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2007-6-11 06:57:00 p.m. HKT, XFNA
Beijing Olympic organisers probe claims child labor used to produce
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merchandise
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BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - Organisers of the Beijing Olympics have launched an
investigation into claims that Chinese factories making the official
merchandise were abusing their workers and using children as young as 12.
The allegations came in a report by the Brussels-based International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) which accused four factories in southern
China of abuses including child labour and payment of wages at half the legal
minimum.
Olympic officials in Beijing confirmed that the four factories cited in
the report were licensed by the BOCOG organising committee to produce 2008
Games goods.
""BOCOG is investigating and if the issue really exists then BOCOG will
tackle this issue very seriously,"" Jiang Xiaoyu, vice president of the
organising committee, said.
Jiang insisted that all firms had signed contracts with BOCOG pledging to
abide by Chinese labour law and regulations outlawing practices such as child
labour, forced overtime and payment of wages below the legal minimum.
""BOCOG strictly abides by government laws and regulations on labour laws
so if the issues you mentioned really exist we will investigate them and
tackle them very strictly to maintain the reputation of the Olympic movement
and the Beijing Olympic Games.""
The report from the ITUC alleged Lekit Stationery Co, Mainland Headwear
Holdings Ltd, Eagle Leather Products and Yue Wing Cheong Light Products
engaged in a range of illegal practices including using child labor, forcing
staff to do overtime and ordering workers to lie about wages and conditions
to outside inspectors.
The factories make Olympic-related goods such as bags, caps and paper
articles. It was not immediately clear what percentage of Olympic merchandise
the four companies were responsible for.
Jiang said any firms found guilty of violating regulations could lose
their BOCOG licenses.
""If they breach our regulations then we will tackle these problems very
seriously and if there are very serious breaches of these regulations they
will no longer work as our manufacturers,"" he said.
One of the factories, Eagle Leather Products denied the abuse while
Patrick Wu, Hong Kong-based manager at Lekit Stationery Co, said he planned
to investigate the matter further but that the allegations were most likely
false.
Officials at Mainland Headwear Holdings Ltd and Yue Wing Cheong Light
Products were unavailable for comment.
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