Foxconn, a company that has come under the spotlight due to working conditions at their facilities and because they build Apple’s iPhone among other devices, has admitted to having breached Chinese child labour laws by hiring under-aged interns at its Yantai factory.

The legal age for employment in China is 16 but an internal investigation of the Yantai facility by the company found that some of the interns were as young as 14.

In a statement emailed to CNET Foxconn said “This is not only a violation of China’s labor law, it is also a violation of Foxconn policy and immediate steps have been taken to return the interns in question to their educational institutions. We are also carrying out a full investigation, in cooperation with the respective educational institutions, to determine how this happened and the actions that must be taken by our company to ensure that it can never happen again.”

Foxconn’s admission came very soon after a statement was released by China Labor Watch which said that they were able to confirm that under-aged workers were employed at the facility, putting part of the blame on the schools which sent the students there as summer interns. Foxconn’s statement to CNET claimed “full responsibility” for the under-aged workers however. Foxconn has started an investigation into the child labour violations, promising harsh measures against those responsible for the breach.

Source: Engadget