Among those goods shelved in retail stores across the country marked "Made in China," some have been produced within China's huge re-education through labor camp system.
It is estimated that somewhere between 4 to 6 million, a population perhaps nearly as large as Australia's entire work force, are held in these camps, which in Chinese are known as Laogai.
The consumer goods made in these camps make their way to overseas markets. It is reported that over 200 different products made in Laogai are exported.
While playing an important part in China's economy, this unpaid slave labor is a tool that has been used by the communist regime to maintain control over the Chinese population for decades. It is a system designed to stamp out those who have differing political, social, or religious views to that of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). These camps aim to crush inmates physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Those incarcerated in these labor camps are made up of two groups of people—criminals and the largest group of inmates, who are dissidents, such as members of underground Christian churches, Falun Gong practitioners, and democracy or free speech advocates.
According to Amnesty International, those Chinese who are receiving terms in labor camps are denied access to a lawyer and have no court hearing. "Sentencing" is usually decided by the Chinese police alone. Chinese people can be retained in a labor camp for up to 4 years and are at high risk of being beaten or tortured, particularly if they refuse to recant their "crimes."
In a recent investigation by The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, evidence was found of products being made under contract in Chinese labor camps for Lanzhou Zhenglin Nongken Food Ltd., Jin Printing Co. Ltd., Qiqihaer Siyou Chemical Industry Co. Ltd., and Beijing Mickey Toys Co. Ltd., which makes soft toys that are being exported to the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Hungary, and Japan.
Other products that were reported as being made in labor camps were rubber balls for a well known sports label. Knitted sweaters, cushions, plastic syringes, sanitized chopsticks, posters, and printed packaging were also some common commodities made in various camps.
Poisonous gardening products such as pesticides and herbicides were also reported to be packaged by prisoners. No safety precautions, safety clothing, or eyeglasses are provided when inmates come into direct contact with these substances, leading to poisoning and severe skin irritations.
Former labor camp inmate Jennifer Zheng, in her book Witness to History, gave detailed descriptions about the abuses and atrocities that occurred in a Laogai in Beijing.
"We were made to work 7 days a week, from 5:30 in the morning to 1 or 2 a.m. If there were quotas to fill, we would work for days without sleep," she wrote. Ms. Zheng said that some of the toys she was forced to make were for Nestle.
During her imprisonment, Ms. Zheng was shocked with an electric baton until she lost consciousness. She was also deprived of sleep in an attempt to "re-educate" her, to force her to renounce her belief in the spiritual practice of Falun Gong.*
Ms. Zheng is one of tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners who have been sent to Laogais. Of the nearly 3,000 confirmed deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in China during the regime's persecution, it is believed that most of these have occurred within Laogais.
While this pool of cheap labor enhances China's economy, the CCP Laogai system is similar to the Nazis use of concentration camps and the Soviets use of Gulags. This free labor en masse is one explanation of why goods from China are so cheap.
The question remains as we move into the New Year, can the Western world really afford this moral crisis hidden within capitalism occurring in China after we have said, "Never again"?
Although retailers may be assured by exporting companies that the produce being sold is manufactured under humane conditions, how can we be completely assured when forced labor inside mainland China is so widespread and continues to go largely unchecked?
"The outside world believes that China has changed. China's Human Rights state has improved, and everyone is so eager to do business with China without really knowing the real state of China, without knowing that so many people were tortured and murdered in the labour camps," wrote Jennifer Zheng.
[*Falun Gong is an exercise and meditation practice that includes a moral philosophy based on truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. It became well known in China after 1992 and was practised by over 70 million Chinese according to a official Chinese report. Falun Gong's popularity is claimed by practitioners to be the reason behind the communist regime's crackdown on the practice, which began in July 1999.]
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