I. Overview
The number of children working in China is not known. Because of China's
repressive political system, it was not possible to obtain any information
directly from China. There are no Chinese non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
active in this area, and foreign NGOs do not have access. Accordingly, it was
impossible to corroborate or reject allegations by various labor and human
rights organizations that children are working in export industries which
produce for the United States market. It was also impossible to assess how
diligently the Chinese Government enforces child labor laws or prosecutes child
labor law violators, as well as to determine efforts by non-governmental
organizations to address child labor in China.
The American Embassy in Beijing notes that "most independent observers
agree with the assessment of Chinese officials that China's industrial child
labor problem is relatively minor."1 On the
other hand, some China-watchers infer growing child labor problems in China,
particularly in areas around Hong Kong, based on a high dropout rate from school
and the rapid expansion of foreign investment in export-oriented enterprises.
Meanwhile, an official from the Chinese Ministry of Labor admitted that the
employment of children was "very serious" in China.1
According to the State Department Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 1993, no specific Chinese industry is identifiable as a
significant violator of child labor regulations. News reports alluding to
possible child labor problems in China are anecdotal in nature, providing
details on specific investigations of factory fires and other disasters where
children were present. These involve a range of export industries including
garments/textiles, fireworks, and toys. There is some anecdotal information on
child labor in the footwear, electronics, handicrafts (including artificial
flowers)2, and gun industries, but supporting
evidence is not available.
II. Child Labor in Export Industries
In a November 1991 "circular" to various provinces and cities, the
Chinese Ministry of Labor admitted that the situation regarding the employment
of child laborers was "very serious" throughout the country.3 The circular apparently stated that exploiting
child laborers has become a common phenomenon. For example, in some coastal
areas and special economic zones, such as Fujian and Guangdong, as well as
Zhejiang, Sichuan, and Hubei, there are reported to be four to five million
child laborers under the age of 16. Child laborers under 12 years of age are
also found in Whenzhou and in some areas of Guangdong and Hainan. The circular
said that children usually work 10 to 14 hours a day, but their wages are just
about half of adult workers.
Much of the evidence of child labor in China is derived from data from the
large special economic zone of Shenzhen in southern China. Children between the
ages of 10 to 16 are reportedly working up to 14 hours a day in factories in
Shenzhen.4 According to an article in the Jakarta
Post in 1988, the
China Daily reported on August 4, 1988 that girls work between 13 to 14
hours a day from 7 a.m.- 10 p.m. with two one-hour breaks.5
The China Daily reported that after first paying for housing,
electricity, water, and training, workers have little money leftover.6 According to the China Youth News,
conditions for children can be "extremely bad."7
The
China Youth News said that 44 of the 206 foreign-owned companies or
joint ventures in Shenzhen employ children under 16 years of age.8
In a recent report, the Asian-American Free Labor Institute (AAFLI) affirmed
that, at least in large urban factories, underage employment does not occur on a
mass basis,9 but violations of minimum age
standards occur more commonly in sub-contracting factories producing for export.10 According to AAFLI, China has had an explosion
of production for export in non-urban areas, both in rural and township
communities due, to a recent boom in the economy.
A review of current literature suggests that child labor is found in the
export of fireworks, garment/textiles, and toys. Although allegations exist of
child labor in Chinese electronics, handicrafts (artificial flowers), and gun
factories, these allegations have not been documented.
Fireworks
The United States imported approximately $67 million of pyrotechnics and
explosives from China in 1992.11 Children are
reportedly working in the fireworks industry. A recent newspaper report
detailed an explosion at a fireworks factory in Hebei killing one child and
injuring 34 school girls ranging from 11 to 13 years of age.12
Investigators found that the school children had been forced by their teachers
to work for slave wages making firecrackers. The school children were
apparently promised 20 fen (2 cents) for making one long braid of firecrackers,
but were actually paid three fen (0.3 cents). In its China Labor Notes
newsletter of February/March 1994, AAFLI observes that this information was made
public 38 days after the disaster occurred and no television coverage was
permitted.13 In 1992, another fire at a
fireworks factory killed 20 workers - it was reported that most of those killed
were between 9 and 14 years old.14
Garments and Textiles
Newspaper and journal reports indicate that children are allegedly working
in the garment and textile industries of China. Imports of apparel and textiles
from China to the U.S. market reached approximately $4.5 billion during 1993.
Agence France Presse reported that China's number one textile firm at
Qingpu, near Shanghai, employs children aged 12 to 15 years old allegedly
recruited from the neighboring province of Anhui.15
A 1993 article in the periodical Dapeng Bay reported that at Chungsan
City, a foreign textile enterprise employed about 160 child laborers, and that a
14 year old was killed after her hair became tangled in her machine.16 In August 1988, Beijing's national radio
broadcasted an expose of working conditions in Shenzhen after journalists found
12 year-old children sleeping two to three in a bed in dorms and working 15
hours a day for $10 per month. One child worker also showed a burn mark
inflicted by the factory machine.17
Toys/Sports Equipment/Games
The International Child Labor Study staff also received numerous allegations
of the use of child labor in toy, sporting equipment, and game factories. In
1992, the United States imported approximately $3.9 billion worth of toys,
games, and sporting goods from China.18 A 1988
Business Week article reported that, in order to meet the holiday demand
for toys, girls at a plant were ordered to work one or two 24-hour shifts each
month.19 The allegations of the employment of
children under 14 years in China's toy industry helped prompt the "Toycott
Campaign" urging a boycott of toys made in China.20
III. Laws of China
A. National Child Labor Laws
A new labor law published on July 6, 1994 (effective January 1, 1995),
prohibits the employment of children under 16 years of age.21
Previously, according to the U.S. Department of State Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices for 1993, regulations promulgated in 1987 prohibited
the employment of school age minors who had not completed the compulsory nine
years of education.22
The enforcement of laws is sometimes made difficult by counterfeit
identification cards. AAFLI reports that, according to workers in southeastern
China, the use of counterfeit IDs is fairly common. Some workers admitted that
they were three or four years younger than the 16 years certified on their ID
cards.23
B. Education Laws
The International Labor Organization reports that compulsory education in
China is required up to age 16.24 In a recent
article in the Dapeng Bay periodical, children are reported to be
dropping out of school at increasing rates.25
According to the U.S. State Department, Chinese press reports indicate that
dropout rates for lower secondary schools (ages 12 to 15) exceed nine percent in
several southern provinces, whereas the national average is 2.2 percent.26 The Christian Science Monitor reported
that in 1987 at least three million Chinese children left school to begin work,
joining 37 million other child dropouts from schools in the city and the
countryside.27 An increasing group of children
leaving school below the legal work age suggests the possibility of a growing
child labor problem.
C. International Conventions
China is a party to ILO Convention No. 59 Concerning Minimum Age for
Admission to Employment in Industry and the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child. China has not ratified ILO Convention No. 138 Concerning
Minimum Age for Admission to Employment.
IV. Programs and Efforts To Address Child Labor
According to the Xinhua News Service, China has set up 2,763 courts to deal
with cases involving juvenile delinquency and violation of children's rights, as
well as 17 provincial committees for the protection of children.28
After the fire at the handicrafts/toy factory at Zhili, Chinese authorities
compelled 100 Guangdong factory owners to tour the remains of the factory. They
have also announced tough fire safety regulations.29
The AAFLI report notes that in early 1994, the Guangdong Labor Department
issued a booklet summarizing pertinent labor laws and regulations, but it
contained no mention of minimum age.
1 American Embasssy - Beijing, unclassified
telegram no. 041337, Nov. 17, 1993.
1 "'Cheng Ming' PRC reports contradict
official figures on social problems," BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
(January 6, 1992) [hereinafter BBC, January 6, 1992] citing excerpts
from article by Kung Yen, 'Cheng Ming' (Hong Kong, January 1, 1992).
2 In 1988 a newspaper article reported that an
artificial flower factory in China's Shenzhen Special Economic Zone was caught
employing girls as young as 12, who were paid 72 cents a day a for 14 to 15
hours of work. Michael Browning, "Proposed Toycott has China denying
child-labor charge," Herald Staff Writer, [publication and date unknown, on
file].
3 BBC, January 6, 1992.
4 "Children Still Exploited in China,"Jakarta
Post, August 5, 1988.
5 Id.
6 Id.
7 "Report Says Child Labor Rampant in
Chinese City," Associated Press, August 3, 1988.
8 Id.
9 Child Labor in China (Asian-American
Free Labor Institute, June 1994) 5 [on file] [hereinafter 1994 AAFLI China
Report].
10 Id.
11 U.S. Merchandise Trade: Exports and
General Imports by Country (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce,
Bureau of Census, 1993) A89.
12 "China Fireworks Blast Hurts
Forced-Labor Pupils," Reuters, March 8, 1994.
13 1994 AAFLI China Report at 3. See also
"Accident in Fireworks Plant Injures Child Laborers," in China:
Labor Notes, (Asian-American Free Labor Institute, February/March 1994) 4.
Hubei, the heart of the firecrackers industry, has been plagued by fiery
disasters despite crackdowns by local officials. According to a recent report by
Asian-American Free Labor Institute, this officially released report provided
far more details than is customary for Chinese authorities.
14 Robin Wright, "World View: The
Littlest Victims of Global 'Progress'," Los Angeles Times, January
11, 1994.
15 Printed in South China Morning Post
and the Jakarta Daily,
April 30, 1993, cited in 1994 AAFLI China Report at 5.
16 "The Boy Scouts of the Working World,"
Dapeng Bay, (Shenzhen Po An County Cultural and Sports Bureau, June
1993).
17 "Report Says Child Labor Rampant in
Chinese City," Associated Press, August 3, 1988.
18 U.S. Merchandise Trade: Exports and
General Imports by Country (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce,
1993) A90.
19 Dinah Lee and Rose Brady, "Long hard
days - at pennies an hour,"
Business Week (October 31, 1988) 46.
20 "Frontlash Sponsors Toy BoyCott,"
Ball State Daily News, vol. 10, no. 68 (November 27, 1990).
21 "China Law Bans Child Labor, Bias;
Addresses Hours, Minimum Wage,"
Journal of Commerce, July 7, 1994. According to the U.S. Department of
State, in 1991, the State Council issued regulations imposing severe fines,
withdrawal of business licenses, or jail for employers who hire laborers under
16 years of age. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1993
(U.S. Department of State, February 1994) 619 [hereinafter Country Reports].
It is unclear whether in 1991 a labor law - or a regulation - prohibited the
employment of children under sixteen.
22 Country Reports at 619.
23 1994 AAFLI China Report at 4.
24 ILO Conditions of Work Digest,
volume 10, 1/1991 (Geneva: International Labor Organization, 1991) Annex I.
25 "The Boy Scouts of the Working World,"
Dapeng Bay (Shenzhen Po An County Cultural and Sport Bureau, June 1993)
[on file].
26 Country Reports at 619.
27 Fanhua writes the number of children not
attending school is increasing in China in, Zhen Fanhua, Iron Rice Bowl,
Black Rice Bowl, Gold Rice Bowl (Henen's People's Publishing Company, May
1993), cited in 1994 AAFLI China Report at 6; "Heading for Cities
and the Good Life," Christian Science Monitor, December 14, 1988.
28 "Tianjin Hosts Forum on Protection of
Juveniles," Xinhua News Service, October 12, 1993.
29 "Locked Cage Causes A Tragedy,"
AFL-CIO Labor Notes, vol. 4, no. 11 (November 1993).
