Anybody buying goods made in China might want to consider that they are likely, at least in part, to have a connection to a system of prisons that grossly abuse human rights. The Laogai (the word translates from Mandarin into “reform through labour”) system has more than 1,000 forced-labour camps scattered throughout the country. An estimated 5.5 million people are held in these prisons where they are forced to work, sometimes making consumer goods that end up in the export market.
China’s Systematic Crushing of Dissent
Political prisoners, religious observers, homosexuals, and dissidents are housed alongside dangerous criminals. In a 2001 article for CNN, former labour-camp prisoner Harry Wu says the system “is designed as a repressive mechanism to control and, in effect, eliminate anyone whose political, religious, or societal views differ from those of the Communist Party.”
In 1992, Wu founded the Laogai Research Foundation after he managed to get out of China and settle in the United States. The foundation’s website notes that, “In 1960, Wu was imprisoned at the age of 23 for criticizing the Communist Party, and subsequently spent 19 years toiling in the factories, mines, and fields of the Laogai.”
From Prison Labour to Store Shelves
According to a 2011 Al Jazeera documentary about slavery in China, “millions of men and women [are] locked up in prisons and forced into intensive manual labour…the use of the inmates of these prisons - in what some experts call ‘state sponsored slavery’ - has been credited with contributing to the country’s economic boom.”
Ramin Pejan writes for the Washington College of Law that prisoners “are fed three times a day, but the quantity of food depends on their daily performance,…consisting mostly of corn gruel and corn bread. Prisoners often labour 12 hours per day or more, [making] a wide array of products for foreign and domestic markets.”
According to Harry Wu products coming out of the Laogai factories include: tee shirts, sweaters, Christmas lights, and toys.
Prison-made Goods Banned in Germany
The Laogai Research Foundation says that China has reacted to criticism of its use of prison labour: “China officially banned the export of forced labour products, this law is not enforced, and international requests for inspections of suspected Laogai facilities are routinely denied.”
In May 2007, the government of Germany banned the importation of goods coming out of China’s Laogai network. Der Spiegel reports that the parliamentary “motion also urges Germany to introduce a label that would henceforth provide consumers with a guarantee that the product they are purchasing has not been produced using Laogai inmates;” a move the International Society for Human Rights called a “human rights sensation.”
The state government of New South Wales in Australia has put a ban on its procurement of goods from China. In the United States, the University of Notre Dame also refuses to buy Chinese goods, although Bloomberg News reports it is the only major U.S. university to do so.
However, these actions may be signs of taking the moral high-ground but it’s questionable whether they can be enforced. Without a large number of independent inspectors inside China checking the origin of all products it will be next to impossible to judge whether or not that toy junior desperately wants for Christmas came from prison labour or through a legitimate factory paying a decent wage.
The only way to ensure nothing is bought from China’s prison-labour system is to but nothing at all that’s made in that country. Good luck with that project around the holiday season.
Sources
- “Labour Camps Reinforce China’s Totalitarian Rule.” Harry Wu, CNN, 2001.
- “Prison Slaves.” Al Jazeera, aired November 22, 2011.
- “Laogai: ‘Reform through Labour’ in China.” Ramin Pejan, Human Rights Brief, Washington College of Law, Volume 7, Issue 2.
- “German Parliament Condemns China’s ‘Laogai’ Camps.” Wolfgang Reuter, Der Spiegel, May 14, 2007.
- Notre Dame Alone among Schools on China Goods Ban.” Mark Drajem, Bloomberg News, May 18, 2011.
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
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