China agrees to cooperate with ILO on promoting labor rights

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) - China and the International Labor Organization (ILO)  have signed a memorandum of understanding under which Beijing promised to promote workers' rights, Juan Somavia, the ILO's director-general, said.

	    He told a news conference the agreement will launch a program of cooperation between China's ministry of labor and social security and the ILO.

	    "Its aim is to strengthen national policies in China for employment, social dialogue and social protection in line with internationally recognized principles and rights at work," Somavia said.

	    But labor rights advocates said the ILO's work in China have failed to achieve concrete results because China has refused to ratify United Nations and ILO conventions allowing workers to join independent unions and bargain collectively.

	    Hong Kong-based China labor watchdog Han Dongfang said: "Workers have to have the right to organize and bargain collectively. Without that, no matter how much public training, you can't resolve the basic problems."

	    At the same press conference, China's labour minister Zhang Zuoji said China's laws adequately protect workers' rights.

	    He said, "not ratifying this international convention (on forced labor) doesn't mean we don't oppose forced labor or that we're not observing regulations on forced labor," Zhang said, adding that the labor camps had proved very effective.

	    Somavia said he had also submitted a list of Chinese citizens detained for joining labor organizations to the Chinese government and expressed his concerns to the government about the cases.

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