"UN body urges China to allow labour activists to continue their job", 14 Nov 2016

An International Labour Organisation (ILO) Committee has requested the Chinese government to ensure previously arrested and sentenced labour activists in Guangdong “can continue to provide advisory services to workers without hindrance”. The request was made in an interim report released by the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA) on 9 November 2016.…

The ILO Committee further requested that the Chinese government provide court judgements of the three activists. Their colleague Meng Han was sentenced to 21 months in prison earlier this month for the same offence. The interim report states that it expects the pending investigation of two more labour activists, Deng Xiaoming and Peng Jiayong, to be closed without delay, and requests the Chinese government to clarify whether Chen Huihai has also been charged with “gathering a crowd to disturb public order”.

This ILO interim report relates to a complaint filed by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) against the Chinese government on 15 February 2016 following the detention of over 50 labour activists in a coordinated police action in Guangdong province during the first week of December 2015. Seven were criminally detained, and four were later charged and sentenced …