COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Sub-Commission on Prevention of

Discrimination and Protection

of Minorities

Forty-ninth session

Agenda item 4 (b)

THE REALISATION OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS:

THE REALISATION OF THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT

Written statement submitted by the Transnational Radical Party, a non-governmental

organization in consultative status (category I)

"Freedom of expression and association are essential to sustained progress", as stated in

the Convention No. 87 of the International Labour Organization, is the perspective

chosen by the Transnational Radical Party (TRP) and its partner organization Human

Rights in China (HRIC) to address the issue of the right to development. Bearing in

mind that, as enshrined in the 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development, the

"enjoyment of certain human rights and fundamental freedoms cannot justify the denial

of other human rights and fundamental freedoms", TRP and HRIC would like to bring

to the attention of the Sub-Commission the deteriorating situation of workers in Chinese

state-owned enterprises and the lack of independent trade unions to protect the basic

rights of subsistence of these workers.

On the positive side, China's rapid economic growth gave rise to improved living

conditions. However, in addition to the income and regional disparities which TRP and

HRIC believe are not conducive to the realization of the right to development, there has

been a serious deterioration in the plight of the workforce in the public sector. For

instance, according to recent reports that have reached TRP and HRIC, several scores

of laid-off workers demonstrated in Mianyang city, Sichuan province, from mid-June to

early July. Demonstrators appealed to the government to reclaim their welfare benefits

after their state-run textile factories declared bankruptcy and officials embezzled the

unemployment relief money to which they are legally entitled. The authorities responded

by sending the People's Armed Police, who suppressed the protests with force and

apprehended a number of demonstrators, and by imposing a curfew.Public Security

officials ordered hospital personnel not to treat the wounded demonstrators. In an

editorial, the official Mianyang Daily accused hostile foreign and domestic forces of stirring

up the trouble. Sichuan dissident Li Bifeng issued an open letter to international labour

organizations, urging them to call on the Chinese government to safeguard people's right

to subsistence, release all detained workers and punish corrupt officials. Li Bifeng is now

wanted by the police and had to go in hiding.

This is by no means an isolated example. Similar events are reported to have occurred

throughout the country. TRP and HRIC are concerned that the current economic

reforms launched by the government to rid China of its no-longer profitable, obsolete

and debt-ridden state enterprises do not take into account the interests and the basic

needs of the workers. Laid-off workers and those who are faced with wage arrears find

it increasingly difficult to maintain their daily subsistence. Once they are made

redundant, they also lose the social benefits traditionally granted to them by their

enterprises, including housing allowances and medical care. Rampant corruption and

embezzlement of public funds at all levels of the government further jeopardize the living

conditions of workers of the public sector. TRP and HRIC are concerned that in this

period of economic transition, the official All China Federation of Trade Unions

(ACFTU), which remains a tool in the hands of the CCP, has so far been unable to

address these new issues by means of negotiation. TRP and HRIC are also concerned

that the use of force by the government is not likely to promote social stability. However,

in spite of this situation, workers are not allowed to express their problems peacefully,

and independent organizations to protect their interests are illegal. In the light of this

event, TRP and HRIC firmly believe that the right to development cannot be fulfilled

when freedom of expression and association are so blatantly violated.

All efforts at establishing independent trade unions, outside of the official All-China

Federation of Trade Unions have been met with government suppression. For example,

Shenzhen-based labour activists Li Wenming, 28, and Guo Baosheng, 25, were sentenced

in May 1997 to three and a half years' imprisonment for the crime of "conspiracy to

subvert the government". Starting in 1993, Li Wenming carried out labour rightseducation among migrant workers through public meetings. Both men, who were

apprehended in May and June 1994, had attempted to register an organization for

migrant workers called the "Federation of Hired Hands" and published a newsletter

entitled Workers' Forum. Other charges involved their circulating dissident writings,

including essays by Nobel Peace prize nominee Wei Jingsheng.

Shortly after it had applied for official registration, the League for the Protection of the

Rights of the Working People (LPRWP) was banned and its key members arrested in

spring 1994. This organization addressed the plight of the workers in the course of the

economic reforms and called for the establishment of legal safeguards for the workers'

rights, and for the right to set up independent organizations. One of the founding

members, Zhou Guoqiang, was ordered to serve a three-year term of Reeducation

Through Labour without any judicial proceedings. In 1995 an additional sentence was

added to his term for an alleged escape attempt. In June 1997, he had his sentence

extended by 288 days for "refusing to reform himself". He was initially accused of

"collaborating with hostile organizations and elements both inside and outside the

country to carry out anti-government activities". When another prominent member of

the League, Liu Nianchun, protested against the illegal extension of his Reeducation

Through Labour sentence for the same motive in June 1997, camp authorities beat him

up and locked him in a dark, narrow cell.

During the nation-wide democratic movement of May-June 1989, Workers' Autonomous

Associations were established in a number of cities. Their aim was to protect the rights

of the workers independently from the control of the Chinese Communist Party. Their

leaders received some of the harshest sentences in the wake of the June Fourth massacre.

They include Tang Yuanjuan, 20 years' imprisonment, Leng Wangbao 13 years, Lin Wei,

8 years, and Wang Miaogen, committed to a mental asylum for an indefinite term.

To conclude, TRP and HRIC call on the government of China to release immediately

and unconditionally all those who are held in prison, labour camp and mental institutions

for peacefully advocating labour rights, including the right to set up independent

organizations. TRP and HRIC urge the Chinese government torespect the judgement

of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the "arbitrary" nature of

Reeducation Through Labour. TRP and HRIC call on the Chinese government to

immediately respect the ILO Freedom of Association and Protection of the Rights to

Organize Convention (No. 87) and the ILO Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining

Convention (No. 98). Finally, as a necessary guideline to fully ensure the realization of

the right to development, TRP and HRIC respectfully remind the government of China

of its commitment announced during the 53rd session of the Commission of Human

Rights to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

before the end of 1997 and resolutely encourage this government to ratify the

International Covenant on Political and Social Rights.