LABOR NGO COMMUNITY OPTIMISTIC DESPITE SETBACKS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 003235 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CH ELAB PGOV PHUM SOCI SUBJECT: LABOR NGO COMMUNITY OPTIMISTIC DESPITE SETBACKS REF: A) BEIJING 2733 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Participants in a mid-November grassroots Chinese labor NGO conference noted that labor NGOs, like all civil society groups in China, continue to face difficulties, including registering their organizations and obtaining legal status. However, they emphasized, their organizations have benefited from "the globalization of civil society," namely, the growing partnerships between Chinese and international NGOs. Beijing municipal authorities have reportedly been given the green light to contract with local NGOs for the provision of some social services. Several conference participants cited this change as an important step in solidifying a more substantive role for civil society groups in China. End summary. UPBEAT SPEAKERS CITE POSITIVE TRENDS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Approximately twenty Chinese grassroots labor NGOs convened in Beijing for the Northern China Labor NGO Forum November 14-16. POLOFF attended the final day of the forum, which was organized by the International Republican Institute (IRI) and Little Bird, a ten-year-old Chinese labor NGO that provides legal and educational services to migrant workers. Grassroots labor NGOs from Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shenyang, and Zhejiang and Heilongjiang provinces were among those in attendance. Representatives from the Henan provincial government and the Beijing branch of the Communist Youth League (CYL) also spoke at the conference. In spite of the close political scrutiny Chinese NGOs face (reftel),this conference took place as planned and participants expressed optimism about the long-term prospects for civil society development in China. Labor NGOs, once considered highly sensitive, appeared to be gaining official acceptance, they noted. ¶3. (SBU) Zhao Daxing, Deputy Secretary General of the China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO),a nationwide umbrella organization for NGOs sanctioned by the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MOCA),noted that the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake had been a watershed event for NGOs in China. Since then, NGOs had been demonstrating increased professionalism and specialization. International NGOs continued to establish offices in China, and individual volunteerism was on the rise, Zhao said. Labor NGOs were becoming more attuned to the interests of workers by devising practical ways to assist them, such as by working to resolve wage arrears disputes, instead of focusing solely on promoting corporate social responsibility. Shen Yuan, a professor of sociology at Tsinghua University, said that Chinese corporations were becoming more involved in supporting NGOs and that government policy toward NGOs was relaxing, although slowly. Shen and Zhao agreed that globalization had extended to the civil society sector and was allowing Chinese and international NGOs to cooperate on common goals. PROBLEMS PERSIST -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Han Huimin of Home for Rural Women, a Beijing NGO that helps female migrant workers, told conference participants that the Beijing municipal government had been authorized to contract with NGOs to provide social services. Han said this represented a step forward in the government's recognition of the positive role civil society organizations could play in China, although she was critical of the attitudes of local officials, many of whom were not supportive of developing the civil society sector. (Note: A former MOCA official subsequently told POLOFF that there were no formal policies on local government contracts with NGOs and that these arrangements remained ad hoc.) However, Han also cited several challenges that continued to hamper the development of labor NGOs. Chinese NGOs, she said, had weak administrative capabilities, lacked public relations experience, and faced a shortage of qualified NGO managers. Since migrant laborers were a floating population, Chinese labor NGOs had trouble building long-term contacts within their target group. ¶5. (SBU) Zhao noted that support for NGOs by Chinese corporations remained low. Han Huimin estimated that 80 percent of the financing for Chinese labor NGOs came from overseas. Labor advocacy groups, like other Chinese NGOs, remained overly dependent on larger and better equipped international NGOs for grant money, noted Zhao. Chinese corporations were often reluctant to cooperate with NGOs for fear of being pressured for funding. Labor NGOs, in turn, were hesitant to accept donations from companies out of fear they would compromise their ability to advocate for and provide services to workers. BEIJING 00003235 002 OF 002 ¶6. (SBU) CANGO's Shen Yuan observed that migrant workers remained underserved by the NGO community and the number of labor NGOs was surprisingly small. While there were about 2,000 Chinese NGOs focusing on educational and environmental issues, only 50-100 labor NGOs served a manufacturing labor force of over 200 million. Nearly all labor NGOs were concentrated in Beijing and the Pearl River Delta, exacerbating what Shen referred to as a significant "structural contradiction" between the demand for NGO services and the supply of organizations that perform these services. HUNTSMAN