UN Child Rights Committee presses China on child labour: List of Issues adopted October 2, 2026, review set for May 2027, written replies due February 15, 2027

Full report

According to CHRD on November 4: the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has asked the Chinese government to explain how it protects children aged 16 to 18 from hazardous labour. The question is included in the formal List of Issues adopted by the Committee on October 2, 2026, and reflects CHRD research documenting abuses of vocational school student interns under 18. The Committee has provisionally scheduled China's review under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) for its May 2027 session, and the Chinese government is expected to respond to the Committee's questions in writing by February 15, 2027. The List of Issues covers a wide range of children's rights concerns: the Committee asked the Chinese government critical questions about abuses including discrimination against Tibetan and Uyghur children, restrictions on their religious and linguistic rights, barriers to education, family separation, and reprisals against children who speak out, and about the implications for children of laws adopted since China's last review in 2013, including Hong Kong's national security laws and the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, in effect since July 1, 2026. The Committee also asked the Chinese government to report on the measures it has taken to protect children aged 16 to 18 from 'hazardous labor' and 'to end forced, exploitative and hazardous child labor,' including in 'schools, State-run work-study programs,' in manufacturing, and in Chinese businesses abroad, and for information on investigations, prosecutions and sentences in cases of forced and hazardous child labor. [1][2]

Both questions draw on CHRD's submission to the Committee, based on the report 'Genuine Free Choice? Child Labor and Mandatory Student Internships in China', published in May 2026. That research focuses on two overlapping issues: abuses within mandatory vocational school internship programs affecting students under 18, and the illegal hiring of children under 16. Despite domestic legislation and China's ratification of the CRC and key International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, abuses of child labor persist across industries. Documented rights abuses in 11 provinces between 2019 and 2025 show some vocational students' internships involved working 10–12-hour shifts, including night work, and performing tasks unrelated to their studies. Other internships put students at risk of physical harm. Three student interns died — two by suicide, one after being denied adequate medical care — and another harmed himself; all had expressed distress to teachers or managers, directly or through their families. CHRD's findings call into question Chinese authorities' willingness to enforce domestic laws, including the Law on the Protection of Minors and the Regulations on the Management of Vocational School Student Internships, to protect children. The violations also reflect non-compliance with the Chinese government's obligations under the CRC and ILO conventions. These figures and conclusions are CHRD's research findings, not independently verified by this site. [1]

CHRD's article makes three specific calls: Chinese authorities should make child labor data publicly available — including complaints received through the national hotline and labor inspection findings on hazardous child labor — and investigate labor dispatch agencies that unlawfully broker student interns. Reporting channels independent of school administrations are also needed, so that students do not fear that reporting abuse, or withdrawing from an internship, will jeopardize their ability to graduate. CHRD says Beijing's written replies to the List of Issues, and its dialogue with the Committee in May 2027, will show whether the Chinese government is finally prepared to offer the transparency and accountability it has withheld for more than a decade — including for the children harmed in state-sanctioned internships. CHRD will monitor the Chinese government's replies and continue to engage the Committee before the review. Verification boundary of this record: the adoption of the List of Issues, the review date and the reply deadline, and the existence and core conclusions of CHRD's report are grounded in CHRD's article and the OHCHR List of Issues document; the truth of the case details is CHRD's research conclusion, not independently verified by this site, hence under ongoing verification, with follow-up on Beijing's written replies by February 15, 2027 and the May 2027 review. [1][2]

Verification note and deduplication: the core facts of this record — the Committee on the Rights of the Child's List of Issues on China adopted October 2, 2026, the May 2027 review, the February 15, 2027 written-reply deadline, the List's coverage of child labour and Tibetan and Uyghur children's rights, and the child-labour questions' origin in CHRD's May 2026 report — come from CHRD's article of November 4 (with a link to the OHCHR List of Issues document). This site's October 26 round screened out an ISHR commentary on the same List of Issues as outside the 24-hour window; that was a mid-October commentary, whereas this record is based on CHRD's new November 4 publication, which adds CHRD's case-research details (11 provinces, 10–12-hour shifts, three interns' deaths) and the 2027 review timetable — a different publication with new content, not a duplicate. This site had not previously carried the Committee's List of Issues or CHRD's child-labour report. [1][2]