back to home

See also the following sections of this website:

• Summary killings
• "Disappearances"
• Torture & ill treatment
• Security issues / Conflict zones

under construction

Websites:

Other materials:

2003:

China: ICFTU denounces prison sentences on worker rights activists (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 14 May 2003)

China: Harsh Sentences for Labor Activists - Relatives Report Police Abuse at Hearing - China's conviction of two labor activists for organizing peaceful protests shows how little China's legal system has changed in political cases, Human Rights Watch said today. The activists, Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang, were convicted without legal representation. (Human Rights Watch, 10 May 2003)

{···français} Barrage des Trois Gorges (Chine): les violations des droits humains risquent de s'accentuer avec la mise en eau du réservoir (Sébastien Godinot, Les Amis de la Terre, 9 avril 2003)

NGOs Decry Human Rights Crisis at Three Gorges Project as Reservoir Starts Filling - The reservoir of the controversial Three Gorges Dam in China’s Yangtze Valley will start filling on April 10, aggravating already serious human rights problems in the resettlement areas. A new report documents that the resettlement problems of this publicly funded dam have not been resolved, and that project construction is linked to systematic human rights violations. (International Rivers Network and Friends of the Earth International, 3 Apr. 2003)

• Human Rights Abuses in China and the Responsibility of Western Governments: The Case of the Three Gorges Project -...People affected by the Three Gorges Project must be resettled, compensated and rehabilitated in line with acknowledged international resettlement and human rights standards...The people who have been imprisoned for protesting peacefully against the problems of the project in the past should be released...As long as the problems of resettlement have not been resolved in line with international standards, the submergence of the reservoir area should be suspended...Export Credit Agencies should carry out human rights and social impact assessments before taking decisions on credits and guarantees...The World Commission on Dams (WCD) has proposed a framework that integrates human rights into the planning and decision-making processes of water and energy projects. (statement delivered to U.N. Commission on Human Rights by Peter Bosshard, Policy Director of International Rivers Network, 31 Mar. 2003)

• Eyewitness Report Documents Serious Human Rights Abuses in Three Gorges Project - International Rivers Network released today an eyewitness report on the resettlement and human rights problems of the Three Gorges Dam in China. More than 640,000 people have been evicted to make way for the giant dam... Resettlers have not been compensated according to international standards. The resettlement process is fraught with corruption and human rights abuses. Protests are widespread, and the police has used excessive force to quell these protests. (International Rivers Network, 20 Jan. 2003)

• full report: Human Rights Dammed Off at Three Gorges - An investigation of resettlement and human rights problems in the Three Gorges Dam project [scroll to bottom of page to download] (International Rivers Network, Jan. 2003)

Trade union victory in South Korea: release of union leader Dan Byung-Ho (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 3 Apr. 2003)

• {···français} Victoire syndicale en Corée du Sud : libération du dirigeant Dan Byung-Ho (Confédération internationale des syndicats libres, 3 avril 2003)

World Corporations Put Environmentalists Under Fire Worldwide - Amnesty International Campaigns for Corporate Accountability on Human Rights - In a new report released today, Amnesty International charges that corporate interests are inflicting a devastating worldwide toll on human rights and the environment. The report, Environmentalists Under Fire, cites the US for failing to use its influence to protect environmental defenders around the world, and highlights cases in Russia, Ecuador, Mexico, Indonesia, India, Chad and Cameroon...While environmental defenders can only appeal to the US government to live up to its rhetoric on rights, the corporations cited in the report - ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Occidental Petroleum and Freeport-McMoRan - have considerable ability to influence the US Government, having collectively made more than $2.8 million in campaign contributions during the 2002 election cycle. (Amnesty International USA, 20 Feb. 2003)

• full report: Environmentalists Under Fire: Six Urgent Cases of Human Rights Abuses (Amnesty International USA, Feb. 2003)

• Corporates Take Toll on Rights and Environment, Says Amnesty (Jim Lobe, OneWorld US, 21 Feb. 2003)

Rio Tinto: practise what you preach! [Indonesia] - The efforts of UK-based mining company Rio Tinto to convince the world of its commitment to human rights have suffered another blow. According to media reports, in December, the family of human rights defender and poet Wiji Thukul rejected a human rights award funded by the company...The family said they refused the award because Rio Tinto was involved in several human rights violations at its mining operations in Indonesia and was responsible for the 1992 arrest of demonstrators who were demanding proper compensation for the use of their land. (Down to Earth Newsletter, Feb. 2003)

Labor rights group urges China to release detained worker - A U.S.-based labor monitoring group has urged China to release a man it says has been detained since June for trying to set up a workers' union.  China Labor Watch, based in New York, said in a statement Saturday that it fears retired worker Di Tiangui is near death because of inadequate medical treatment while in prison. (Associated Press, 26 Jan. 2003)

Chinese dissident expelled to US -...A businessman and former government official, he [Fang Jue] is best known for a statement issued five years ago that called for direct elections at all levels of Chinese government, freedom of the press and independent trade unions. (BBC News, 25 Jan. 2003)

CHINA: ICFTU deeply concerned at subversion charges against worker rights activists (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 13 Jan. 2003)

• {···español} CHINA: La CIOSL está profundamente preocupada por la acusación de subversión que pesa sobre militantes de derechos laborales (Confederación Internacional de Organizaciones Sindicales Libres, 14 enero 2003)

• {···français} CHINE: la CISL très préoccupée par les accusations de subversion retenues à l’encontre de militants des droits des travailleurs (Confédération internationale des syndicats libres, 14 janvier 2003) 

2002:

Tactics of Chinese Government Frustrate Labor Organizers (Philip P. Pan, Washington Post, 30 Dec. 2002)

“Our problems can be solved if we workers can exercise our rights” [China] - Released on bail on December 20, Liaoyang labour activist Wang Zhaoming talked about his convictions and his expectations of the international trade union community in his first-ever media interview with China Labour Bulletin on December 27. (China Labour Bulletin, 27 Dec. 2002)

Two of the Liaoyang Four Released on Bail [China] - Having been detained for nine months with no formal charges, Pang Qingxiang and Wang Zhaoming, two of the four arrested Liaoyang workers’ representatives, were released on bail pending trial on December 20, 2002. (China Labour Bulletin, 24 Dec. 2002)

press release: China: Internet users at risk of arbitrary detention, torture and even execution (Amnesty International, 26 Nov. 2002)

• full report: People's Republic of China: State control of the internet in China -...Amnesty International is concerned at reports that some foreign companies may be providing China with technology which is used to restrict fundamental freedoms. [refers to Websense, Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, Microsoft, Sohu.com - a Chinese Internet portal reportedly funded by overseas companies and financed by leading investment banks and other venture capital firms from the West] (Amnesty International, 26 Nov. 2002)

• {···español} China: los usuarios de Internet, expuestos a la detención arbitraria, la tortura, e incluso la ejecución (Amnistía Internacional, 27 noviembre 2002)

Show solidarity for Acehnese detainees [reportedly detained by Indonesian military units stationed in sites where there is an Exxon-Mobil pipeline] (Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence - Aceh, 22 Nov. 2002)

ICFTU condemns incarceration of trade unionists in South Korea - Following the arrest of 241 striking hospital workers and the subsequent imprisonment of a further 7 union leaders in South Korea, on Friday 15 November, the ICFTU lodged a formal complaint against the country at the International Labour Organisation (ILO). (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 18 Nov. 2002)

• {···español} La CIOSL condena el encarcelamiento de sindicalistas en Corea del Sur (Confederación Internacional de Organizaciones Sindicales Libres, 19 noviembre 2002)

• {···français} La CISL condamne l'incarcération de syndicalistes en Corée du Sud (Confédération internationale des syndicats libres, 18 novembre 2002)

NGO Launches US Apartheid Reparations Law Suit [lawsuit in U.S. court against companies for past conduct in South Africa] - A non-governmental organisation has filed a lawsuit against 21 multinational corporations and leading international banks for helping prop up the apartheid state...The companies and banks named in the lawsuit are: Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Exxon Mobil, Caltex Petroleum, Fluor Corporation, Ford, General Motors and IBM in the United States; German-based Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, DaimlerChrysler, and Rheinmetall; Credit Suisse and UBS in Switzerland; Barclays Bank; British Petroleum, Rio Tinto and Fujitsu ICL in the United Kingdom; Total-Fina-Elf from France and Royal Dutch Shell from the Netherlands.  The list was expected to grow by at least 100 names. (South African Press Association, 12 Nov. 2002)

• Global Firms in Court for Supporting' Apartheid - A lawsuit has been lodged in a US court against 21 global business giants alleged to have earned billions through propping up apartheid. (Rob Rose, Business Day [South Africa], 13 Nov. 2002)

• Apartheid victims file lawsuit in US (AFP, 12 Nov. 2002)

• International Law Suit Filed on Behalf of Apartheid Victims - Khulumani et al. v. Barclays et al. - Today the law firm of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C. along with other firms in the United States, joins with the South African firm, Abrahams Kiewitz, in filing a complaint that seeks to hold businesses responsible for aiding and abetting the apartheid regime in South Africa in furtherance of the commission of the crimes of apartheid, forced labor, genocide, extrajudicial killing, torture, sexual assault, and unlawful detention...For example: IBM and ICL provided the computers that enabled South Africa to create the hated “pass book system” and to control the black South African population. Car manufacturers provided the armored vehicles that were used to patrol the townships. Arms manufacturers violated the embargoes on sales to South Africa, as did the oil companies. The banks provided the funding that enabled South Africa to expand its police and security apparatus. (law firm of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, 12 Nov. 2002)

• Summary of the Complaint - Khulumani et al. v. Barclays et al. (law firm of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, 12 Nov. 2002)

CLB [China Labour Bulletin] Statement on ACFTU Deputy Chairman's Recent Remarks on Yao Fuxin - At a press conference during the recent 16th Party Congress, All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) Deputy Chairman Zhang Junjiu stated that Liaoyang workers representative Yao Fuxin had been detained because he had broken Chinese law by carrying out car-bombings and not because he had organised a workers campaign.  CLB expresses outrage that no sooner has the ACFTU won a seat on the ILO Governing Body in Geneva as a deputy worker member than it began to unscrupulously slander Chinese workers engaged in peaceful organising to struggle for their legal rights. (China Labour Bulletin, 12 Nov. 2002)

UAW presses for action on human rights violations in China - Below, the text of a letter from UAW President Ron Gettelfinger to President Bush urging him to advocate for the freedom of imprisoned trade unionists in China. (UAW - United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, 8 Oct. 2002)

Trade union rights in Haiti: A worsening situation...- In a letter addressed to Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the International Trade Union Confederation (ICFTU) expressed its profound concern at the brutal treatment of nine people, including six trade unionists, held illegally in the National Penitentiary. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 23 July 2002)

• {···español} Los derechos sindicales en Haití: Una situación que se agrava… Protesta de la CIOSL (Confederación Internacional de Organizaciones Sindicales Libres, 23 Julio 2002)

• {···français} Haïti: Protestation: Détention prolongée et mauvais traitements infligés à des syndicalistes (Confédération internationale des syndicats libres, 23 juillet 2002)

Development Aggression: Observations on Human Rights Conditions in the PT Freeport Indonesia Contract of Work Areas With Recommendations [West Papua, Indonesia] - This paper is a presentation of observations, conclusions, and recommendations regarding human rights conditions in the PT Freeport Indonesia [majority owned and controlled by US-based mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc] Contract of Work areas in Papua, Indonesia...The presentation below has been circumscribed by Freeport's lack of cooperation and other interference with the assessment process...Some of these violations - such as those caused by environmental destruction - are the direct by-products of Freeport's mining operations. Others - such as physical attacks - are the result of the illegal, indiscriminate, and/or disproportionate use of force against civilians by the Indonesian military and police providing security for and funded by Freeport. (Abigail Abrash, consultant for the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, July 2002)

• company website: Freeport in Papua (Freeport-McMoRan)

• company website: Fast Fact: Human Rights (Freeport-McMoRan)

• company website: Fast Fact: Benefits for the Papuan People (Freeport-McMoRan)

1999:

The Enron Corporation: Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Violations (Human Rights Watch, Jan. 1999)