ITHACA, N.Y. -- Three experts on labor in China will be part of a panel discussion, "Labor, Business and Human Rights in China," Monday, April 18, at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The panel takes place from 4 to 6 p.m. in 423 ILR Conference Center, on Garden Avenue, and is free and open to the public.

The event is the first in ILR International Programs Global Speakers series in which experts come to campus to discuss important global topics. It is co-sponsored with the Johnson Graduate School of Management's Suter-Staley Global Business Education Program and supported by the East Asia Program and other campus groups.

With more and more of the world's goods being outsourced to China, how workers in the world's largest country are treated is becoming more of a concern around the globe, said Maria Cook, associate professor and faculty coordinator of ILR International Programs. "The focus on China is especially timely given the country's appeal to investors, the concerns surrounding working conditions and labor rights and the impact the Chinese economy is having on the rest of the world since China's entry into the World Trade Organization," said Cook. Recently the global community took notice when a report from Cornell for Human Rights Watch showed widespread restrictions on freedom of association and evidence of child labor and forced labor in China's factories -- but also some positive changes.

Panelists and their areas of expertise are: Anita Chan, sociologist, co-editor of the China Journal and a research fellow at the Australian National University's Contemporary China Centre, is the author of China's Workers Under Assault: The Exploitation of Labor in a Globalizing Economy; Michael A. Santoro, associate professor, Rutgers Business School, teaches courses on the social responsibilities of multinational corporations, ethical and legal aspects of the pharmaceutical industry, business ethics and business law, and is the author of Profits and Principles: Global Capitalism and Human Rights in China; and Li Qiang, founder and executive director of China Labor Watch, was a factory worker in China for 10 years and played a leading role in organizing networks of labor activists He has led the U.S. chapter of China Labor Watch since 2000.

For more information, contact Robin Remick at 254-2950 or rjr4@cornell.edu .