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Article

17 Aug 2005

Author:
Jamil Anderlini, South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]

Henan economic miracle labours under ugly truths [China]

[At] Henan No 3 Labour Re-education Camp and...the smaller Henan County Labour Re-education Camp...[Henan Rebecca's] hair [is] sorted and braided by inmates before it is turned into finished [wigs]...These camps...are the backbone of [China's] "administrative detention" system, with 250,000 to 300,000 people incarcerated for up to four years each at the discretion of the police, according to Robin Munro, the head of research at China Labour Bulletin. Such arbitrary detention is condemned by numerous international human rights laws...Prison labour is not unique to China...The principal difference [from other countries] is that in China, inmates do not have the choice of whether to work or not and are usually unpaid. People who have spent time in these camps tell horrific tales of minimum 16-hour work days, churning out everything from rubber balls and toy rabbits to hand-knitted sweaters. Many products are for export to the west and the camps profit from inmates' labour without having to pay them a cent. Inmates who cannot meet quotas are often shocked with electric batons or submitted to other abuse.

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