China announced a nation-wide crackdown on enslavement and child labour on Wednesday, in the highest admission yet of grim exploitation in rural brick kilns where official complicity has been charged.
Revelations of hundreds of poor farmers, teenagers and some children forced or lured to kilns, mines and foundries in Shanxi and Henan provinces have unfolded over past weeks, outraging citizens and local media. But until now, national leaders have avoided public comment.
Premier Wen Jiabao chaired a meeting of the State Council Standing Committee, or cabinet, which heard of a gruesome chain of abuses, state television news reported. "In the Shanxi black kilns there were not only grave illegal employment problems, but also criminal forces abducting, restricting personal freedom, using coerced labour, employing children and maliciously wounding to the point of death," said a summary of the meeting read out on television news.
"Strike hard against law-breaking and crime and criminal forces, rescue all the victims," ordered the meeting. It announced a national inspection focusing on child labour and enslavement in small rural kilns, mines and workshops.
The scandal has been a slap in the face for Wen and President Hu Jintao's vows to create a "harmonious society" that respects and enriches poor farmers. Local officials and police have been accused of ignoring or even helping the trade in trapped workers, many taken from around railway or bus stations. One detained kiln owner, Wang Bingbing, was the son of the village party secretary.
A father who tried to find and rescue his missing son and other victims said he was brushed off by police. "If you find your own kid, just take him away. Otherwise, keep your nose out of this," an officer told him, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The governor of Shanxi, Yu Youjun, made a self-criticism at the meeting on behalf of his administration. By Tuesday, police there and in Henan had detained over 130 people suspected of involvement in the hidden human trade and freed over 500 workers.
The cabinet meeting vowed to "strictly investigate and punish involved officials for any corruption and dereliction of duty" and urged all officials to "absorb lessons" from the scandal.
But this is not the first time that Wen has condemned slave conditions in brick kilns. In 2003, he demanded tough punishment after a teenage boy was trapped into working in a kiln in Shanxi. And in this country where ideas of legal rights are unfamiliar to many citizens shaped by decades of unyielding Communist Party rule, some lawyers have said proper redress and lasting protection also require greater legal assertiveness.
"The government has given some compensation, but it's hardly enough for the work, physical suffering and mental trauma," said Zhang Lisheng, a lawyer in Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province which adjoins the similar-sounding Shanxi.
Zhang told Reuters he and dozens of other lawyers there had organised with a Xian newspaper to press the claims of local victims - more than 30 so far. He said suing kiln owners would be difficult, especially given the hard task of finding evidence.
"Even if we don't sue in court, we want to make the point that this is a country of rule of law and everyone should respect the law," he said, adding that similar efforts were under way in Henan, where many trapped workers came from.
Zhang said many freed workers had received payment of a few thousand yuan - hundreds of dollars - or less which went no way to fully covering their work and suffering. Poor farmers often had little idea of labour laws promising protection, said Luo Yi, a Xian lawyer also helping victims.
"We need to teach employers and officials about the law, but even more we need to raise the awareness of victims and workers. "When they come from the countryside and have very little education, the idea of turning to the law is very unfamiliar," Luo said.
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