Lawmakers support reform of labor camp system
Source: Xinhua |
March 4, 2013, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AHEAD of the Chinese national legislature's annual session, which opens tomorrow, lawmakers have backed reform of controversial labor camps in which people can be sentenced to up to four years' "re-education" by police without trial.
The labor camp system, known as laojiao, was "a disgrace to China's national image and required urgent reform," as it runs against the principles of lawful governance and justice which the country pursues, said Yang Weicheng, a deputy to the National People's Congress and a lawyer from Shandong Province.
Deng Hui, an NPC deputy and law school dean from Jiangxi Province, said the labor camp system violated various laws, including the Law on Legislation and the Administrative Penalty Law. It was also a deviation from a human rights convention the Chinese government had signed, he said.
"The reform of the labor camp system is imminent and inescapable," Deng said.
The labor camp system was established in the 1950s to consolidate the newly founded People's Republic of China and rectify social order. It allows police to detain people, usually charged with minor offenses, for up to four years without an open trial.
Although it has helped maintain social order over the past several decades, its downside has also emerged. As an extra-judicial penalty, it is prone to abuse by the police. It also runs counter to increasing legal awareness among the public and China's endeavor for the rule of law.
An NPC deputy and legal expert from Fujian Province, Dai Zhongchuan, said: "To some degree, the labor camp system makes people live in fear. It's an unchecked and unsupervised measure that can deprive and limit people's freedom outside court, making it extremely liable to be abused by power."
Calls for the system's reform have been running high for years. Several recent high-profile cases have put it even more under the spotlight.
In one recent case, Tang Hui, a woman in central China's Hunan Province, was sentenced to internment in a labor camp after demanding tougher penalties for the seven men convicted of abducting, raping and prostituting her 11-year-old daughter.
The labor camp system, known as laojiao, was "a disgrace to China's national image and required urgent reform," as it runs against the principles of lawful governance and justice which the country pursues, said Yang Weicheng, a deputy to the National People's Congress and a lawyer from Shandong Province.
Deng Hui, an NPC deputy and law school dean from Jiangxi Province, said the labor camp system violated various laws, including the Law on Legislation and the Administrative Penalty Law. It was also a deviation from a human rights convention the Chinese government had signed, he said.
"The reform of the labor camp system is imminent and inescapable," Deng said.
The labor camp system was established in the 1950s to consolidate the newly founded People's Republic of China and rectify social order. It allows police to detain people, usually charged with minor offenses, for up to four years without an open trial.
Although it has helped maintain social order over the past several decades, its downside has also emerged. As an extra-judicial penalty, it is prone to abuse by the police. It also runs counter to increasing legal awareness among the public and China's endeavor for the rule of law.
An NPC deputy and legal expert from Fujian Province, Dai Zhongchuan, said: "To some degree, the labor camp system makes people live in fear. It's an unchecked and unsupervised measure that can deprive and limit people's freedom outside court, making it extremely liable to be abused by power."
Calls for the system's reform have been running high for years. Several recent high-profile cases have put it even more under the spotlight.
In one recent case, Tang Hui, a woman in central China's Hunan Province, was sentenced to internment in a labor camp after demanding tougher penalties for the seven men convicted of abducting, raping and prostituting her 11-year-old daughter.
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