Thank you, Mr. Chair, subcommittee members. I'll try to be brief, and I'll be speaking in English, with your permission.
I'd like to begin by thanking you for the opportunity to present our views on the bilateral human rights dialogue with China and on the situation of human rights in China more broadly.
Like a number of the other organizations you have invited to appear, Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, co-signed the letter to Prime Minister Harper. I want to focus on three areas quickly.
On the bilateral human rights dialogue process, colleagues have outlined the political context and process that led to the establishment of the dialogue and the pressure from groups like ours, which led to Professor Burton's excellent and thorough review. The Canadian Labour Congress shares the view that the dialogue in its present form has done little to improve the situation of human rights in China, with the possible exception of some of the practical reforms that have taken place in the death penalty process after some 20 years of empty promises.
To paraphrase David Cozac from PEN, Foreign Affairs staff have briefed and debriefed us to death, and I would add that, by and large, they have listened politely and then ignored us. To illustrate, if one reviews the topics for discussion of the successive dialogues, workers' rights or closely related issues appear in a majority of the sessions of the dialogue, yet the Canadian Labour Congress was never involved in any of those discussions. I'm not aware that this subcommittee was involved in many of the sessions either. We understand this came up last week, and I'll come back to that in my recommendations.
I also want to draw your attention to the other process, the Berne process, which is starting today. They've been meeting to compare notes and to discuss respective dialogues. Within the international trade union movement, we have now initiated a parallel process to that.
Let me turn to workers' rights in China. There is no doubt that labour unrest remains the Achilles heel of the Chinese move to a so-called market economy. China's own ministry of labour officially registers over 87,000 incidents annually, representing labour disputes, protests, wild cat activities, etc. While some of those happen in rural areas, a large majority of those are actually industrial context occurrences.
There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that fundamental workers' rights are not recognized or respected in China today, whether we are talking about freedom of association, the right to strike, collective bargaining rights, or the resolution of labour disputes. The latest report of trade union violations of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, which I think will be distributed, states:
According to the revised version of the law, “the ACFTU and all organisations under it represent the interests of the workers and safeguard their legitimate rights”. Trade unions must also “observe and safeguard the Constitution (…), take economic development as the central task, uphold the socialist road, the people's democratic dictatorship, leadership by the Communist Party of China, and Marxist-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping theory (…) and conduct their work independently in accordance with the Constitution of trade unions.”
Among their basic duties and functions, trade unions shall “coordinate labour relations through consultation”, “mobilise workers to strive to fulfil their tasks in production” and “educate them in the ideological, ethical, professional, scientific, cultural and other areas, as well as self-discipline and moral integrity”.
A draft new law on labour contracts includes a number of positive points, in particular with regard to social security and worker protection. However, it should be noted that while in general, Chinese labour law is pretty good, the problem remains with its implementation and there is as yet little sign of improvement.
Recent developments include the social harmony initiative being trumpeted these days. Many are saying this shows that the Chinese government cares. More likely, it is the government belatedly realizing it has to readjust the economy and the benefits of the reforms to include the dispossessed in order to mitigate a social explosion.
Even as the government stresses social harmony, it is cracking down on NGOs to ensure that they do not take the initiative in helping the poor. The last few weeks have seen several small labour groups close down, and most labour groups in the Pearl River Delta are getting daily PSB visits. The local authorities have stopped issuing licences for groups to be able to represent workers in court cases as civilian defenders.
Just as groups in Canada, including those appearing here, have somewhat different positions regarding strategies to deal with human rights in China, it will come as no surprise that a range of positions exists among union organizations around the world. They range from a somewhat uncritical engagement to a strict policy of no contact.
For the Canadian Labour Congress, after a hiatus of some ten years following the events in 1989, we attempted to cautiously re-establish some form of dialogue with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions. At the same time, Chinese delegations, including representatives from various sectors and jurisdictions within the ACFTU, frequently visit Canada to learn about our industrial relations system. A very useful tool, a guide to contacts with China and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, has been produced by the ACFTU and can easily be made available in both official languages, if people are interested.
I followed with great interest the discussion that took place last week regarding the relation between trade and rights. Let me just take one minute to focus on Canada's economic relations with China.
Like the U.S., we have recently seen the emergence of huge trade deficits with larger Asian economies like China. Combined with the higher Canadian dollar, increased competition from Asia has resulted in a painful restructuring of our manufacturing industries and the loss of about one in ten manufacturing jobs in the past four years. We export to China less than one quarter of the value of the $30 billion worth of goods we import from China. Only a small proportion of our exports consists of manufactured goods as opposed to resources and raw materials.
As you know, Canadian companies in the extractive sector invest heavily in countries like China. Regrettably, they have a history of poor respect for human rights and environmental standards. The current round tables on corporate and social responsibility are focusing on the need for the Canadian government to more effectively regulate the overseas operations of these companies through mandatory corporate accountability standards.
In short, we don't believe looking at trade and rights as two contradictory political objectives is a very satisfactory approach. We believe regulated trade is essential to economic development and to the well-being of working people in China and in Canada. But we also believe economic development can only take place when workers are afforded their fundamental rights.
An article in the Financial Times of November 21 talked about the distribution of wealth in China. It said the following:
China’s poor grew poorer at a time when the country was growing substantially wealthier. The real income of the poorest 10 per cent of China's 1.3 billion people fell by 2.4 per cent in the two years to 2003...a period when the economy was growing by nearly 10 per cent a year. Over the same period, the income of China’s richest 10 per cent rose by more than 16 per cent.
So much for the theory that a rising tide lifts all boats.
Finally, I have a couple of recommendations. The international human rights subcommittee should demand that any future dialogue be brought within its purview. The international human rights subcommittee should work with Foreign Affairs, civil society, and business to define terms of reference based on the principles of transparency and accountability for any future dialogue. These should include a broader discussion of parliamentarians with elected representatives of other countries, with dialogues such as those of the Berne group. As well, there should be more support for exchanges between the various stakeholders in Canada and in China.
Thank you.