The European Parliament has recently passed a resolution on EU-China relations during its plenary session in Strasbourg, highlighting human rights, labour rights and environmental issues.
According to the resolution adopted on 7 September, the European Parliament noted that social security, occupational health and safety, the right to form trade unions, industrial relations and social dialogue "represent major challenges for China's future".
It called on the Chinese government to ratify key International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions, in particular Convention 87 concerning the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise and Convention 98 on Collective Bargaining.
It also urged China to comply with ILO's framework provisions regarding effective measures "to combat all forms of modern slavery, child labour and exploitation, particularly of female workers, so as to ensure respect for the fundamental rights of workers and discourage social dumping."
China Labour Bulletin agrees with the European Parliament's view stated in the resolution that China's denial of the right to form independent trade unions was "counter-productive in the light of the increasing protests and demonstrations led by workers throughout the country against forced lay-offs, unpaid wages and other benefits, official corruption and mismanagement." The European Parliament calls on China to recognise and guarantee the basic right to freedom of expression and association and the right to strike.
The European Parliament also highlighted the increasing problem of child labour in China and the adverse working conditions faced by child workers in the country despite the fact that child labour was prohibited under Chinese labour law. It urged the Chinese authorities not only to improve the enforcement of the law but also tackle the root causes of the problem of child labour, such as growing economic disparities, rapidly changing social structure and the failure of the education system to provide adequate and affordable education for all children.
In relation to the rights of rural migrant workers who go from their villages and poorer inland provinces to find jobs in thriving cities in southern China, the European Parliament expressed its concern about the "appalling socio-economic discrimination against China's 150 million migrant labourers from the countryside." It said it took note of the measures taken by the Chinese government to solve the problem, in particular on the results of the implementation of the Chinese government's new policies on rural migrant workers introduced in late March this year.
Source: Human Rights Without Frontiers Int. (8 September 2006)
14 September 2006