The FIDH had submitted to the UN Committee an alternative report on the right to health, taking as an example the HIV/AIDS epidemics. HRIC’s report to the Committee focuses on the hidden costs of China’s inequitable development and the burdens it has placed on marginalized and vulnerable populations-rural inhabitants, migrants, and ethnic minorities.
Health: The Committee recommends China to undertake effective measures "to improve delivery of health services in rural areas and ethnic minorities regions and to take urgent measures to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, including through sex education in schools and awareness raising campaigns to eliminate discrimination against HIV-positive persons".
Labour rights: The Committee expresses in particular "grave concern about the use of forced labour as a corrective measure, without charge, trial or review, under the Reeducation Through Labour programme". It recommends China to abolish it and to consider ratifying the ILO Convention n° 29 on forced labour. The UN experts express deep concern "about the insufficient implementation of existing labour legislation that has resulted in generally poor conditions of work, including excessive working hours, lack of sufficient rest breaks and hazardous working conditions", and says it is "alarmed by the high incidence of serious occupational accidents". It consequently urges China "to take immediate steps to ensure effective and equal application of its current labour legislation for the protection of the rights of all workers, including migrant workers, to just and favourable conditions of work". The Committee also urges China to amend the Trade Union Act to allow workers to form independent trade unions outside the structure of the All China Federation of Trade Unions.
Migrants and rural populations: The Committee notes with deep concern the de facto discrimination against internal migrants in the fields of employment, social security, health service, housing and education"and calls upon China "to implement its decision to dismantle the hukou system of national household registration", notably responsible for that situation.
The Committee expresses deep concern that, "despite the rapid economic development in recent years, poverty persists in the country, disproportionately affecting the rural population. The disparity in income and in the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living continues to widen between the rich and the poor, in particular those in urban/rural areas, as well as those in coastal provinces/inland provinces". The Committee consequently recommends that China "strengthen the redistributive mechanisms between regions and levels of government, so as to ensure that local authorities receive additional funds necessary for adequate provision of welfare and social services to their populations".
The UN experts call upon China "to take effective measures to ensure that all children, including migrant children and ethnic minority children, have access to free compulsory primary education" and "to eliminate all school-related fees to make compulsory primary education truly free for all children".
Forced evictions:The Committee expresses concern about the reports of forced evictions and insufficient compensation or alternative housing, notably in anticipation of the 2008 Olympics and other urban or rural development projects. The lack of effective consultations and legal redress for the victims of forced evictions is a further subject of concern. Immediate measures should be adopted in that regard.
"The ball is in the camp of the Chinese authorities: there are now a number of key authoritative benchmarks on the basis of which progress in the field of economic, social and cultural rights will be assessed in the coming years", said Sidiki Kaba, President of the FIDH. Sharon Hom, Executive Director of HRIC agrees, "It is now a question of political will: acts will speak for themselves", she adds.