UNIVERSITIES across the UK, as well as throughout Europe, are purchasing electronics manufactured through forced labour, according to a new report published today.
The document released by Good Electronics states that thousands of students in China are sent to work on either forced or irrelevant “internships” after university on the supply lines at electronic factories.
The students, who will work six days a week, for 10 to 12 hours, are told they will not receive their degrees if they do not complete the internships, which last about three to five months.
Human rights group Electronics Watch, which has secured support from Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities, has already had discussions with the Scottish Government, which could become the first in the world to sign up to the monitoring system.
Electronics Watch tracks the purchases of electronic equipment across Europe, aiming to make sure that any equipment purchased within public bodies does not come from workplaces with labour rights abuses.
The Scottish Government is currently reviewing its procurement procedures, and campaigners from the group are hoping the Government will take the unprecedented steps towards ICT purchase monitoring.
This new study, conducted by the Danish human rights group DanWatch, traced the supply chain of European universities to the Zhongshan factory of the Wistron Corporation, which manufactures servers for leading organisations such as HP, Dell and Lenovo.
The investigation found that the practices undertaken in China are in violation of its own Chinese labour laws, as well as the International Labour Organisation's convention, with the internships not related to students' education.
Despite facing pressure from factory and teaching officials, as well as local police, the group managed to interview 25 interns at the premises in Zhongshan, nine of whom admitting to being told they would fail their course if they refused to work on the production lines. In a recent document published by Chinese scholars from Oxford, Hong Kong Polytechnic and New York Universities, it was calculated that manufacturers can save as much as £4.6 million a month by using intern labourers, who are not provided with welfare benefits and insurances.
A protest into forced labour in ICT firms has been planned by campaigners later this week in Edinburgh. The event, scheduled for Wednesday, will see activists dress as members of the Cabinet, forming an ICT factory supply chain outside the Scottish Parliament building.
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