China’s slave kilns used 53,000 illegal workers

Lawmakers are likely to pass a new labour law in order to prevent a repeat

BEIJING: Brick kilns and mines at the centre of a slavery scandal used more than 53,000 illegal migrant workers, state media reported on Monday, as the probe into the abuses spread.

Fan Duixiang, a senior member of the Shanxi provincial congress, said investigations found that 2,036 of the 3,347 firms it had raided were operating without the necessary licenses and illegally using 53,036 migrant workers, the Xinhua report said.

Monday’s report added that lawmakers at China’s top legislature were likely to pass a new labour law in the next few days to try and prevent a repeat of the scandal.

The report comes after official and police involvement in the affair — where hundreds of workers suffered enslavement in illegal mines and kilns — became evident, according to state press reports. The Linfen city government in Shanxi province has prohibited all officials from going abroad until the end of the year as local departments are probed for dereliction of duty, the China News Service reported.

Commerce, labour and police officials are among those who have been charged as part of the investigations, reports said. So far nearly 600 people, including dozens of under-aged children, have been released from slavery in Shanxi and neighbouring Henan province.