China’s millions of poor migrant workers face widespread, institutionalised discrimination and abuse of their human rights and the government is not doing enough to protect them, Amnesty International said yesterday.

An estimated 200 million migrant workers – who in recent years have flocked from the vast, poor countryside to the booming cities – often lacked proper health care, may have their pay withheld and were vulnerable to exploitation, the report said.

“China’s so-called economic ‘miracle’ comes at a terrible human cost – rural migrants living in the cities experience some of the worst abuse in the work place,” said Catherine Baber, Deputy Asia Pacific Director at Amnesty International. “They are forced to work long stretches of overtime, often denied time off even when sick, and labour under hazardous conditions for paltry wages,” she added.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry yesterday said there were “undeniable abuses in some places and sectors” during the country’s rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. But spokesman Qin Gang dismissed Baber’s “terrible human cost” comment as “unprofessional” and “unfounded”.