Swedish Daily: “People Who are Locked up in Labour Camps in China are Suffering”

On April the 16th 2004, the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs visited Sweden. An article written by two Swedish citizens was published in the “Swedish Daily” entitled “People Who are Locked up in Labour Camps in China are Suffering”，in which it exposed the current conditions and the illegal enslavement of people in labour camps in China by force. The article went on to say:

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Li Zhaoxing, is visiting Sweden. Our government representatives and other officials will undoubtedly ask him questions about the human rights situation in China. Such criticism, however, is not open to the Swedish citizens, and to the Chinese people it is out of the question. It is meaningless if the criticism about human rights violations is not an open issue.

Enslavement is one example in need of public criticism. Combs, knitted sweaters, furry toys, and sports goods are very likely manufactured by people forcibly locked up in China.

Among those people who are locked up, there are politicians, Falun Gong practitioners, and Christians. They are forced to contribute their physical labour for more than 15 hours a day and are allowed very little sleep and insufficient food. Besides, they suffer brainwashing and torture every day. Full of toxic chemicals and smells, their living and labour environment is very bad.

A lot of people expect to improve human rights in China through their economic trade with China. The reality, however, proves that years of investments by western entrepreneurs in China do not make any difference to human rights improvement in China.

At the yearly human rights conference in Geneva held by the United Nations, the largest persecution of human rights in the world is never touched. Though representatives from many countries prepare to speak of the persecution of human rights in China included in the agenda, it has been stopped every time by the mechanism of a “Non-Action” bill in the United Nations.

What is gratifying is that there are more and more testimonies of victims, such as those suffering from torture, Tibetan and Falun Gong practitioners, are invited by non-governmental organisations to describe their experiences of cruel torture, punishment, and rape that happened in the prisons and labour camps in China. According to the experts in the field of law that which is described above has already been considered the severest crimes against humanity.

To protect human rights is our common responsibility. Only under the premise of people whose hearts are towards compassion can human rights be truly protected. We hope the government representatives we elect and people in our countries can bring more help to those suffering from persecution, and further expose the Jiang’s regime’s crimes in violating human rights in China.