The notorious Chinese prisons and labor camps are a product of the government's totalitarian regime.
The incarcerated populace is reportedly made to work like slaves and overworked for the production of export commodities.
The following are some of the problems with prison "slave labor" in China.
1. violates trade agreements and laws
Despite trade agreements and laws that prohibit the export of products derived from labor camps,
It has been discovered that more than 100 different products, including food, clothing, household goods, and cosmetics, are produced by forced labor in Chinese sweatshops.
These products are sold in the United States, Australia, Asia, Russia, and Europe.
2. Where are the prisons and laboratories located?
According to one survey, there are nearly 100 prisons, labor camps, and detention centers in China that use slave labor to produce goods.
Most are in Anhui, Beijing, Gansu, Guangdong, Henan, Heilongjiang, Shandong, Shanghai, and Tianjin.
3. Lack of Regulation
The international community has developed standards to protect food and clothing from infectious diseases during production.
However, there are no supervisors in Chinese laboratories to conduct sanitary inspections of food and clothing.
For example, at the Yunnan Women's Labor Education Center, there was an incident in which a Falun Gong practitioner refused to work in a cookie factory.
When the Labor Cultivation Center asked her why, the inmate replied: "You want to buy these biscuits.
When the Labor Education Center asked him why, the inmate replied: "Do you want to buy these cookies?
Bags of flour were piled on the muddy floor, and the machines used to make cookies were covered with dust.
Do you think the cookies produced meet hygiene standards?
Our toilets are dirty and smelly, and there is no clean space to put your feet down.
We don't even have towels to wipe our hands, so at best, we wipe them with our aprons.
Do you want to eat these cookies?
I am a Falun Gong practitioner who values truth and compassion, so I cannot make food that harms others."
Take the example of what happened at the First Women's Labor and Cultivation Center in Inner Mongolia.
Most of the inmates were sickly and housed in solitary confinement.
Their advanced age made them unsuitable for working on the production line.
As a result, these women were forced to perform tasks such as taking trash off of sweaters.
To complete their tasks within the allotted time, they were forced to use filthy shoe brushes and fold their garments with dirty hands.
These goods were then exported to countries around the world.
4. No concern for the environment or health
Laboratories in China are ideal places for companies to escape regulations and safety standards.
The following example is from a labor camp in Heilongjiang Province.
Inmates were put to work processing toxic rubber material used to process gloves and car seats.
The camp is filled with a pungent odor and toxic wastewater that even the guards find unbearable.
A technical team from the Labor and Culture Institute took measurements and found extremely high levels of carcinogens.
Upon seeing the results, the guards were reluctant to enter the factory, preferring to stay outdoors even on the coldest winter days.
Meanwhile, inmates were forced to meet high production quotas, and many suffered from severe disabilities, including nosebleeds, heart palpitations, and breathing difficulties.
5. Inhuman schedule
Slave laborers must work 10 to 20 hours a day.
When production quotas are high, workers are not allowed to close their eyes and rest, which continues for several days.
According to estimates, about 36% of slave laborers were forced to work 12 to 14 hours a day, 25% worked 16 to 18 hours, and 19% worked as many as 14 to 16 hours.
6. Work without wages
Workers in detention are not paid, and the lucky few receive a minimal wage.
Actual cases have been observed in women's labor training centers in Shandong Province, where workers were paid anywhere from about 100 yen to 2,000 yen.
7. Apparel Production Expected to Increase
China's prisons, which have already established food and machinery production capabilities, are now focusing on clothing production.
According to a 2016 report by the World Bank, China is the world's largest apparel producer, accounting for 41% of the world's total.
Industry insiders note that about 10% of China's apparel shipments are produced in laboratories.
According to the investigative report, "Production of Slave Labor Products by Falun Gong Practitioners in China," Prisons 1, 4, 5, and 7 and the Labor and Culture Center in Zhejiang Province have long-term contracts with Chinese garment manufacturers. More than 20,000 workers, including illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners, are employed by this enterprise.
In this way, the labor camps used slave labor to make clothing, which they then sold to China and the rest of the world.
