Washington, DC, June 25, 2008 – Harry Wu testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) on June 19, 2008 at a hearing on “The Memorandum of Understanding Between the United States and China Regarding Prison Labor Products.”  At this hearing, the Laogai Research Foundation released a report entitled "Laogai Forced Labor Camps Listed in Dun & Bradstreet Databases." This report documents 314 enterprises listed in two Dun & Bradstreet online databases that match corresponding entries in the Laogai Handbook, a detailed catalog of Chinese prison labor camps published biennially by the Laogai Research Foundation.

Dun & Bradstreet is a service that gathers information on businesses throughout the world, enabling companies to check on one another before conducting transactions. Such a high number of matches in the database confirms the belief of the Laogai Research Foundation that the Chinese are still actively engaged in exporting prison labor products to international markets, including the U.S.

 

The Laogai Research Foundation believes the findings of this report demonstrate the inadequacy of the MOU between the U.S. and China, which was meant to provide U.S. Customs officials with the tools needed to prevent the importation of prison labor products from China. It is the hope of the Foundation that the U.S. government will act promptly and forcefully to ensure that all U.S. trade laws are effectively upheld.

 

Enclosed, please find a copy of this report, along with a copy of Mr. Wu's testimony before the USCC on June 19^th.

 

 

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