An Oregon woman was looking at her Halloween decoration last year when she found a letter written by an inmate from one of China's re-education-through-labor camps. The letter spoke of brutal forced labor in the camp.
It was the latest in a series of incidents dating back to at least to the 1990s in which Chinese political prisoners in such camps smuggled out letters in products assembled for export to the U.S.
Early last year, China said it was abolishing these camps, though as NPR's Frank Langfitt noted at the time, "When the Communist Party makes such sweeping policy statements, it pays to be a little skeptical."
And though the U.S. maintains a list of goods made by forced labor in China, including electronics, shoes and clothes, these products still find their way into the U.S. — and American homes.
The U.S. government is trying to address the problem, says Ken Kennedy, the director of the forced labor program under the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Progress, however, has been limited. Still, there have been successes: In 1992, a U.S. company paid a $75,000 fine for knowingly importing machine presses that were made in a Chinese labor camp. In 2001, a Chinese manufacturer pleaded guilty to producing metal clips with forced prison labor and paid a $50,000 fine.
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