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	28 sentenced to jail for slave labour scandal at Chinese brick factories by Agence France Presse China   July 2007   One man has been sentenced to death and 28 others jailed for their roles in a slave labour scandal at brick factories in northern China.   Zhao Yanbing, a brickyard employee who confessed last month in footage broadcast on national television to killing a mentally handicapped slave, was given the death penalty, High Court judge Liu Jimin said. The other defendants got prison terms ranging from two years to life.   However, human rights groups and ordinary Chinese citizens on the Internet said those convicted could just be scapegoats, and accused the ruling Communist Party of trying to ensure that corrupt officials were not implicated.   The scandal surfaced last month after about 400 distraught parents posted a plea on the Internet about their children who had been sold into slavery in China"s northern Shanxi province and neighbouring Henan.   They made their case public after police and local authorities refused to help find their children.   After the Internet postings prompted action from police and attention from the state-run press, disturbing images were broadcast of abused and emaciated workers being freed from brick kilns, with some young men too weak to stand.   Officials say 576 enslaved workers have since been rescued, but the true number of victims is widely believed to be far higher. Parents initially said up to 1,000 youths had been working as slaves.   Zhao and the others who received the harshest penalties were involved in running what the state-run media has turned into the most infamous of the Shanxi brickyards. The foreman, Heng Tinghan, was condemned to life in jail, while owner Wang Bingbing was given a nine-year sentence.   The kiln was located in a courtyard belonging to Wang"s father, a local Communist Party village chief, who has been removed from his post and stripped of his party membership, Xinhua news agency said.   After his arrest, Heng shocked the nation with his lack of remorse when he said: "I thought it was a fairly small thing to do."   Zhao, was similarly placed in front of news cameras on June 15 and described in a matter-of-fact manner how he beat to death a mentally handicapped man, aged "57 or 58", for not working hard enough.   "His performance was bad, so I thought that I would frighten him a bit," Zhao said. "When I raised the shovel over him I never thought that he would get up and confront me, so I slammed the shovel down on his head." Zhao was found guilty of illegal detention and intentionally causing harm.   Reaction on the Internet to thr ruling was swift, with many Chinese netizens calling for stiffer penalties.   China also announced on Monday that 95 Communist Party officials in Shanxi had been punished, but most just escaped with warnings. Only six of them were senior officials in local governments. There has been no report on any punishments being doled out in Henan province.   "It"s outrageous," Robin Munro, research director of the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin, said of this week"s punishments. "Clearly there is one law for ordinary citizens and another for entrepreneurs and party officials."
	Shops emptied as panic grips Zimbabwe by IRIN & asgencies The Guardian   17 August 2007   Zimbabwe: Malnutrition among children on the rise. (IRIN)   Malnutrition is accelerating among Zimbabwe''s children, their access to healthcare is declining, and one in 10 in the capital, Harare, is suffering from kwashiorkor, a condition caused by an acute lack of protein, according to new reports released by the government.   The 2005/06 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS), compiled with the assistance of the Central Statistical Office (CSO), found that 29 percent of children under five were stunted, a condition in which a child is shorter than the average for his or her age because of the cumulative effects of chronic malnourishment. The previous ZDHS survey, in 1999, found that 27 percent of children under five years old were stunted.   "Thirty-one percent of stunted children are found in rural areas, while 24 percent live in urban areas," the report said. "At the provincial level, more than one-third of the children in Mashonaland Central and Manicaland are stunted, with the former recording an increase of 38 percent."   The survey, compiled from interviews and the investigation of 9,285 households, found that in other provinces, stunted growth among children reached 27 percent in Mashonaland West, 29 percent in Masvingo and 35 percent Manicaland.   Low body weight, which determines whether a child is underweight for his or her age and can also indicate malnutrition, has also risen. According to the survey, 17 percent of children nationwide were underweight, compared to 13 percent in 1999.   "The districts of Midlands, Harare and Bulawayo have all seen at least a 70 percent increase in the level of children who are malnourished," said the report.   Throughout Zimbabwe, cases of anaemia, an indication of iron deficiency, have risen in the age group 6 months to 59 months, with 58 percent of children now affected.   A recent report by the Harare City Council''s health department showed malnutrition was on the rise in the capital. Case numbers were particularly high in the poor, populous suburbs.   "Acute under-nutrition or wasting ... increased during 2006, compared to the previous year. The number increased by 43.7 percent," the report said. "The findings may be due to the harsh economic situation being felt throughout the country by the majority of Zimbabweans."   Of the cases of malnourishment reported among minors at Harare''s public clinics, 91 percent occurred among children younger than five years. In June 2007, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) representative in Zimbabwe, Festo Kavishe, said the organisation was "deeply concerned" about the negative impact of the economic crisis.   "Every day in Zimbabwe the basic elements required for a healthy and happy childhood - affordable education, three meals per day, clothing and shelter - are being pushed out of reach for people," Kavishe said.   Inflation has topped 13,000 percent, according to independent analysts; the economy has contracted by about a third, unemployment levels are at 80 percent and shortages of basic commodities, fuel, water and electricity have become commonplace.   The UN World Food Programme, which is currently feeding about 1.1 million Zimbabweans - including nutritional support for malnourished children and orphans via school feeding schemes - said in its country fact file that about 45 percent of the population was malnourished. International donor organisations expect that more than a quarter of the population will require emergency food aid later this year.   The Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET), in its August update on Zimbabwe''s food security, said "food access of poor households continues to diminish at an alarming rate, especially in urban areas."   The winter wheat harvest, which relies mainly on electrically powered irrigation, was ruined by numerous power outages; food shortages, already serious, are expected to become more severe.   July 2007.   Panic buying swept through the streets of Zimbabwe yesterday, as stores ran out of basic goods and shopkeepers complained that they were selling goods at a loss after the government ordered prices to be halved in a last-ditch effort to tackle hyper-inflation.   Shoppers desperate to restock in a country ravaged by shortages cleared out supermarkets in the capital, Harare, and Bulawayo, where shelves were bare of essential items such as maize meal, cooking oil, sugar, milk, soap, bread, chicken, beef and other items.   "I am selling goods at less than what I paid for them. I am selling bread at less than what it costs to bake it," a distraught Harare shopowner said, pleading for anonymity so as to avoid government retribution. "I am following the government"s orders. Army soldiers came here this morning to check prices. Mugabe has threatened to seize any business that does not do what he says. I don"t know how long this can continue."   Inflation is currently estimated at 10,000% and rising. Armed soldiers and the youth militia are patrolling shops and open-air markets to enforce President Robert Mugabe"s price controls. More than 200 retailers have been charged with crimes of charging more than the official prices, police confirmed yesterday.   By making it uneconomic to produce and sell goods and food, Mr Mugabe risks further damaging the country"s limping economy, which has shrunk by 50% over the past seven years. Economists warn the move will not control inflation but will simply push goods on to the thriving black market. Analysts say many companies and industries could go bankrupt, adding to Zimbabwe"s unemployment, which is already estimated at 80%.   "Whatever money we have, we are using it to buy goods," said John Katsvete, a Harare engineer. "The shops are very busy. People are buying but it is not a happy atmosphere. They are buying out of panic."   * Below is a link to " A way out of the Crisis", by Gareth Evans, President of the International Crisis Group. Visit the related web page
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