports of “forced abortions and forced sterilisations imposed on women… by local officials”. The report noted “the persistence of gender inequalities… particularly with regard to employment and participation in decision-making” and the disproportionate impact of redundancies on women Child labour in hazardous occupations such as mining was also targeted. “The committee is also of the view that the ‘Diligent work and economical study’ programme for schoolchildren constitutes explotative child labour,” the panel said. It also noted “generally poor” working conditions including “excessive working hours” and said it was “alarmed by the high incidence of serious occupational accidents”, particulalrly in China’s mining industry. “The committee notes with deep concern the de facto discrimination against internal migrants in the fields of employment, social security, health service, housing and education,” the report said. Rural areas and parts of the west of country suffered from wages that were insufficient to ensure a decent standard of living, a problem aggravated by wage arrears notably in the construction industry, according to the report. Many welfare reforms had not been extended to the countryside, where many communities faced “irregularities” in their access to compulsory primary school education, it found. China was asked to report back to the committee by June 30, 2010. The committee declined to speak to the press about its conclusions, a UN spokeswoman said. The 17-member panel, which regularly examines the 151 countries that have ratified the convention on economic and social rights, includes a Chinese expert. |
