Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/china.txv

Text File | 1996-01-03 | 30KB | 553 lines

TITLE:  CHINA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995



Section 4  Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
           Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
           of Human Rights

There are no independent Chinese organizations that publicly
monitor or comment on human rights conditions in China.  The
Government has made it clear it will not tolerate the existence
of such groups.  In April Shanghai officials denied a request
for permission to register by the Chinese Human Rights
Association, a group founded by Yang Zhou and other
dissidents.  The decision was justified on the grounds that the
group was not affiliated with an official organization.  The
authorities subsequently detained most of the members of the
group, but it is not clear whether their detentions resulted
solely from their involvement in the group.  Wang Dan, a 1989
student activist, was repeatedly detained for brief periods in
1994 after announcing his intention to investigate China's
human rights situation.  (See also Section 1.d.)

The Government has promoted limited academic study and
discussion of concepts of human rights since 1991.  Research
institutes in Shanghai and Beijing, including the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, have organized symposia on human
rights issues, established human rights research centers, and
visited other countries to study human rights practices in
those nations.  In 1993 the Government formed the China Society
for Human Rights Studies as a "nongovernmental organization";
its efforts have focused largely on improving China's image
abroad and responding to criticism of China's human rights
record.  In June the Society issued comments on the 1993 U.S.
State Department Human Rights Report which stridently defended
Chinese practices and glossed over fundamental human rights
abuses that the Government continues to perpetrate.

The Government reiterated in April that China agrees to abide
by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other
international human rights documents.  Despite this public
statement, Chinese officials accept only in theory the
universality of human rights.  They argue instead that a
nation's political, economic, and social system and its unique
historical, religious, and cultural background determine its
concept of human rights.  To advocate this nonuniversal view,
and to deflect attempts to discuss its human rights record,
China was active in 1994 in international forums, including the
annual U.N. Human Rights Commission meeting.

The Government remains reluctant to accept criticism of its
human rights practices by other nations or international
organizations and often criticized reports by international
human rights monitoring groups in 1994.  Nevertheless,
officials no longer dismiss all discussion of human rights as
interference in the country's internal affairs.  Chinese
authorities continued their limited dialog with foreign
governments on human rights issues in talks with a number of
visiting delegations from other countries, and also during
visits abroad by Chinese leaders.  At the request of the U.S.
Government in 1993, the Chinese Government provided limited
information about the status of several hundred persons
believed to be imprisoned for their political or religious
beliefs.  As noted in Section 2.c., in November the U.N.
Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance visited China for
10 days at the invitation of the Chinese Government.  His visit
included a trip to Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous
Region.

Section 5  Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
           Disability, Language, or Social Status

Laws exist that seek to protect women, children, the disabled,
and minorities.  In practice, social discrimination based on
ethnicity, gender, and disability has persisted and the concept
of a largely homogeneous Chinese people pervades the general
thinking of the Han majority.

     Women

The 1982 Constitution states that "women enjoy equal rights
with men in all spheres of life," including ownership of
property, inheritance rights, and access to education.  In 1992
the NPC enacted legislation on the protection of the rights and
interests of women which was designed to assist in curbing
sex-related discrimination.  Women continued, however, to
report discrimination, sexual harassment, unfair dismissal,
demotion, and wage cuts.  Women are sometimes the unintended
victims of economic reforms designed to streamline enterprises
and give workers greater job mobility.  A survey of the
All-China Federation of Trade Unions found that women made up
60 percent of those forced to leave their jobs due to
enterprise cutbacks or reorganizations in 1993.  Many employers
prefer to hire men to avoid the expense of maternity leave and
child-care, and some even lowered the retirement age for female
workers to 40 years of age.  Although Chinese law promises
equal pay for equal work, a 1990 survey found that women's
salaries averaged 77 percent of men's.  Most women employed in
industry work in lower-skilled and lower-paid jobs.

In June the Government issued a white paper on the situation of
Chinese women, spurred by plans to host the Fourth World
Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.  According to the white
paper, women hold relatively few positions of significant
influence within the party or government structure (there are
no women in the 22-member Politburo), although 21 percent of
national People's Congress delegates and 13 percent of members
of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference are
women.  While the gap in the education levels of men and women
is narrowing, men continue to constitute the majority of the
educated, particularly the highly educated.  For example, the
white paper reported that in 1992, women made up 33.7 percent
of college students, and 24.8 percent of postgraduates.  From
1982 to 1993, 4.9 percent of doctoral degrees were awarded to
women.

The Government continued in 1994 to condemn strongly and take
steps to prevent and punish the abduction and sale of women for
marriage or prostitution, violence against women, and female
infanticide.  It has severely punished and in some cases
executed a number of people accused of such crimes.  In a case
reported in the Chinese press in December, a gang of 48 people
in Anhui province received sentences ranging from 19 years to
death for abducting, raping, and selling 102 women.  The case
was the most serious which has become known to date.  The
abduction of women remains a serious problem, especially in
those areas where local officials have resisted efforts of
central authorities to stop it.  According to figures announced
by the Ministry of Public Security in January, there were
15,000 cases of abduction and trafficking in women and children
in 1993.

One report from Inner Mongolia blamed part of the problem of
abduction and selling of women on a serious imbalance in sex
ratios in one county, where there were 115 men for every 100
women.  The question of male/female birth ratios and
traditional preferences for boys is discussed in Section 1.f.
Although Chinese authorities have enacted laws and conducted
educational campaigns to eradicate the traditional preference
for sons, in many areas this preference remains strong,
especially in rural China.  A number of provinces have sought
to reduce the perceived higher value of boys in providing old-
age support for their parents by establishing or improving
pensions and retirement homes.

Nationwide statistics on the extent of physical violence
against women are not available, but a survey of 2,100 families
by the Beijing Society for Research on Marriage and the Family
published in March, showed that one-fifth of all wives had been
abused by their spouses.  One government study indicated 2
percent of urban households and 5 percent of rural ones had
serious problems of domestic violence.

     Children

China does not condone violence against children, and physical
abuse can be grounds for criminal prosecution.  In 1992 China's
Law on the Protection of Juveniles was enacted.  It forbids
infanticide, as well as mistreatment or abandonment of
children.  The law also prohibits discrimination against
handicapped minors, emphasizes the importance of safety and
morality, and codifies a variety of judicial protections for
juvenile offenders.  The Chinese press continues to report
instances of child abuse, for example a December case in which
a mother beat her daughter to death despite several prior
warnings to stop abusing the child.  In one case publicized in
the Chinese press, a hospital successfully sued a father for
abandoning his infant twin daughters soon after their birth.
He was given a 1-year suspended sentence.  Female and
especially handicapped children represent a disproportionate
percentage of those abandoned.  Kidnaping and buying and
selling of children continued to be a problem in some rural
areas.  China's extensive health care delivery system has led
to a sharp decline in infant mortality rates and improved child
health.  According to Chinese media, China's infant mortality
rate declined to 31 per 1,000 live births in 1994.

     National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

The 55 designated ethnic minorities constitute just over 8
percent of China's total population.  Most minority groups
reside in areas they have traditionally inhabited, many of
which are in mountainous or remote parts of China.  China's
minorities benefit from a policy of preferential treatment in
marriage policy, family planning, university admission, and
employment.  While the standard of living for most minorities
has improved in recent years, incomes in these areas are often
well below the national average.  The Government has programs
to provide low interest loans, subsidies, and special
development funds for minority areas.  While these government
development policies have helped raise minority living
standards, they have also disrupted traditional living
patterns.

The central Government has tried to adopt policies responsive
to minority sensitivities, but in doing so has encountered the
dilemma of how to respect minority cultures without damaging
minority educational and economic opportunities.  In many areas
with a significant population of minorities, there are
two-track school systems using standard Chinese and minority
languages.  Students can choose which system to attend.  One
acknowledged side effect of this policy to protect and maintain
minority cultures has been reinforcement of a segregated
society.  Under this separate education system, those
graduating from minority schools are at a disadvantage when
competing for jobs in government and business, which require
good spoken Chinese.  These graduates must take Chinese
language instruction before attending universities and colleges.

The Communist Party has an avowed policy of boosting minority
representation in the Government and the party.  Many
minorities occupy local leadership positions, and a few have
positions at the national level.  However, in most areas,
ethnic minorities are effectively shut out of most positions of
real political and decisionmaking power.  Some minorities
resent Han officials holding key positions in minority
autonomous regions.  Ethnic minorities in Tibet, Xinjiang, and
elsewhere have at times demonstrated against Han Chinese
authority.  Central authorities have made it clear that they
will not tolerate opposition to Communist Party rule in
minority regions.

     People with Disabilities

In 1990 China adopted legislation protecting the rights of
China's 54.64 million disabled.  However, as with many other
aspects of Chinese society, reality for China's handicapped
lags far behind the legal provisions.  Misdiagnosis, inadequate
medical care, pariah status, and abandonment remain the norm
for China's disabled population.

Statistics on education reveal the inequity of resources
afforded the handicapped in China:  only 6 percent of disabled
school children receive primary education.   The illiteracy
rate among the disabled is 60 percent, and school attendance
averages only 20 percent for blind, deaf, or mentally retarded
children.

In May the China Welfare Fund for the Handicapped, headed by
Deng Pufang, son of retired senior leader Deng Xiaoping,
announced plans to raise the employment rate and the education
enrollment rate of the disabled to 80 percent by the year 2000,
increase vocational training, and promote research on
disabilities in China.  All state enterprises are required to
hire a certain number of disabled workers, but Chinese
authorities estimate that 40 percent of disabled people are
jobless.

In May China adopted standards for making roads and buildings
accessible for the handicapped.  The 1990 Law on the
Handicapped, however, calls for "gradual" implementation of the
standards.  A low level of compliance with the regulations to
date has resulted in limited access to most buildings for
China's physically handicapped.

The new Maternal and Child Health Care Law passed in October
postpones the marriage of persons with certain specified
contagious diseases or certain acute mental illnesses such as
schizophrenia.  If doctors find that a couple is at risk of
transmitting disabling congenital defects to their children,
the couple may marry only if they agree to use birth control or
undergo sterilization.  The law mandates premarital and
prenatal examination for genetic or contagious diseases, and it
specifies that medically advised abortion or sterilization
require the signed consent of the patients or their guardians.

Section 6  Worker Rights

     a.  The Right of Association

China's 1982 Constitution provides for "freedom of
association," but this right is heavily diluted by references
to the interest of the State and the leadership of the Chinese
Communist Party.  The country's sole officially recognized
workers' organization, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions
(ACFTU) is controlled by the Communist Party.  Independent
trade unions are illegal.  Though ACFTU officials recognize
that workers' interests may not always coincide with those of
the Communist Party, the trade union law passed by the NPC in
March 1992 stated that the ACFTU is a party organ, and its
primary purpose is to mobilize workers for national
development.  The 1993 revised Trade Union Law required that
the establishment of unions at any level be submitted to a
higher level trade union organization for approval.  The ACFTU,
the highest level organization, has not approved the
establishment of independent unions.  Attempts to form or
register independent unions have been severely repressed (see
Section 1.e. and 2.b.).  There are no provisions allowing for
individual workers or unofficial worker organizations to
affiliate with international bodies.  The vast majority of
workers have no contact with any union other than the ACFTU.

Credible reports indicate that the Government has attempted to
stamp out clandestine union activity.  In March a petition
calling, among other things, for workers to have "freedom from
exploitation," the right to strike, and the right to organize
nonofficial trade unions was circulated in Beijing.  Chinese
authorities later detained Zhou Guoqiang, (an associate of Han
Dongfang, see Section 2.d.) Yuan Hongbing, and Wang Jiaqi after
they presented the petition;  Zhou was sentenced in September
to 3 years' reeducation through labor, although the charges
against him were reportedly not linked to the petition.
Accurate figures are not available on the number of Worker
Autonomous Federation detainees still being held after the 1989
Tiananmen Square demonstrations.

The ACFTU's primary attention remains focused on its
traditional constituency, state sector workers.  The Trade
Union Law mandates that workers may decide whether to join the
union in their enterprise.  By official estimate, 10 percent of
workers in collectively and state-owned enterprises have chosen
for their own reasons not to join.  There have been no reports
of repercussions for workers who have not joined ACFTU unions.
Diversification of enterprise types over the last decade of
reform has vastly increased the number of workers outside the
traditional sphere of the ACFTU.  Over half of China's
nonagricultural work force is now largely unorganized and
outside the state industrial structure, in collectives,
township and village enterprises, private and individual
enterprises, and foreign-invested enterprises.  In township and
village enterprises, one of the fastest growing sectors of the
economy, only 0.1 percent of workers are organized in ACFTU
affiliates.

Workers in companies with foreign investors are guaranteed the
right to form unions, which must affiliate with the ACFTU.
According to ACFTU statistics, 60 percent of workers in
foreign-invested companies had joined unions by December 1994.
Unofficial Embassy surveys suggest a more accurate estimate of
unionization of employees in foreign-invested enterprises might
be closer to 40 percent.  According to press reports, 14
coastal provinces issued regulations requiring all
foreign-invested enterprises to establish unions by the end of
1994.  Enforcement of these regulations appears to have been
haphazard.  Guangdong province, recipient of much of China's
foreign investment, reported 40-percent unionization of
foreign-invested enterprises in December 1994.

The right to strike, which had been included in China's 1975
and 1978 constitutions, was not retained in the 1982
Constitution.  In general, the Union Law assigns unions the
role of mediators or go-betweens with management in cases of
work stoppages or slowdowns.  Nonetheless, work stoppages
occurred in several locations in China during 1994.  One of the
largest well-documented cases occurred when 1,300 workers in a
foreign-invested enterprise in Shekou in Guangdong province
struck over working conditions.  Beginning in 1993, the
Ministry of Labor no longer officially denied the existence of
strikes in China.  In 1994 Ministry of Labor officials provided
detailed statistics on the number and type of labor disputes.
The statistics, based on National Mediation Center and Labor
Bureau records, reveal a 50-percent increase in disputes in
1993.  Ministry of Labor arbitration bureaus across China
recorded 12,358 disputes involving 34,794 workers.  Of these,
all but 1,173 were initiated by workers.  According to the
Ministry of Labor, roughly two-thirds of the disputes were
settled through mediation or arbitration, 334 were taken to
court, and 244 resulted in strikes.

     b.  The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

The long-awaited National Labor Law, passed by the NPC's
Standing Committee on July 5, permits workers in all types of
enterprises in China to bargain collectively.  The law, which
will take effect January 1, 1995, supersedes a 1988 law that
allowed collective bargaining only by workers in private
enterprises.  Some high-profile experiments in collective
bargaining have been carried out at state enterprises, notably
the Shanghai Number Five Iron and Steel Plant.  In the past,
the ACFTU has limited its role to consulting with management
over wages and regulations affecting working conditions and
serving as a conduit for communicating workers' complaints to
management or municipal labor bureaus.  The ACFTU has shown
concern about protecting workers' living standards in areas
such as unemployment insurance and argued in 1993 that the
traditional definition of workers should be expanded to include
peasants laboring in China's township and village enterprises.

Before wage reform, workers' wages were set according to a
uniform national scale, based on seniority and skills.  Since
wage reform, a total wage bill for each collective and
state-owned enterprise is set by the Ministry of Labor
according to four criteria:  1) as a percentage of profits, 2)
as a contract amount with the local labor bureau, 3) for money
losing enterprises, according to a state-set amount, or 4) as
an enterprise-set amount subject to Labor Ministry review.
Individual enterprises determine how to divide the total among
workers, a decision usually made by the enterprise manager in
consultation with the enterprise party chief and the ACFTU
representative.  Worker congresses (see below) have mandated
authority to review plans for wage reform, though these bodies
serve primarily as rubberstamp organizations.  Wages are
generally equal for the same type of work within enterprises.
Incentives are provided for increased productivity.  Under the
new Labor Law, wages may be set according to conditions set out
in collective contracts negotiated between ACFTU representatives
and management.  In practice, only the small number of workers
with high technical skills can negotiate effectively on salary
and fringe benefit issues.

The old permanent employment system is increasingly giving way
to a more flexible contract-based system.  Most workers in
state-owned enterprises hired in the last 3 years have signed
individual contracts--a practice mandated by the new Labor
Law--and a number of large enterprises have converted all
workers to such contracts.  Approximately 40 percent of state
sector workers now work under contract, but the proportion of
contract workers varies widely according to regional economic
development.  In Shanghai, 1.5 million workers, or 97.5 percent
of all workers in state sector firms, have signed labor
contracts.  Contract arrangements are more common in township
and village enterprises and many types of joint ventures.  In
collective enterprises below the provincial level, contract
workers are a distinct minority.  China's new Labor Law
provides for workers and employers at all types of enterprises
to sign both collective and individual contracts.  The former
will be worked out between ACFTU or worker representatives and
management and will specify such matters as working conditions,
wage distribution, and hours of work.  Individual contracts
will then be drawn up in line with the terms of the collective
contract.

Worker congresses, held periodically in most Chinese
enterprises, theoretically have the authority to remove
incompetent managers and approve major decisions affecting the
enterprise, notably wage and bonus distribution systems.
However, worker congresses generally take place only once a
year and serve essentially to approve agreements worked out
among factory managers, party secretaries, and ACFTU
representatives.  In smaller enterprises it is not unusual to
find these three posts held by the same person.

A dispute settlement procedure has been in effect since 1987.
The procedure provides for mediation, two levels of arbitration
committees, and a final appeal to the courts.  Of the 12,358
cases brought for arbitration in 1993, 64 percent were resolved
at the first or second level.  Less than 3 percent reached the
courts.  Approximately 40 percent of the cases closed in 1993
were resolved in favor of the worker(s), 20 percent in favor of
management; the rest resulted in a compromise.  According to
Labor Ministry officials, most arbitration cases are filed by
contract workers or their employers, indicating, they assert,
that the new contract system provides a clearer set of ground
rules which both sides can attempt to enforce.

The 1982 Trade Union Law prohibits antiunion discrimination and
specifies that union representatives may not be transferred or
terminated by enterprise management during their term of
office.  Unionized foreign businesses generally report
pragmatic relations with ACFTU representatives.  At its
National Congress in October 1993, the ACFTU set the goal of
establishing unions in 50 percent of all foreign-funded
enterprises by the end of 1994.

Laws governing working conditions in China's special economic
zones (SEZ's) are not significantly different from those in the
rest of the country.  However, wages in the SEZ's, and in
southeastern China generally, are significantly higher than in
other parts of the country.

     c.  Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

In addition to prisons and reform through labor facilities,
which contain inmates sentenced through judicial procedures
(see Section 1.c.), China also maintains a network of
"reeducation through labor" camps, where inmates are sentenced
through nonjudicial procedures (see Section l.e.).  Inmates of
reeducation through labor facilities are generally required to
work.  Reports from international human rights organizations
and the foreign press indicate that at least some persons in
pretrial detention are also required to work.  Justice
officials have stated that in reeducation through labor
facilities there is a much heavier emphasis on education than
on labor.  Most reports conclude that work conditions in the
penal system's light manufacturing factories are similar to
those in ordinary factories, but conditions on farms and in
mines can be harsh.  As is the case in most Chinese workplaces,
safety is not a high priority.  There are no available figures
for casualties in prison industry.

Some penal facilities contract with regular industries for
prisoners to perform light manufacturing and assembly work.  In
1991 the Government published a reiteration of its regulations
barring the export of prison-made goods.  On August 7, 1992,
the U.S. and Chinese Governments signed a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) prohibiting trade in prison labor
products.  A statement of cooperation detailing specific
working procedures for implementation of the MOU was agreed to
and signed on March 14, 1994.

     d.  Minimum Age for Employment of Children

China's National Labor Law, effective January 1, 1995, forbids
employers to hire workers under 16 years of age and specifies
administrative review, fines, and revocation of business
licenses of those businesses that hire minors.  In the interim,
regulations promulgated in 1987 prohibiting the employment of
school-age minors who have not completed the compulsory 9 years
of education continued in force.  Enterprise inspection and
effective enforcement of labor regulations is expanding.
Officials insist that increased diligence in monitoring
temporary workers has successfully precluded widespread
employment of minors.  Labor officials also report that
employers were disciplined in 1994 for infringement of child
labor regulations, but such reports cannot be verified.  In
poorer isolated areas, child labor in agriculture is
widespread.  Most independent observers agree with Chinese
officials that, given its vast surplus of adult labor, urban
child labor is a relatively minor problem in formal sectors of
the economy.  Rising dropout rates at secondary schools in some
southern provinces and anecdotal reports suggest that children
may increasingly be entering unregulated sectors of China's
economy.  No specific Chinese industry is identifiable as a
significant violator of child labor regulations.

     e.  Acceptable Conditions of Work

The new Labor Law codifies many of the general principles of
China's labor reform, setting out provisions on employment,
labor contracts, working hours, wages, skill development and
training, social insurance, dispute resolution, legal
responsibility, supervision, and inspection.  In anticipation
of the Law's minimum wage requirements, many local governments
already enforce regulations on minimum wages.  Generally the
wage levels have been set higher than the local poverty relief
ceiling but lower than the current wage level of the average
worker.  Minimum wage figures do not include free or heavily
subsidized benefits which employers commonly provide in kind,
such as housing, medical care, and education.  Unemployment
insurance schemes now cover a majority of urban workers
(primarily state sector workers).  Benefits from these funds
are provided to laid off workers according to "local
conditions," but unemployment subsidies generally equal 120 to
150 percent of the local hardship relief standard.
Regularization of unemployment insurance coverage and
administration in 1994 has served to decrease the incidence of
nonpayment of severance allowances.  Workers are eligible to
receive unemployment relief funds for varying lengths of time,
up to 24 months, according to length of service.

In February the State Council reduced the national standard
workweek from 48 hours to 44 hours, excluding overtime, with a
mandatory 24-hour rest period.  A system of alternating weeks
of 6- and 5-day workweeks began in March, with a 6-month grace
period for implementation.  The same regulations specified that
cumulative monthly overtime could not exceed 48 hours.  The
Chinese press regularly reported cases of workers forced to
work regular 12-and 14-hour days of forced overtime at
foreign-invested enterprises, particularly in southeast China
and the SEZ's.