09.27.07 – Bloggers Against Abuse – Post something about any form of abuse and let people be aware! I was thinking on writing on a different sort of abuse than this, but I found this one not publicized enough, and people must know what is happening to these people here.

The Miners China Left for Dead

In the midst of economic recovery and rapid industrialization, there are still very serious human rights violations that exist in China till this day. On August 18, Meng Xianchen and Meng Xianyou were working at an illegal coal mine to find that the exit tunnel has been covered by an earthen wall. They were trapped – they didn’t know what to do. Whilst eating bits of coal and swallowing their own urine, district government officials, mine owners, and police stand, doing nothing to solve this issue. The police even prevented their colleagues to rescue the two missing workers. Pleas of relatives for the rescue of the two men were also ignored. The two miners tried their best to escape. They didn’t have anything with them – but they used two iron shovels, two empty water bottles, and a mobile phone to help strike boulders and guide them through the darkness. After three days of complete danger, the two trapped miners fortunately managed to escape but are now in serious condition, with infected fingers and very low energy.

China’s economy depends on one major resource: coal; thus, many miners work every day in either state-owned mines or illegal mines. This appetite for coal has continued to increase 12% every year. However, with this issue at hand, there are serious consequences – numerous accidents, pollution, and global warming. And the problem is getting more and more serious through the years, especially with illegal mines. China’s Central Government has vowed to crack down on the issue with illegal mines, but mine owners have created a system that would bribe local government officials and police with huge sums of money to allow these mines to keep functioning. Survivors from this ordeal are also often told to be silent, usually giving them a certain amount of money to make sure that they will not broadcast their stories especially to foreign media.

As the two survivors were interviewed and asked if they were angry at their treatment, they replied a simple: “Why bother complaining when nobody will take any notice?” This clearly demonstrates the growing problem of corruption that exists in China. But people will continue working in the mine at the expense of their bodies because of the money that it generates. People like Meng Xianchen and Meng Xianyou will probably go back and work at these illegal mines to earn a living for their families. This is the situation that is present in China and other third world countries; many people work at extremely dangerous jobs just to have the basic necessities, but business owners and government officials take advantage of this to gain more money through corruption and other means. It is very unfortunate to see this kind of event existing in our society. Hopefully, with the media continually reporting these kinds of events, the public will be more aware of such happenings and the government concerned would take action to solve such horrible ordeal.

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