Labor Rights Now urged China to free Yao Fuxin, who has been jailed since 2002, or risk worldwide criticism of its violations of worker rights in the run-up to this summer's Olympic games in Beijing.

    "China deserves a gold medal for labor repression," said Labor Rights Now President Don Stillman. "China's leaders have reneged on their promise to the world that they would improve their abysmal human rights record in order to win the right to host the Olympics."

    Labor Rights Now said that the release of Yao Fuxin, who is seriously ill, and other imprisoned worker activists would be seen throughout the world as a sign China will meet its obligations to abide by international labor standards.

    Yao Fuxin and others were arrested in 2002 for leading peaceful protests of laid-off workers and retirees in Liaoyang in northeastern China over the failure of their employer to pay wages and benefits owed them.

    The Liaoyang Intermediate People's Court sentenced Yao to seven years in prison for his labor advocacy. The International Labor Organization (ILO) has called for Yao's release, as have top U.S. union leaders, including SEIU President Andy Stern, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.

    "In 2001, I warned Hein Verbruggen, who chaired the International Olympic Committee's evaluation commission, that the Beijing application to host the Olympics should be rejected because of China's widespread repression of internationally recognized worker rights," Stillman said. "Instead of improving its human rights record, things have gotten worse in China."

    Labor Rights Now has urged International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge to appoint a blue-ribbon commission to go to China to examine the failure of China to honor its promises to improve its human and labor rights record.

    LRN emphasized that the concern is not with the Chinese people, who deserve to host the Olympics, but with the Chinese government that fails to provide its citizens with basic rights enjoyed in democracies around the world.

    LRN, an independent human rights group supported by the U.S. labor movement, has published an award-winning poster (shown above at right) demanding the release of Yao.

    The poster has been distributed widely, both in the U.S. and worldwide among trade unions, human rights groups, churches, and other progressive organizations concerned about China's repression of workers. Order your copy today.

More Information

• Indictment of Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang in Liaoyang, China
(at Human Rights Watch)

• China Labour Bulletin Update

• UAW President Gettelfinger's Letter to Chinese Ambassador Jiechi Yang

Take Action

• Email the Chinese Embassy

• Send a solidarity message to Yao to let him know the world is fighting for him. In your letters please express your concern for him detention, ill treatment and health as well as reassuring him that international trade unionists and thousands of ordinary citizens are aware of him plight and are demanding him immediate release.