Religious Discrimination of Employees in China - Essay Example

Religious Discrimination of Employees in China Overview: This paper explores religious discrimination in employment in China and delves further to assess the extent of government involvement in curbing the vice. China is a country with different religions. However, there have been instances of religious discrimination in the workplace that merit attention. Religious discrimination in the workplace is not uncommon occurrence in China. Even before a person is employed they have to go through several stages of being filtered and selected in a highly discriminative way by the ethnicity, appearance, religion, habits, and sexual orientation.

Growing population and the market economy of China became an objective reason for the problems in employment. The "Constitution of the PRC" stipulates that "Citizens of the Peoples Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious beliefs" (Article 36). However, the Chinese labor law activists who act as watchdogs reported that individuals from marginalized religions and ethnicities are constantly discriminated upon in the workplace. Brown (2010) disclosed an incident in which a Muslim of the Hui nationality was offered a cook job, which was later withdrawn upon the employer realizing that Muslim doctrines prohibit Muslims from cooking pork.

When this incident was forwarded to the labor arbitration committee, it is shocking that the decision was made in the employer’s favor, raising questions on the government’s commitment to eradicating religious discrimination in the workplace. Local governments prohibit civil servants as well as employees from fasting and observing Ramadan (BBC News, 2014). The Employment Promotion Law of 2008 appears inspiring, but insufficient (Brown, 2010; China Labor Movement). The labor arbitration committee make shocking decisions and turn down discrimination cases because of the vagueness of the law on discrimination in the workplace, especially with regards to religion.

According to the China Labor movement Bulletin, the constitution of China and other statutes emphasize on workplace equality, but does very little to enforce it. The Chinese government has even enforced restrictive and oppressive laws on Uighur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists, which only work to perpetuate religious discrimination in the workplace. People have been harassed and arrested in the workplace, curtailing human rights and freedom (U.S. Department of State, 2014). On March 1, 2005, the State Council promulgated the "Regulations on Religious Affairs", which sets out regulations concerning religion: religious communities, places of religious items, religious items believers, creation of religious schools, publish religious literature, property management of religious communities, foreign religious activities and so forth (Yang, 2011).

China has no records of cases of sudden religious conflicts outbursts between believers and nonbelievers. However, there has been minimal implementation of equality law in the workplace. Opinion Statement: In my opinion, discrimination in any form is an act against human rights. All people are born equal and it does not matter if your co-worker is vegetarian and praises Buddha or is an atheist. The only factors that should be taken in account are professional skills of the potential employee, education level and the level of benefits for the company.

In order to curb discrimination in the workplace, the government must show commitment by enacting anti-discrimination laws. Therefore, in my view, the government is doing little to ensure there is no religious discrimination in workplace in China. However, for the laws to be effective, they must be properly implemented and enforced. Particular existing laws should not be breached and there have to be more regulations formed in order to keep the discrimination on the lowest levels. After all, China is a growing country, which formed a lot of international trade connections lately and this image should not be spoiled with the discrimination issues especially when it comes to religion.

The government should ensure that all employers who practice discrimination in their recruitment process are dealt with to ensure that employees’ rights are not jeopardized. References BBC News (2014).China bans Xinjiang officials from observing Ramadan fast. Retrieved on December 6, 2015 from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-28123267 Brown, R.C. (2010).Understanding labor and employment law in China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CHAPTER TWO - THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF CITIZENS. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2015, from http://www.hkhrm.org.

hk/english/law/const03.html Johnson, T., & Grim, B. (2013). The worlds religions in figures: An introduction to international religious demography. John Wiley & Sons. U.S. Department of State (2014). International Religious Freedom Report for 2014. Retrieved on December 6, 2014 from http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm#wrapper Yang, F. (2011). Social scientific studies of religion in China methodology, theories, and findings (pp. 142-143). Leiden: Brill.