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Human Rights and Rule of Law - News and
Analysis
Shenzhen Municipal Authorities Announce Tighter Controls Over Migrant Population
Shenzhen authorities have tightened household registration (hukou) rules governing migrants, according to articles in the Beijing News, South China Morning Post, and on the Shenzhen municipal government Web site. Migrants who do not qualify for a local hukou usually cannot obtain public services such as health care and schooling for their children on an equal basis with registered residents.
Shenzhen authorities say that the measures are intended to control the rate of growth of the temporary resident population, which now constitutes over 80 percent of the total municipal population of 10 million. According to news reports, the new measures will temporarily suspend processing of applications for local hukou for dependent children and parents of current Shenzhen migrant residents. Shenzhen officials have not yet announced how the measures will be implemented. In addition, officials will limit the growth of private schools for migrant children and require migrant parents to pay additional fees to enroll their children in public schools. As with many other local regulations, the Shenzhen measures also emphasize the need to allow wealthy and educated individuals to receive preferential treatment in obtaining local hukou.
The Shenzhen announcement has attracted negative commentary in the Chinese news media. A China Youth Daily article criticized the plan for attempting to use childrens' access to education as a tool to limit migration, and ignoring the fact that Chinese migration is driven primarily by the search for jobs in urban areas. A separate Southern Weekend article criticized strict hukou restrictions as a means for Chinese cities to extract resources (taxes, low-cost labor) from migrants without shouldering the corresponding burden of providing social services.
| Source: Beijing News (2005-08-01 / Chinese / Free) |
Posted on: 2006-10-04 |
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| Link directly to this item with: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=19128 |
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