Confronting Discrimination and Inequality in China: Chinese and Canadian Perspectives

439 Pages·2009·23.91 MB·English

by  Errol P. Mendes

CONFRONTING DISCRIMINATION AND INEQUALITY IN
CHINA
This page intentionally left blank
Edited by Erroi P, Mendes and Sakunthala Srighanthan
CONFRONTING DISCRIMINATION AND INEQUALITY IN
CHINA
Chinese and
Canadian Perspectives
University of Ottawa Press
© University of Ottawa Press 2009
All rights reserved.
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA
CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Confronting discrimination and inequality in
China : Chinese and Canadian perspectives / edited by
Errol Mendes and Sakanthula Srighanthan.
(Actexpress, 1480-4743)
ISBN 978-0-7766-0709-2
1. Discrimination—China. 2. Equality—China.
3. Human rights—China. 4. Human rights advocacy—China.
5. China—Social policy. 6. China—Social conditions—2000-.
7. China—Social conditions—1976-2000. I. Mendes, Errol
II. Srighanthan, Sakanthula, 1950- III. Series: Actexpress
HN733.5.C66 2009 305.0951 C2009-900463-1
The University of Ottawa Pres?
542 King Edward Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario KIN 6N5
www.press.uottawa.ca
The University of Ottawa Press acknowledges with gratitude the support extended to its publishing
list by Heritage Canada through its Book Publishing Industry Development Program, by the Canada
Council for the Arts, by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences through its
Aid to Scholarly Publications Program, by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and
by the University of Ottawa.
The University of Ottawa Press also acknowledges with gratitude the support extended to this publi-
cation by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Table of Contents
List of Contributors viii
Editors'Note xv
Acknowledgements xvi
Introduction
ERROL P. MENDES 1
PART ONE
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST RURAL AND MIGRANT WORKERS
Chapter One
Prosperity at the Expense of Equality: Migrant Workers are Falling Behind
in Urban Chinas Rise
WENRAN JIANG 16
Chapter Two
The Historical Causes of Chinas Dual Social Structure
GONG RENREN 30
Chapter Three
Restoring Private Ownership of Rural Lands to Safeguard
the Basic Rights of Farmers
WANGKEQIN 70
Chapter Four
Changing the Policy Paradigm on Chinese Migrant Workers
Cui CHUANYI AND Cui XIAOLI 99
Chapter Five
Chinese Farmers' Right of Access to Judicial Relief: An Investigative Report
into Forest Land Expropriation Claims by Hebei Farmer Wen Shengcun
WANGXlNAN 129
Chapter Six
Chinas War on its Environment and Farmers' Rights: A Study of Shanxi Province
ZHANG YULIN 149
PART TWO
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
Chapter Seven
The Gendered Reality of Migrant Workers in Globalizing China
CHEN LANYAN (LANYAN CHEN) 186
Chapter Eight
An Analysis of Rural Women's Entitlements to Land and Other Property
LIANG JIANGUO AND Xu WEIHUA 208
Chapter Nine
Systemic Discrimination and Gender Inequality: A Life Cycle Approach
to Girls' and Women's Rights
COLLEEN SHEPPARD 232
PART THREE
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE DISABLED
Chapter Ten
A Study of the Legislative Inhibition of Discrimination on the Basis of Disability
WVNG ZHIJIANG 246
PART FOUR
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THOSE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS
Chapter Eleven
The Application of International and Regional Instruments to
HIV-Related Discrimination in China and Southeast Asia
DAVID PATTERSON 276
Chapter Twelve
Gender and HIV/AIDS: Understanding and Addressing Stigma and
Discrimination Among Women and Girls
BARBARA CLOW AND LINDA SNYDER 292
Chapter Thirteen
Promoting the Right to Education for AIDS Orphans and
Vulnerable Children (OVC): A Study on Anti-Discrimination
MA YINGHUA, DING SUQIN, WANG CHAO, AND YUAN MENGYAO 312
Chapter Fourteen
The State of Life and Survival Strategies of AIDS-Infected Rural Women:
An Analysis Based on Field Investigations in Selected Areas of Henan
QlN MlNGRUI AND LAI XlAOLE 362
PART FIVE
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MINORITIES
Chapter Fifteen
The Canadian Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms:
A Global Template for Minority Rights?
ERROLP. MENDES 396
Chapter Sixteen
Indigenous Peoples and Hunting Rights
SCOTT SIMON 405
List of Contributors
CANADIAN CONTRIBUTORS
BARBARA CLOW:
Barbara Clow is Executive Director of the Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Womens
Health and Associate Professor Research in the Faculty of Health Professions at
Dalhousie University, Halifax. In the past ten years, Dr. Clow has pursued a program
of research, publication and policy work on diverse aspects of women's health, such as
the gendered dimensions of health care reform in Canada; health implications for low
income, immigrant, homeless, rural and African Canadian women; the role of gender
in the HIV/AIDS pandemic; issues related to reproductive health; and the impact of
womens unpaid caregiving work. She has a Ph.D. in the history of medicine from the
University of Toronto.
WENRAN JIANG:
Wenran Jiang is Associate Professor of Political Science and the founding Director of
the China Institute at the University of Alberta. He is a Senior Fellow at the Asia Pacific
Foundation of Canada and a Working Group member of the Canadian International
Councils Canada-China relations program. He has organized a number of major
conferences on Canada-China relations. Dr. Jiang has written extensively on Chinese
politics and foreign relations and his op-ed articles and comments appear regularly in
Canadian and international newspapers.
ERROL P. MENDES:
Errol P. Mendes is a lawyer, author, professor and has been an advisor to corporations,
governments, civil society groups and the United Nations. His teaching, research and
consulting interests include public and private sector governance, conflict resolution,
global governance, international business and trade law, constitutional law, international
law (including anti-terrorism laws and policies) and human rights law and policy. He has
been a project leader for conflict resolution, governance and justice projects in China,
Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, El Salvador and Sri Lanka. Since 1979 Professor Mendes
has taught at law faculties across the country, including at the University of Alberta, the
University of Western Ontario, and, since 1992, at the University of Ottawa.
DAVID PATTERSON:
David Patterson is a legal consultant, based in Montreal. He holds an LL.M. degree
(human rights) from McGill University and a M.Sc. (public policy and management)
viii
List of Contributors ix
from the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies. In 1993 he was
a founding member of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. Since 1994 he has
specialized in legal and policy responses to HIV in developing countries, working with
the UNDP, UNAIDS and other agencies. He was the Director of the Legal Networks
International Program in 2001-2003 and initiated and managed programs to support
legal responses to HIV in East Africa and the Caribbean. From 2004-2008 he was Team
Leader for Policy for the Canada South East Asia Regional HIV/AIDS Programme,
focusing on HIV and migration in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. His first
visit to China was in 1982, when he taught English for several months at the Hangzhou
Electronic Engineering Institute. In 2007 he returned to Kunming at the invitation of
the International Development Law Organization for the first workshop in China on
HIV for practicing lawyers, law teachers and law students.
COLLEEN SHEPPARD:
Colleen Sheppard teaches at the Faculty of Law of McGill University. She is also the
Research Director for the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. Her
teaching and research focus on Canadian and comparative constitutional law, equality
rights and feminist legal theory. Professor Sheppard completed her Honours B.A. and
LL.B. degrees at the University of Toronto and her LL.M. at Harvard Law School. Prior
to commencing her teaching career, she worked as a law clerk with former Chief Justice
Brian Dickson of the Supreme Court of Canada. Colleen Sheppard has also been active
in public interest work. She served as a Commissioner on the Quebec Human Rights
and Youth Rights Commission from 1991-1996 and has been a consultant with the
federal Department of Justice, the National Judicial Institute, the Canadian Human
Rights Commission, the Ontario Metis Aboriginal Association and the International
Labour Organization.
SCOTT SIMON:
Scott Simon is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology
at the University of Ottawa. He has been working on the Canada-China International
Human Rights Implementation Project of the University of Ottawa and Peking
University since 2005, with a focus on minority rights. A specialist in the anthropology
of development, he is author of Sweet and Sour: Life Worlds of Taipei Women Entrepreneurs
(2003) and Tanners of Taiwan: Life Strategies and National Culture (2005), as well as
numerous book chapters and articles. Since 2004, he has been conducting research on
development and human rights for the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, where he works
with the hunters of the Taroko Nation. He is currently writing a book on that subject. ^
LINDA SNYDER:
Linda Snyder is the Knowledge Exchange Manager at the Atlantic Centre of Excellence
for Women's Health (ACEWH). She has coordinated projects related to social and