Questions and answers about PlayFair 2008

   
China is the host of the 2008 Olympic Games -- are there specific things that the Chinese government should be doing to improve conditions for workers in that country?

 

Yes. China presents specific challenges for workers’ seeking to exercise their rights. Therefore in addition to the demands outlined above in question 5, Play Fair 2008 is calling upon the Chinese government to take the following steps:

  • Live up to the 'promise' [1] made on securing the Olympics to improve human rights
  • Maximise the benefits of the Olympics for the Chinese people
  • Ratify and fully implement ILO conventions 87 and 98
  • End labour rights abuses such as discrimination against or harassment, dismissal or detention of labour activists
  • Implement and monitor existing and impending labour laws and regulations, including those governing employment
  • contracts, wages and  basic protections for workers, ending the culture of impunity for companies breaking labour laws and government officials complicit in this
  • Commit to serious and sustained improvement in health and safety at work.
  • End the systematic discrimination of domestic migrant workers
  • Abolish the Re-education through Labour (RTL) system.
  • Release all detained labour activists

    [1] May 2001, the Mayor of Beijing, Liu Qi pledged that by hosting the games, "social progress and economic development" in China and Beijing would move forward, as would China’s human rights situation,’ Agence France Presse (AFP), 14 July 2001.

 
 
 
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