Amidst the global talks of providing a decent childhood to the less fortunate children, lies the stark reality of bonded child labour. And one such horrible tale of forced labour has come to fore, when Chinese authorities rescued numerous kids, who were forced to work in the hazardous brick factories.
In China hundreds of children were kidnapped and then put into slavery. It is estimated that around 1,000 children, as well as adults, have been abducted to make slaves.
Some four hundred parents began an online campaign to find their missing children who were kidnapped, but the government only became involved when Chinese journalists began investigating the matter and now have ordered an urgent investigation into slave labour scandal.
The President Hu Jintao and the Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, have intervened to call for urgent efforts to trace out hundreds of boys and young men who are feared missing despite raids on brick factories across north and central areas of the country.
These children were kidnapped from train and bus stations, and confined to brick factories without any basic freedom. There, they were made to do work, beaten and left untreated for severe burns.
There have also been reports that the collusion between the kiln owners and local officials was hampering the investigation as in one of the first case discovered, the owner of the kiln factory was the son of the local Communist Party boss.
In this factory, several laborers were found locked from years and were forced to live off bread and water. Even one has been dead in these years.
Later on, other kilns were raided where boys aged about eight told of seeing friends beaten and killed. In another case two young men, were deliberately buried alive.
The rescue operations have freed a group of 251 slave laborers so far from Shanxi, whereas 217 have been rescued from Henan province.
Source: telegraph
