By Minghui reporter Chu Tianxing
(Clearwisdom.net) (Continued...) Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/3/25/46394.html 11. According to Falun Gong practitioners who were once incarcerated in
Yitong Detention Center in Yitong Manchu Autonomous County, Jilin Province, the
staff at Yitong Detention Center forced them to work as slaves without any pay,
labor rights, or even human rights, to make a type of handicraft for export
referred to as the "Handcrafted Artificial Bird." Everyday they worked extremely
long hours and took a severe toll on their health. The incarcerated Falun Gong
practitioners were held as slaves to provide free labor beyond their physical
limit, and they were also subjected to the disciplinary staff and slave labor
supervisors' brutal beatings. Wang Qi from Yitong Manchu Autonomous County's
"610 Office" did not deny it when Minghui reporter Chu Tianxing contacted him to
confirm the alleged slave labor in the forced labor camps in Yitong County. [The
610 Office is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with
absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other
political or judicial systems.] The "Handcrafted Artificial Bird" is a type of export product. Each bird is
made of molded polystyrene in the shape of a bird wrapped with Ricepaperplant
Pith (or Medulla Tetrapanacis) glued with bark for the wings and feathers
for its tail. The prison inmates at Yitong Detention Center worked as slave
labor supervisors at different levels. Falun Gong practitioners illegally
detained in Yitong Detention Center did not get any days off given to all
detainees. Moreover, they were often forced to work into the night until one to
two A.M. In order to increase the production output, the disciplinary staff
would even deny Falun Gong practitioners sleep for three to four days. All the
revenue from slave labor went into the pockets of the disciplinary and other
staff members at Yitong Detention Center.
Besides being held as slaves to work long hours exceeding a normal human
limit, Falun Gong practitioners were subjected to the disciplinary staff and
inmates-turned-supervisors' brutal and willful beatings on a daily basis. Inside
sources revealed that at any time the disciplinary staff and
inmates-turned-supervisors would use hand tools that were supposed to be used to
make "handcrafted artificial birds" to torture Falun Gong practitioners. For
instance, they would batter Falun Gong practitioners' shoulder blades with
rubber-sheathed hammers, causing them excruciating pain. They would also flog
Falun Gong practitioners' heads with rattan canes.
The disciplinary staff and the slave labor supervisors also made a new type
of torture tool called "Giant Wood Planks." Someone at Yitong Detention Center
made a ragged verse of black humor to describe the horrible impact of such a
torture device: "One lick turns one pale (lack of blood); two licks turns one
red (blood); three licks tears flesh." It was fairly common that the
disciplinary staff and inmates-turned supervisors tore Falun Gong practitioners'
flesh with the appalling flogging with the "Giant Wood Planks" every day. A
practitioner with the last name of Bao was once subject to repeated floggings
with "Giant Wood Planks" on the hips. The injury was so severe that the
practitioner was unable to recover even a month after the flogging.
A government official on the Economics Committee in Yitong Manchu Autonomous
County once revealed that several units under the Economics Committee were
indeed responsible for the production contract of "Handcrafted Artificial
Birds." It is "normal" for the detention centers and forced labor camps to bid
contracts at an extremely low price from the local manufacturing plants and then
force detainees to provide slave labor to complete the contracts. Commercial
production using incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners as slaves is the very
reason why the detention centers and forced labor camps can afford to bid so low
on commercial contracts and still make a profit.
12. Xin'an Forced Labor Camp in Beijing and Mickey Toy Co. Ltd. in Beijing
once cooperated to profit from a toy bunny contract, where they enslaved
incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners to make toy bunnies for the Nestle
Company.
Picture 1: Photo of Beijing Mickey Toys Co., Ltd sign board on
its front gate.
Picture 2: Toy rabbits produced by Mickey Co., LTD for Nestle 13. The No. 1 Female Forced Labor Camp in Shandong Province became the
production plant [using slave labor] for the Lider General Corporation Ltd. in
Shandong Province and Tianyi Printing Company Ltd. in Jinan, Shandong Province.
Incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners were forced to process and sew quilts for
Lider General Corporation Ltd. and to put name-brand labels on the quilts such
as "Beijing Jiangyaling" and "Shuanghe" for Tianyi Printing Company Ltd. The
quilts are exported to more than ten countries, including the United States,
Canada, Chili, the EU, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other countries.
III. Slave Labor Violates Chinese Laws and the United Nations' Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
Slave labor in China violates the Chinese Constitution, as well as the
following Chinese Laws:
It is in the very Chinese Constitution that forbids slave labor. Because of
the limit in article length, we are listing only Article 42 and 43 from the
Chinese
Constitution
Article 42. Citizens of the People's Republic of China have the right as
well as the duty to work. Using various channels, the state creates conditions
for employment, strengthens labour protection, improves working conditions and,
on the basis of expanded production, increases remuneration for work and social
benefits. Work is the glorious duty of every able-bodied citizen. All working
people in state enterprises and in urban and rural economic collectives should
perform their tasks with an attitude consonant with their status as masters of
the country. The state promotes socialist labour emulation, and commends and
rewards model and advanced workers. The state encourages citizens to take part
in voluntary labour. The state provides necessary vocational training to
citizens before they are employed.
Article 43. Working people in the People's Republic of China have the
right to rest. The state expands facilities for rest and recuperation of working
people, and prescribes working hours and vacations for workers and staff.
According to [human rights] observers, the enslaved labor in the forced labor
camps, detention centers, and prisons in China violates Chinese Laws, as well as
the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 4 of the
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights states, "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and
the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms."
In May 2002, the Congressional-Executive Commission On China made several
recommendations to the United States Congress regarding the United States'
responsibilities for monitoring and improving China's human rights. One of the
recommendations calls for enforcing the prohibition of the importation of goods
made by prisoners into the United States.
According to a Taiwan Central New Agency report on May 11, 2002,
although Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (10 U.S.C. 1307) prohibits the
importing of goods made by prisoners into the United States, U.S. officials has
not appropriately or effectively executed this law or denied import of prison
labor products to the United States.
According to the Congressional-Executive Commission On China's
2002 Annual
Report, "The United States and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding in
1992 to prevent import into the United States of products made using Chinese
prison labor. A subsequent agreement in 1994 permitted U.S. officials, with
Chinese government permission, to visit prison facilities suspected of producing
goods for export to the United States." [1] U.S. officials have made 13 requests
for site visits since 1996, but they have been permitted to conduct only 3 site
visits in China.
The Congressional-Executive Commission On China recommended, "The US
government encourages companies to adopt and follow a progressive code of
conduct. The Secretary of Commerce, OPIC, and the Export Import Bank should be
directed to give preference to companies that have a strong code of conduct and
prove they have been following it in their business practices." [1]
According to the Congressional-Executive Commission On China's
2002 Annual
Report, "The United States-China Relations Act of 2000 created a Prison
Labor Task Force to monitor and promote effective enforcement of U.S. law in
this area. Its first annual report to Congress stated, ''We believe that prison
officials frequently provide prison labor to private, quasi-government, or
government-owned manufacturing facilities to perform manufacturing and assembly
work, and that the remuneration prisons receive for prisoners' services give
prison officials no incentive to cooperate in preventing the export to the
United States of goods made with prison labor.'' Overall, Chinese cooperation in
implementing these understandings has been minimal." [1]
Founded in January 2003 "to investigate the criminal conduct of all
institutions, organizations, and individuals involved in the persecution of
Falun Gong" [2], the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun
Gong (WOIPFG) pointed out in an investigation report, "The forced labor system
not only violates the basic human rights of the detainees, but also encourages
the prison and labor camp systems to persecute the detainees because of the huge
profit in products made by forced labor. In addition, it shakes the stability of
international labor and trade market when these cheap products are dumped on the
international market." [3]
More and more Chinese people will continue to overcome China's information
barrier and reveal the facts about enslaved labor in China's forced labor camps.
References:
[1] "Labor Rights and Working Conditions" in Chapter 2: Commission Activities
in 2002: Issues and Recommendations of
Congressional-Executive Commission on China Annual Report for 2002
[2] WOIPFG's
Mission
Statement
[3] "WOIPFG
Report on Products Practitioners Are Forced to Manufacture in China's Labor
Camps (Photos)"
Part 2: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/3/26/46395.html
Part 3: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/4/8/46851.html
Posting date: 5/4/2004
Original article date: 5/3/2004
Category: Eyewitness Accounts
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/2/25/68519.html