Freedom of Residence and Movement

The Changsha Intermediate People's Court reduced by more than 50 percent the personal injury award to the family of a woman killed in a traffic accident because the woman held a rural hukou (household registration), according to a February 14 Beijing News article.

Chinese labor officials said that government efforts to expand worker’s compensation insurance programs will focus on providing coverage to migrant workers, according to an April 8 Beijing News article. Worker’s compensation insurance programs in China cover about 70 million Chinese workers, out of a total labor force of nearly 800 million. Labor officials note that lack of coverage is particularly serious for workers laboring in the industries of the Pearl River Delta, which employ large numbers of migrant workers.

The Chinese government will take "compulsory measures" to promote employer participation in on-the-job injury insurance for migrant workers, according to a September 9 article in the China Youth Daily (CYD). By the end of July 2006, 18.71 million migrant workers nationwide were covered by the insurance, according to the article. As of April 2006, 87 million workers overall had such insurance, according to a June 23 Legal Daily article. The government plans to expand coverage to over 140 million people by the year 2010, the articles reported. The CYD article did not detail how the government plans to compel employer participation. A national regulation effective in 2004 mandates that all employers have injury insurance for their employees.

The Henan High People's Court (HPC) issued an opinion in June that requires courts to use urban compensation standards for personal injury cases involving qualified rural migrants living in cities, according to a June 23 Xinhua article (in Chinese). Article 15 of the opinion provides that compensation for injured rural migrants who have a "regular place of residence in the city" and whose "main source of income is earned in the city" must be calculated using the same standards as for urban residents.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) enacted an amendment to the Compulsory Education Law on June 29, to take effect September 1. Article 2 of the amended law bans authorities from collecting tuition or "arbitrary" fees for compulsory education. But article 61 leaves the definition of such fees unclear, stating that the State Council will issue regulations determining the administration of "arbitrary" fees at a later date. Chinese schools charge students additional fees, ostensibly for school supplies, bedding, uniforms, or other items, to make up for inadequate school budgets resulting from a lack of local revenue.

Hundreds of citizens rioted in Guiyang city, Guizhou province, after a migrant worker lacking a temporary residence permit was beaten on July 10, according to a July 13 Guizhou Metropolitan Daily (GMD) article reprinted on the Xinhua Web site, and an Associated Press article posted on the Washington Post Web site based on the same GMD report.

The Ministry of Communications, which oversees China's transportation sector, instructed its provincial-level departments to finish resolving migrant workers' claims for unpaid wages from work on transportation projects by the end of 2006, according to a June 28 Ministry circular posted on the central government's Web site. The Ministry circular responds to a 2004 State Council decree to resolve all migrant worker wage arrears that have resulted from unpaid debt on government projects. The deadline to conclude payment is December 2006. As of April 19, the Ministry claimed it had resolved 92 percent of the debt claims on transportation projects, a slightly higher rate than for the construction sector as a whole.

The National People's Congress Standing Committee enacted the Law on Passports (Law) on April 29. It replaces the 1980 Regulations on Passports and Visas (Regulations) and will become effective on January 1, 2007.