Crackdown on illegal labor
29 June 2007
China will launch a nationwide crackdown on illegal labor practices in July and August, state media reported. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security said the campaign will focus on small brick kilns, coal mines and workshops. Government officials involved in forced labor scandals would be punished severely, and medical care and compensation will be issued to rescued slave laborers. The two-month crackdown comes after the discovery of forced illegal labor in brick kilns in Shanxi and Henan provinces in late June.