சீன கம்யூனிஸ்ட் அசுரர்களின் கீழ் அடிமைமுறை

சீனாவில் தொழிலாளர்கள் அடிமைகளாக வாழ்வதை ஒரு சிலர் கண்டுபிடித்து வெளியே காட்டியதும் பிரச்னை பல திசைகளில் திரும்புகிறது. அங்கிருக்கும் லோக்கல் அரசாங்க ஆட்களே இந்த அடிமைமுறையை தொடர்ந்து ஊக்குவித்து வந்திருக்கிறார்கள் என்ற உண்மையும் வெளியே வந்திருக்கிறது.

நன்றி மிடில் ஈஸ்ட் டைம்ஸ்
Police, labor watchdog linked to China slave scandal
Guy Newey
AFP
June 22, 2007

BEIJING -- Government labor monitors and police officers were actively involved in the Chinese brickyard slavery scandal, investigators said Friday.

Primary investigations found that members of both groups were involved in the operation of the illegal kilns in north China's Shanxi province, said Sun Baoshu, a labor and social security minister, according to a Xinhua report.

Sun added that the accused had abused their power for personal gain. "The scandal is pretty serious," he was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Two officers from the team set up to monitor labor standards in Yongji city, Shanxi, have been detained and accused of dereliction of duty and abuse of power.

The two are accused of moving one child worker, who was being sent back home after he was found working in central China's Henan province, to another kiln in Shanxi for new employment, the report added.

Investigators said Friday that they have now freed 359 people in Shanxi, including 12 children, and 65 people with mental disabilities, Sun said at a press conference in the province, according to Xinhua.

Police are now holding 35 people linked to the forced labor and are still hunting for another 20, according to the report. Another 62 have already been given more minor punishments.

Shanxi governor Yu Youjun Friday apologized for the debacle.

"I feel compunction and heart-stricken over the scandal. On behalf of the provincial government, I apologize to the victims and their families, as well as to all the people in Shanxi," said Yu, according to Xinhua. "As Shanxi governor, I'll take the blame for the scandal that infringed the rights of farm workers and children."

His apology came two days after he made a formal admission of error at a meeting of China's cabinet, chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, the report added.

Chinese authorities say that 45,000 policemen have raided more than 8,000 brickyards and small coal mines in Shanxi and in neighboring Henan over the past two weeks in an effort to end the slave labor, which has drawn worldwide condemnation.

Police have now rescued around 600 workers in both provinces, but hundreds of children who were working as slaves remain missing, despite the huge publicity surrounding the human trafficking ring.

The slavery scandal has uncovered a grisly human trafficking ring in which people were beaten and sometimes killed for not working hard enough or trying to escape.

Friday's report said that some workers were forced to work more than 15 hours every day, given poor food, and prevented from escaping by guard dogs. Many received burns and other injuries working in the hot kiln.

The central government has sent a team of investigators to probe the scandal.

An Internet petition posted by concerned parents June 5 that was the trigger for the police action said that up to 1,000 children were enslaved in Shanxi brickyards alone.

The parents of 400 missing children this week issued a fresh appeal to China's leaders to find their sons and daughters, amid fears that brickyard bosses had hidden the youths in an attempt to avoid punishment.