HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA

WHEREAS, according to the 1999 U.S. Department of State Human Rights Report, last year, China's human rights record "deteriorated markedly as the government intensified efforts to suppress dissent." It jails, tortures and executes those who try to exercise their fundamental human rights' to freely associate, protest against corruption, express their views or practice their religion; and

WHEREAS, tens of thousand of workers, democratic activists and members of religious groups have been detained and many sentenced to long prison terms or confined without due process to "re-education through labor" camps and psychiatric hospitals; and

WHEREAS, the government of China fears all attempts by workers to register independent unions, to demand unpaid wages, to protest against corruption or to protest hazardous working conditions that kill as many as 100,000 workers annually; and

WHEREAS, China flagrantly violates its own constitution and laws and has broken every trade agreement it has signed in the past 10 years; and

WHEREAS, the AFL-CIO and its affiliates, as well as 65 percent of American voters, opposed "granting China permanent trade access to the U.S. market, with no more annual review of China’s human rights and trade record by Congress"; and

WHEREAS, the AFT has a long history of supporting and promoting democracy, human rights and free and democratic trade unions:

RESOLVED, that the AFT continue to monitor and protest violations of human and workers' rights in China; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT continue to work with the Hong Kong Democratic Teachers Union and other organizations that are committed to the principles of free and democratic trade unions.