Virus bars Chinese from jobs

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http://www.hc2d.co.uk/content.php?contentId=16264

Virus bars Chinese from jobs

3rd October 2010

HONG KONG—Chinese people who suffer from, or merely carry, the hepatitis B virus

are subjected to growing levels of discrimination and prejudice in the country's

job market, with routine blood tests by employers continuing in the face of a

government ban.

" The problem of discrimination against hepatitis B carriers in China is still

very serious, " according to a former health-testing centre manager surnamed Ma,

who ran employment-related health checks for companies in the Pearl River Delta

region for several years.

Ma said that discriminatory attitudes are particularly harsh in southern China's

manufacturing belt.

" A lot of people have been to lots of job interviews but never got hired. Their

application was fine, they did a good interview, but then they were dropped

after the health check. "

Ma said that the majority of China's top 500 companies still test potential

recruits for hepatitis B, although some of the larger multinationals in China do

not.

" Some of the big companies, IBM, for example, won't test for hepatitis B [during

recruitment], " he said. " They don't care about such things. But there aren't

many like that. "

Widespread misunderstandings

According to a report published by the nongovernment group Yirenping on the

status of hepatitis B carriers in the workplace, employers' actions are still

based on widespread misunderstandings about the virus, which is only spread

through sexual contact, mother-to-baby, or through contaminated blood.

Recent outbreaks of hepititis A, which is a separate viral infection transmitted

through poor hygiene, have led to widespread fear of the word " hepatitis, " which

is linked in people's minds to easy communicability and the need to wash one's

hands.

Hepatitis B is endemic in China's population, which includes an estimated 90

million carriers of the virus and 3 million people with an active form of the

disease.

rs of the virus are still routinely subjected to discriminatory practices,

according to experts and health workers.

" Employment is one of the basic rights of human existence, " said Beijing-based

legal expert Li Fangping. " If you are stripped of your right to employment

because of some hidden health factors, then there is very little protection for

you in Chinese society. "

" You can basically starve to death. "

Lost opportunities

Li Renbing is head of a Beijing-based group which campaigns for the rights of

hepatitis patients and carriers, and offers them legal assistance.

" If they're not recruiting them or enrolling them, and they're not being given

the right to work, then I would say that's discrimination, " Li said.

Those who do find employment risk being fired or forced into early retirement if

their status becomes known. Hepatitis B carriers can have normally functioning

livers for many years.

Of 60 million confirmed hepatitis B carriers in China, around 30% said in a 2009

survey that their education had suffered as a result of their immunological

status, while 24% said they had lost out on job opportunities as a result of

hepatitis B.

China's Prevention of Infectious Diseases Law states that it is unlawful to

discriminate against anyone on the grounds of their infection with an illness or

virus.

Hao Yang, deputy director of the China Centres for Disease Control and

Prevention under the health ministry, said the government has tried to ensure

that the law is implemented.

" The health ministry has been stressing the point for a long time that it is

opposed to discrimination [against hepatitis B carriers], " Hao said.

Hao said that only a minority of hepatitis B carriers are affected, however.

" The vast majority are still about to attend school and to get jobs, " he said.

" But we still see some cases of discrimination, and this has had a pernicious

influence [on the situation]. "

Attitudes hard to change

Social attitudes are proving hard to change, with many employers admitting

openly that they would discriminate against those who have hepatitis B.

According to a 2007 survey of employers, around half of those surveyed said they

wouldn't recruit a carrier of hepatitis B. And in 2008, respondents at 42 out of

96 foreign-invested companies in China said they wouldn't recruit them, either.

Social commentators said there is still a widespread lack of education about the

disease among China's population.

" This goes to show that ordinary people have a lot of fear and prejudice around

this type of hepatitis, " said Cai Dingjian, a law professor at the China

University of Political Science and Law.

" It's a form of collective unconsciousness, and nobody seems to think it's a

problem, " Cai said. " They don't see it as discrimination. "

Discrimination against hepatitis carriers appears to have worsened in recent

years, from an outright ban on working in food industries, in beauty and

personal services, in teaching, and as cabin attendants in the early 1980s, to

refusals for entry into almost any trade or profession today.

The level of discrimination is perpetuated in the media, along with a lack of

understanding about the different forms of hepatitis being written into hugely

popular soap operas like " A Snail's Home. "

" If you don't wash your hands before you eat, watch out for hepatitis, " says one

character to another, in an apparent reference to the acute hepatitis A

infection. " No one will give you a job. "

" We have done an awful lot of anti-discrimination work, " said the health

ministry's Hao Yang. " We have put out a lot of propaganda. "

" But the problem of discrimination still exists, although I think we are seeing

an overall improvement. "

Need for legislation

Beijing-based Yirenping, a hepatitis charity which published a report on

discrimination in the workplace in January, said part of the problem lies with

the need for an overall legislative framework governing discrimination of all

kinds at work.

Under existing Chinese laws, the report said, " employers who have engaged in

discriminatory behaviour are not required to assume legal liability. "

" There is a legal disconnect between anti-discriminatory principles in the

Constitution and the laws and administrative regulations of the PRC, " it said in

an English version of the report translated by the Hong Kong-based China Labour

Bulletin.

Yirenping's report said the government is actively seeking ways of eliminating

employment discrimination against people with hepatitis B, or HBV.

" However, as long as the public continues to view the HBV-positive community as

'unhealthy,' there is a risk of employers and health-screening centres joining

forces and using the test in medical exams for prospective employees, " the

report said.

Original reporting in Mandarin by An Pei. Translated and written in English by

etta Mudie.

Copyright © 1998-2010 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.

[Guest guest]

http://www.hc2d.co.uk/content.php?contentId=16264

Virus bars Chinese from jobs

3rd October 2010

HONG KONG—Chinese people who suffer from, or merely carry, the hepatitis B virus

are subjected to growing levels of discrimination and prejudice in the country's

job market, with routine blood tests by employers continuing in the face of a

government ban.

" The problem of discrimination against hepatitis B carriers in China is still

very serious, " according to a former health-testing centre manager surnamed Ma,

who ran employment-related health checks for companies in the Pearl River Delta

region for several years.

Ma said that discriminatory attitudes are particularly harsh in southern China's

manufacturing belt.

" A lot of people have been to lots of job interviews but never got hired. Their

application was fine, they did a good interview, but then they were dropped

after the health check. "

Ma said that the majority of China's top 500 companies still test potential

recruits for hepatitis B, although some of the larger multinationals in China do

not.

" Some of the big companies, IBM, for example, won't test for hepatitis B [during

recruitment], " he said. " They don't care about such things. But there aren't

many like that. "

Widespread misunderstandings

According to a report published by the nongovernment group Yirenping on the

status of hepatitis B carriers in the workplace, employers' actions are still

based on widespread misunderstandings about the virus, which is only spread

through sexual contact, mother-to-baby, or through contaminated blood.

Recent outbreaks of hepititis A, which is a separate viral infection transmitted

through poor hygiene, have led to widespread fear of the word " hepatitis, " which

is linked in people's minds to easy communicability and the need to wash one's

hands.

Hepatitis B is endemic in China's population, which includes an estimated 90

million carriers of the virus and 3 million people with an active form of the

disease.

rs of the virus are still routinely subjected to discriminatory practices,

according to experts and health workers.

" Employment is one of the basic rights of human existence, " said Beijing-based

legal expert Li Fangping. " If you are stripped of your right to employment

because of some hidden health factors, then there is very little protection for

you in Chinese society. "

" You can basically starve to death. "

Lost opportunities

Li Renbing is head of a Beijing-based group which campaigns for the rights of

hepatitis patients and carriers, and offers them legal assistance.

" If they're not recruiting them or enrolling them, and they're not being given

the right to work, then I would say that's discrimination, " Li said.

Those who do find employment risk being fired or forced into early retirement if

their status becomes known. Hepatitis B carriers can have normally functioning

livers for many years.

Of 60 million confirmed hepatitis B carriers in China, around 30% said in a 2009

survey that their education had suffered as a result of their immunological

status, while 24% said they had lost out on job opportunities as a result of

hepatitis B.

China's Prevention of Infectious Diseases Law states that it is unlawful to

discriminate against anyone on the grounds of their infection with an illness or

virus.

Hao Yang, deputy director of the China Centres for Disease Control and

Prevention under the health ministry, said the government has tried to ensure

that the law is implemented.

" The health ministry has been stressing the point for a long time that it is

opposed to discrimination [against hepatitis B carriers], " Hao said.

Hao said that only a minority of hepatitis B carriers are affected, however.

" The vast majority are still about to attend school and to get jobs, " he said.

" But we still see some cases of discrimination, and this has had a pernicious

influence [on the situation]. "

Attitudes hard to change

Social attitudes are proving hard to change, with many employers admitting

openly that they would discriminate against those who have hepatitis B.

According to a 2007 survey of employers, around half of those surveyed said they

wouldn't recruit a carrier of hepatitis B. And in 2008, respondents at 42 out of

96 foreign-invested companies in China said they wouldn't recruit them, either.

Social commentators said there is still a widespread lack of education about the

disease among China's population.

" This goes to show that ordinary people have a lot of fear and prejudice around

this type of hepatitis, " said Cai Dingjian, a law professor at the China

University of Political Science and Law.

" It's a form of collective unconsciousness, and nobody seems to think it's a

problem, " Cai said. " They don't see it as discrimination. "

Discrimination against hepatitis carriers appears to have worsened in recent

years, from an outright ban on working in food industries, in beauty and

personal services, in teaching, and as cabin attendants in the early 1980s, to

refusals for entry into almost any trade or profession today.

The level of discrimination is perpetuated in the media, along with a lack of

understanding about the different forms of hepatitis being written into hugely

popular soap operas like " A Snail's Home. "

" If you don't wash your hands before you eat, watch out for hepatitis, " says one

character to another, in an apparent reference to the acute hepatitis A

infection. " No one will give you a job. "

" We have done an awful lot of anti-discrimination work, " said the health

ministry's Hao Yang. " We have put out a lot of propaganda. "

" But the problem of discrimination still exists, although I think we are seeing

an overall improvement. "

Need for legislation

Beijing-based Yirenping, a hepatitis charity which published a report on

discrimination in the workplace in January, said part of the problem lies with

the need for an overall legislative framework governing discrimination of all

kinds at work.

Under existing Chinese laws, the report said, " employers who have engaged in

discriminatory behaviour are not required to assume legal liability. "

" There is a legal disconnect between anti-discriminatory principles in the

Constitution and the laws and administrative regulations of the PRC, " it said in

an English version of the report translated by the Hong Kong-based China Labour

Bulletin.

Yirenping's report said the government is actively seeking ways of eliminating

employment discrimination against people with hepatitis B, or HBV.

" However, as long as the public continues to view the HBV-positive community as

'unhealthy,' there is a risk of employers and health-screening centres joining

forces and using the test in medical exams for prospective employees, " the

report said.

Original reporting in Mandarin by An Pei. Translated and written in English by

etta Mudie.

Copyright © 1998-2010 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.