[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 24, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FORCED CHILD LABOR IN CHINA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 24, 2001

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer 
my sincerest condolences to the families of the 42 individuals--
including 37 young school children--who died in a horrible explosion in 
China on March 6 of this year. This tragedy resulted from a situation 
of forced child labor in which the deceased third- and fourth-graders 
were required to spend long hours during the school day making 
firecrackers. Along with 16 co-sponsors, today I am introducing a 
bipartisan resolution that expresses condolences to the families of the 
deceased and expresses support for international trade agreements that 
will enforce the International Labor Organization's core labor 
standards, which include prohibition of child labor and forced labor.
  For years, the parents of children in the Fanglin elementary school, 
which is in a small village 40 miles southwest of Shanghai, had 
complained that their children were being forced by school officials to 
manufacture large firecrackers at school. Every day, the young children 
were required to spend hours mounting fuses and detonators into the 
firecrackers that were then sold by local officials. To ensure that 
their monetary intake remained high, the officials set a sliding 
production quota that started at 1,000 firecrackers per day for the 
youngest children and reached 10,000 firecrackers per day for the 
fifth-graders.
  It was only a matter of time before this disturbing example of forced 
and dangerous child labor would end in tragedy. On a Tuesday afternoon, 
the firecrackers exploded in the elementary school and took the lives 
of the 37 young children.
  Chinese Prime Minister Zhu immediately denied the use of forced child 
labor, and Communist Party officials invented a story about a ``mad 
man'' who entered the school and set off the explosion as part of his 
suicide attempt. However, thanks to the courageous and persistent 
reporting of both Chinese and international journalists, Prime Minister 
Zhu was eventually forced to acknowledge the true events of March 6.
  The forced labor and child labor in China violates several 
conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO), but 
unfortunately the ILO has no enforcement powers. I ask my colleagues to 
join me in supporting a bipartisan House Resolution that expresses our 
condolences to the families of the deceased and urges strong 
international action to enforce the ILO core labor standards.

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