China Plans to Adopt New Labour Law

Shanghai — China is planning to adopt a new law that seeks to crack down on sweatshops and protect workers through one of the most sweeping efforts at real unionisation in the country’s post-communist era.

The proposed law, which could go into effect as early as next May, is a reflection of the growing maturity of the Chinese economy, which for years now has experimented with free markets that encouraged millions of young workers to toil at cheap wages for companies that make cheap exports.

This new law, analysts and labour activists say, is a sign that the Chinese government is growing increasingly frustrated with reports about labour abuse and is seeking to give labour unions real clout.

It is not clear what the final law will look like, but experts say the trend suggests new challenges ahead for foreign companies working in a country that is as perplexing as it is alluring.

If approved and strictly enforced, experts said, the new laws would dramatically restructure the country’s massive labour market and significantly push up the wages of everyday workers – which are already believed to be held down by lack of enforcement of the existing labour laws.

Until now, however, China’s existing labour laws have largely gone unenforced, which has further complicated debate here. (Source: www.iht.com)

Rapist Gets Seven Years

Australia — A man who forced his way into a woman’s car, abducted her and spent hours raping and humiliating her has been sentenced to at least seven years in prison.

Peter John MacPherson, 45, of Windsor Gardens, was linked to the 1995 crime through DNA taken after he committed a minor offence.

Almost 11 years after the Christmas-time rape, Judge Gordon Barrett described MacPherson’s crimes as ‘far too serious’ for ‘anything other than a lengthy prison sentence’.

Judge Barrett said MacPherson’s excuse that he was drunk and under the influence of drugs at the time was not acceptable. He sentenced him to 10 years and seven months’ jail, with a seven-year non-parole period. (Source: www.news.com.au)

China Lawyer Held for Incitement

China — An outspoken Chinese rights lawyer is being investigated for allegedly inciting subversion of state power.

His family say they have been denied permission to see him since he was detained in Beijing, in August.

Earlier this year, Mr Gao Zhisheng organised a protest over what he called widespread police brutality against activists.

His clients have included members of a banned spiritual organisation, members of an underground church, and those who complain they have lost land to the authorities.

Mr Gao’s arrest is one of several involving human rights lawyers and activists in recent months, and is believed to be part of a wider crackdown in China. (Source: www.bbc.co.uk)

India Tackles Domestic Violence

India — A landmark new law seeking to protect women from domestic violence has come into effect in India. The law also bans harassment by way of dowry demands and gives sweeping powers to a magistrate to issue protection orders where needed.

Punishment could range from a jail term of up to one year and/or a fine of up to 20,000 rupees.

Every six hours, a young married woman is burned, beaten to death or driven to commit suicide, officials say. Overall, a crime against women is committed every three minutes in India, according to India’s National Crime Records Bureau.

Despite the scale of the problem, there had been no specific legislation to deal with actual abuse or the threat of abuse at home.

Domestic violence, under the new law, includes ‘actual abuse or the threat of abuse whether physical, sexual, emotional or economic’, a statement from the federal ministry of women and child development said.

The law provides protection to the wife or live-in partner from violence at the hands of the husband or live-in partner or his relatives.

Besides physical violence, the law also covers forcing a wife or partner to look at pornography. (Source: www.bbc.co.uk)