Forced Labor in China

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“No family should have to depend on the labor of its children to put food on the table and no person should be forced to work in captivity” (Hilda Solis-Department of Labor). Labour is more than just physically being forced to do a job but also being enslaved to the person in which you are working for. Bondage, arbitrarily, low wages for harsh work, or any fashion of mandated daily grind is the sole aspect that article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights wards against.
“Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests”
-Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 23

A leading forced labor prison in China, Masanjia, is a place that is a hell hole for most, because it entirely goes against the forced labour policy of article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In a recent news story, an Oregon mother while opening her Halloween decorations, found a letter of a plea of help from a laborer in China describing the deplorable situation he was in in the Chinese prison: Masanjia. Later identified as Mr. Zhang, a previous English student at a Chinese University, was forced into the Chinese prison system due to his religious practices; he is a faithful member of Falun Gong. At the Masanjia Prison they have a striking program that pro...

... middle of paper ...

... article 23, yet no real positive action comes from it.

Works Cited

Chan, Anita. “Labor Standards and Human Rights: The Case of Chinese Workers under Market Socialism,” Human Rights Quartely, Vol. 20, No. 4 (1998): 886-904. Web. 7 November 2013.
"China." United States Department of Labor. United States Department of Labor, n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. .
Jacobs, Andrew. "Behind Cry for Help From China Labor Camp." New York Times 11 June 2013: A1. Print.
Lee, Ching Kwan. Against The Law : Labor Protests In China's Rustbelt And Sunbelt. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 7 November 2013.
Zhang, Laney. "Children's Rights: China." Law Library of Congress. United States Government. August 2007. Web. 6 November 2013.

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