View source for Re-education through labor

{{short description|System of administrative detention in mainland China}}
{{distinguish|text = ''[[laogai]]'', known in English as reform through labor}}
{{for|the song by [[Rise Against]]|Re-Education (Through Labor)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2020}}
[[File:Shayang outside.JPG|300px|right|thumb|A photograph of Shayang Re-education Through Labor camp in [[Hubei|Hubei province]], from the archives of the [[Laogai Museum]]]]

'''Re-education through labor''' ('''RTL'''; {{lang-zh|s=劳动教养|t=勞動教養|p=láodòng jiàoyǎng}}), abbreviated '''''laojiao''''' ({{lang-zh|s=劳教|t=勞教|p=láojiào|links=no}}), was a system of administrative detention in the [[People's Republic of China]]. Active from 1957 to 2013, the system was used to detain persons who were accused of committing minor crimes such as petty [[theft]], [[prostitution]], and trafficking of [[illegal drug]]s, as well as political dissidents, [[Petitioning (China)|petitioners]], and [[Falun Gong]] followers. It was separated from the much larger ''[[laogai]]'' system of prison labor camps.

Sentences under re-education through labor were typically for one to three years, with the possibility of an additional one-year extension.  They were issued as a form of administrative punishment by police, rather than the judicial system. While they were incarcerated, detainees were frequently subjected to a form of [[Political Education in the PRC|political education]]. Estimates of the number of RTL detainees on any given year range from 190,000 to two million. In 2013, approximately 350 RTL camps were in operation.<ref>{{cite news|title=Long overdue: The government says it will reform its system of labour camps|url=https://www.economist.com/news/china/21569448-government-says-it-will-reform-its-system-labour-camps-long-overdue|access-date=8 November 2016|agency=The Economist|date=12 January 2013}}</ref>

On 28 December 2013, the [[Standing Committee of the National People's Congress]] abolished the re-education through labor system and detainees were released.<ref name=npc2013>{{cite act |title=全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于废止有关劳动教养法律规定的决定 |language=zh |date=28 December 2013 |url=http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/xinwen/2013-12/30/content_1821974.htm |access-date=2016-05-26 }}</ref><ref name=telegraph2014>{{cite news |last=Moore |first=Malcolm |date=2014-01-09 |title=China abolishes its labour camps and releases prisoners |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10561434/China-abolishes-its-labour-camps-and-releases-prisoners.html |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=2016-05-26 }}</ref> However, human rights groups have claimed that other forms of extrajudicial detention have taken its place, with some former RTL camps being renamed drug rehabilitation centers.<ref>Amnesty International, "[https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/042/2013/en/ CHINA: “CHANGING THE SOUP BUT NOT THE MEDICINE?” : ABOLISHING RE-EDUCATION THROUGH LABOUR IN CHINA]" (Dec 2013), p 35</ref>

In 2014, re-education facilities were constructed in [[Xinjiang]] and they were used to target a wider context than people who were accused of committing minor crimes and political dissidence.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://uhrp.org/featured-articles/new-evidence-china%E2%80%99s-political-re-education-campaign-xinjiang |title=New Evidence for China's Political Re-Education Campaign in Xinjiang |website=uhrp.org |access-date=15 May 2018 |archive-date=25 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025225710/https://uhrp.org/featured-articles/new-evidence-china%E2%80%99s-political-re-education-campaign-xinjiang |url-status=dead }}</ref> By 2017, these had become the massive [[Xinjiang internment camps]] holding 1–3 million people, utilizing forced labor, now recognized as re-education camps by many nations and intergovernmental organizations such as the [[United Nations|UN]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aoláin |first=Fionnuala Ní|display-authors=et al|date=2019-11-01|title=REFERENCE: OL CHN 18/2019 |url=https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Terrorism/SR/OL_CHN_18_2019.pdf|website=[[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=UN experts call for decisive measures to protect fundamental freedoms in China|url=https://ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26006&LangID=E|access-date=2021-02-23|website=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-06-26|title=Independent UN rights experts call for decisive measures to protect 'fundamental freedoms' in China|url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/06/1067312|access-date=2021-02-23|website=UN News|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-03-29 |title=China: UN experts deeply concerned by alleged detention, forced labour of Uyghurs |url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26957&LangID=E|website=United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-03-29|title=Rights experts concerned about alleged detention, forced labour of Uyghurs in China|url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1088612|access-date=2021-07-01|website=UN News|language=en}}</ref> [[European Union|EU]],<ref>{{Cite news|last=Gerin|first=Roseanne|url=https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/eu-seen-turning-tough-rhetoric-into-action-02212020171252.html|title=EU Seen Turning Tough Rhetoric Into Action on Abuses Against Muslim Uyghurs in China|date=21 February 2020|work=[[Radio Free Asia]]|access-date=23 February 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2019-0110_EN.html|title=Texts adopted – Situation of the Uyghur in China (China-cables) – Thursday, 19 December 2019|website=Europarl.europa.eu|language=en|access-date=23 February 2020}}</ref><ref name="euro_Text">{{Cite web |title=Texts adopted – Forced labour and the situation of the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region – Thursday, 17 December 2020 |publisher=[[European Parliament]] |date=17 December 2020 |access-date=17 December 2020 |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0375_EN.html}}</ref><ref name="guardian-china-sanctions">{{Cite web|date=2021-03-22|title=US and Canada follow EU and UK in sanctioning Chinese officials over Xinjiang|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/22/china-responds-to-eu-uk-sanctions-over-uighurs-human-rights|access-date=2021-03-23|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Nikkei Asia">{{Cite web |title=Transatlantic allies unite in sanctions on China over Xinjiang|url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Transatlantic-allies-unite-in-sanctions-on-China-over-Xinjiang|access-date=2021-03-23|website=Nikkei Asia|language=en-GB}}</ref> and human rights groups.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/09/09/china-massive-crackdown-muslim-region |title=China: Massive Crackdown in Muslim Region |website=Human Rights Watch |date=9 September 2018 |access-date=9 September 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/09/10/interview-chinas-crackdown-turkic-muslims |title=Interview: China's Crackdown on Turkic Muslims |date=9 September 2018 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=9 September 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=CAIR Condemns U.S. Chinese Embassy for Celebrating Uyghur Genocide on Twitter, Calls on Platform to Remove 'Horrific' Tweet – CAIR – Council on American-Islamic Relations|date=8 January 2021|url=https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-condemns-u-s-chinese-embassy-for-celebrating-uyghur-genocide-on-twitter-calls-on-platform-to-remove-horrific-tweet/|access-date=2021-01-09|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |year=2021 |title="Like we were enemies in a war" China's Mass Internment, Torture and Persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang |url=https://xinjiang.amnesty.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/ASA_17_4137-2021_Full_report_ENG.pdf |access-date=2023-06-19 |website=[[Amnesty International]]}}</ref>

==Re-education through labor and the Chinese penal system==
The People's Republic of China employs several forms of correction for people who have been arrested, of which re-education through labor was one.  The Laogai Research Foundation classifies re-education through labor as a sub-component under the umbrella of the ''[[laogai]]'' ("reform through labor") [[criminal justice system]],<ref name="Laogai research"/> which generally refers to prisons, [[prison farm]]s, and [[labor camp]]s for convicted criminals.  Re-education through labor, on the other hand, refers to detentions for persons who are not considered criminals or have only committed minor offenses.<ref name="HRW">{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/campaigns/china-98/laojiao.htm |title=Reeducation Through Labor in China |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |access-date=12 October 2008 |date=June 1998 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012105609/http://hrw.org/campaigns/china-98/laojiao.htm |archive-date=12 October 2007}} ().</ref><ref name=Rojek100/> Persons detained under re-education through labor were detained in facilities which are separate from the general prison system; furthermore, detainees in these re-education facilities receive a small salary, which ''laogai'' detainees do not, and in theory have shorter work hours.<ref name="HRW"/> The ''laogai'' system is much larger than the re-education through labor system, with the Laogai Research Foundation identifying 1,045 ''laogai'' camps in 2006 (compared to 346 re-education centers).<ref name="Laogai research"/> Both systems, however, involve [[Penal labour|penal labor]] and often do not allow [[Trial (law)|trials]] or [[Hearing (law)|judicial hearings]].<ref name="LRF17"/> The term "reform through labor" or ''laogai'' was officially replaced with "prison" in 1994,<ref name="LRF16"/> and the term "re-education center" or ''láojiàosuǒ'' (劳教所) was replaced with "correctional center" in 2007.<ref name="XH abolition"/>

Other components of the prison system include detention centers for individuals awaiting sentence or execution,<ref name="LRF20">Laogai Handbook (2006), p. 20.</ref> and juvenile detention camps for individuals under a minimum age (which has varied through the years, and may currently be under 14).<ref name="LRF22">Laogai Handbook (2006), p. 22.</ref> The system formerly included components such as [[custody and repatriation]] for individuals without a [[Hukou system|residence permit]];<ref name="LRF16"/> "forced job placement,"<ref name="LRF18"/> which has not been widely practiced since the 1990s;<ref name="LRF16">Laogai Handbook (2006), p. 16.</ref> and "shelter and investigation," a system of detentions for individuals under legal investigation, which was abolished in 1996.<ref name="LRF22"/> The Laogai Research Foundation also classifies psychiatric facilities, or ''[[Ankang (asylum)|ankang]]'', as a form of detention for political dissidents,<ref name="LRF23">Laogai Handbook (2006), p. 23.</ref> although it is not officially recognized as part of the ''laogai'' penal system.<ref name="LRF16"/>

==History==
Institutions similar to re-education through labor facilities, but called "new life schools" or "loafers' camps", existed in the early 1950s, although they did not become official until the [[Anti-Rightist Movement|anti-rightist campaigns]] in 1957 and 1958.<ref name=Seymour149/> A report by [[Human Rights in China (organization)|Human Rights in China]] (HRIC) states that re-education through labor was first used by the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) in 1955 to punish [[Counter-revolutionary|counter-revolutionaries]], and in 1957 was officially adopted into law to be implemented by the [[Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China|Ministry of Public Security]].<ref name="HRIC"/> The law allowed police to sentence both minor offenders and "counter-revolutionaries" or "anti-socialist elements"<ref name="Seymour150"/> to incarceration in labor camps without the right to a judicial [[Hearing (law)|hearing]] or [[Trial (law)|trial]],<ref name="HRW"/> and did not allow [[judicial review]] to take place until after the punishment was being enforced.<ref name="XH abolition"/> In the beginning there were no limits to the length for which detainees could be sentenced, and it was not until 1979 that a maximum sentence of four years (three years' sentence plus one-year extension) was set.<ref name="HRIC"/><ref name="Seymour150"/> In 1983, the management and implementation of the re-education through labor system was passed from the Ministry of Public Security to the [[Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China|Ministry of Justice]].<ref name="HRIC"/>

When [[Falun Gong]] was banned in mainland China in 1999, re-education through labor became a common punishment for practitioners.<ref name="Laogai research"/><ref name="dangerous">{{cite web | title=Reeducation through Labor; Transformation Centers | url=http://hrw.org/reports/2002/china/China0102-04.htm#P634_160115 | last=Spiegel | first=Mickey | work=Human Rights Watch | date=January 2002 | access-date=28 October 2008 }}</ref> Some human rights groups claim that as many as 10,000 Falun Gong members were detained in between 1999 and 2002,<ref name="dangerous"/> with as many as 5,000 detained in 2001.<ref name="tables" />

More recent estimates suggest that hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong adherents are imprisoned in China,<ref>Leeshai Lemish, [http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/10/07/leeshai-lemish-the-games-are-over-the-persecution-continues.aspx 'Leeshai Lemish: The Games are over, the persecution continues']{{dead link|date=October 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''National Post'', 7 October 2008.</ref> with some sources estimating up to half of the official reeducation through labor camp population is Falun Gong practitioners.<ref>[[U.S. Department of State]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20100315082218/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eap/135989.htm '2009 Human Rights Report: China (Including Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)], 11 March 2010.</ref> In some labor camps, Falun Gong practitioners make up the majority population.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/en/node/11505/section/7|title=We Could Disappear at Any Time|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=7 December 2005}}</ref>

There have been numerous calls for the system to be reformed or replaced.<ref name="multilateral">{{cite journal | publisher=[[Human Rights in China]] | page=26 | url=http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/CRF.1.2007/CRF-2007-1_Multilateral.pdf | journal=China Rights Forum | year=2007 | issue=1 | title=China's Growing Prominence in the Multilateral Human Rights System: an HRIC brief | last=Wickeri | first=Elizabeth | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090729201141/http://www.hrichina.org/public/PDFs/CRF.1.2007/CRF-2007-1_Multilateral.pdf | archive-date=29 July 2009}}</ref> As early as 1997, the [[Working Group on Arbitrary Detention|United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention]] (WGAD) called for China to allow judicial control over detentions;<ref name="worldreport">{{cite web | url=http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/english/2005/01/200501281353.shtml | title=Human Rights Watch World Report 2005: China | date=28 January 2005 | access-date=17 November 2008 }}</ref> in 2000, the [[United Nations Convention Against Torture#Committee against Torture|UN Committee Against Torture]] recommended that all forms of administrative detention, including re-education through labor, be abolished;<ref name="usstate"/> in 2004, the WGAD called for the establishment of rights to due process and counsel for individuals detained;<ref name="multilateral"/> and in 2005, the Special Rapporteur on Torture called for the outright abolition of re-education through labor.<ref name="multilateral"/> The prominent deaths of two inmates in spring 2003 prompted many calls within China for reform of the system, but reform did not happen immediately,<ref name="usstate"/> though The ''China Daily'' reported that there was "general consensus" that reform was needed.<ref name="blackhole">{{cite web | date=1 March 2007 | access-date=17 November 2008 | title=End legal black hole |work=[[China Daily]] | url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2007-03/01/content_816323.htm}}</ref> In March 2007, however, the Chinese government did announce that it would abolish the re-education through labor system and replace it with a more lenient set of laws.<ref name="XH abolition">{{cite web | last=Wu | first=Jiao | work=[[China Daily]]| url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-03/01/content_816358.htm | title=New law to abolish laojiao system | date=1 March 2007 | access-date=18 October 2008 }}</ref> According to the proposal, the maximum sentence would be lowered from four years to 18 months; re-education centers would be renamed "correction centers" and have their fences and gates removed.<ref name="XH abolition"/><ref name="AHRC">{{cite web | url=http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=8628&size=A | title=Human rights groups doubt 'laojiao' abolished | date=2 March 2007 | access-date=18 October 2008 | work=AsiaNews}}</ref> A month later, [[Chongqing]] municipality passed a law allowing lawyers to offer legal counsel in re-education through labor cases.<ref name="chongqing">{{cite web|url=http://laogai.org/news/newsdetail.php?id=2796 |title=Chongqing: China allows counsel for reeducation-through-labor cases |date=4 April 2007 |publisher=Laogai Research Foundation |access-date=22 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430025922/http://www.laogai.org/news/newsdetail.php?id=2796 |archive-date=30 April 2009 }}  Translated from Chinese, original source was {{cite web | url=http://www.voanews.com/chinese/archive/2007-04/w2007-04-04-voa29.cfm?CFID=55232049&CFTOKEN=80981409 | title=中国重庆允许律师代理劳动教养案 | date=4 April 2008 | access-date=4 April 2007 | author=海涛 | publisher=Voice of America}}</ref>

Many human rights groups, however, doubted the efficacy of the proposed reforms, saying that the new laws would only help minor criminals and not help political prisoners, and the reforms would not actually abolish the re-education through labor system.<ref name="AHRC"/> The Laogai Research Foundation stated that lowering the maximum length of detention and changing the names of the detention facilities would not constitute a "fundamental change".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://laogai.org/news/newsdetail.php?id=2771 | title=Editorial: China abolishing Laojiao system? Not likely. | date=1 March 2007 | publisher=Laogai Research Foundation | access-date=22 October 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429204411/http://www.laogai.org/news/newsdetail.php?id=2771 | archive-date=29 April 2009 | url-status=dead}}</ref> Nine months after the declaration that the laws would be rewritten, the re-education through labor system had not been abolished; in December 2007, a group of academics drafted an open letter to the government calling for an end to the system.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/china/2007/12/05/133591/Academics-call.htm | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120723054538/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/china/2007/12/05/133591/Academics-call.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=23 July 2012 | access-date=18 October 2008 | date=5 December 2007 | work=[[China Post]] | title=Academics call for end to China camps}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.danwei.org/law/scholars_and_peasants_vs_reedu.php | title=Scholars and peasants vs. re-education through labor | date=5 December 2007 | access-date=18 October 2008 | last=Martinsen | first=Joel | work=Danwei}}</ref> During the [[2008 Summer Olympics]] in [[Beijing]], there were reports that some individuals who applied for permits to protest were detained without trial;<ref>{{cite news | first=Jill | last=Drew |author2=Ariana Eunjung Cha  | title=No Permits, No Protests in Beijing's Special 'Pens' |date=15 August 2008  | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | url =https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403420.html?hpid=topnews | access-date=16 August 2008 }}</ref> of these, some were sentenced to re-education through labor.<ref name="not in China">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/21protest.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&src=tp | title=Too Old and Frail to Re-educate? Not in China | work=[[The New York Times]] | last=Jacobs | first=Andrew | date=20 August 2008 | access-date=18 October 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title=Protest Application Brings Labor-Camp Threat, Woman Says | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/20/AR2008082001095.html?hpid=topnews?hpid=topnews | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | last=Cha | first=Ariana Eunjung | date=21 August 2008 | access-date=18 October 2008 }}</ref> In the [[United Nations Human Rights Council]]'s September 2008 Universal Periodic Review of the People's Republic of China, re-education through labor was listed as an "urgent human rights concern,"<ref name="UPR">{{cite web | url=https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/09/30/china-upr-submission | publisher=[[United Nations Human Rights Council]] | date=30 September 2008 | access-date=24 February 2009 | title=China UPR Submission }} [http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session4/CN/HRW_CHN_UPR_S4_2009_HumanRightsWatch.pdf Alternate link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721182053/http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session4/CN/HRW_CHN_UPR_S4_2009_HumanRightsWatch.pdf |date=21 July 2011 }} (PDF).</ref> and as of February 2009, a large number of re-education through labor camps were still in operation.<ref name="human rights council"/>

===Statistics===
Reports on re-education through labor have found it difficult to estimate the number of people in re-education centers,<ref name="HRW"/> and nationwide statistics were often unavailable in the past.<ref name="HRIC"/> What data have become available often vary widely.<ref name="Seymour150"/>
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|+ Number of RTL detentions per year and overall
|-
! width=40%|Source !! width=15#|Year !! width=25%|Number of detainees<br />in given year !! width=20%|Number of detainees<br />since founding
|-
| rowspan=2|PRC government || align="center"|2009 ||align="center"|190,000<ref name="human rights council"/> ||
|-
| align="center"|2003 ||align="center"|230,000<ref name="usstate2">Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2004); Section 1d: "Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile."</ref> ||
|-
| [[China Labour Bulletin]] || align="center"|2007 || align="center"|300,000<ref name="AHRC"/> ||
|-
| [[Laogai Research Foundation]] || align="center"|2006, 2008 || align="center"|500,000&ndash;2 million<ref name="LRF18">Laogai Handbook (2006), p. 18.</ref> ||
|-
| Unspecified [[non-governmental organizations]] || align="center"|2003 || align="center"|310,000<ref name="usstate2"/> ||
|-
| [[Human Rights in China (organization)]] || align="center"|2001 || align="center"|200,000<ref name="HRIC"/> (in 1990s) ||
|-
| [[Human Rights Watch]] || align="center"|1998 || align="center"|230,000<ref name="HRW"/> (in 1997) ||
|-
| [[Xinhua News Agency|Xinhua]] official news agency || align="center"|2001 ||  || align="center"|3.5 million<ref name="HRIC"/><ref name="Seymour150"/><ref name="usstate2"/>
|-
| ''[[China Daily]]'' || align="center"|2007 ||  || align="center"|6 million<ref name="XH abolition"/>
|-
|}
Of these detainees, 5 to 10 percent are estimated to be political prisoners, and as many as 40 percent are estimated to be drug offenders<ref name="issue"/>—in 1998, nearly one-third of the known re-education camps were specifically built for the purpose of holding drug offenders.<ref name="Seymour150"/>

The ''China Daily'' estimated that there were a total of 310 re-education centers in China in 2007.<ref name="XH abolition"/> The 2008 edition of the Laogai Research Foundation's biennial report listed exactly 319 "confirmed" re-education centers in China, and 74 "unconfirmed" ones, but it also estimated that the actual number of such centers might be much higher.<ref name="2008 version">Laogai Handbook (2008), p. 3.</ref> the provinces with the most centers being [[Guangdong]] (31), [[Heilongjiang]] (21), and [[Henan]] (21).<ref name="Laogai research2">Laogai Handbook (2006), p. 3.</ref> In a February 2009 meeting of the [[United Nations Human Rights Council]], the Chinese government stated that there are 320 centers.<ref name="human rights council">{{cite web | work=Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review | title=DRAFT REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON THE UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW | page=16 | url=http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session4/CN/A_HRC_WG6_4_L11_CHN_E.pdf | publisher=[[United Nations Human Rights Council]] | access-date=24 February 2009 | archive-date=4 March 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304052520/http://lib.ohchr.org//HRBodies//UPR//Documents//Session4//CN//A_HRC_WG6_4_L11_CHN_E.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> The provinces with the largest numbers of re-education centers include Guangdong, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, and Henan.<ref name=Seymour150>Seymour (2005), p. 150.</ref><ref name="2008 version"/> At the end of 2008, there were 350 labor camps and 160,000 prisoners were being held in them.<ref name=20120816guardian>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/aug/16/china-tang-hui-labour-camp|title=Outcry in China over mother sent to labour camp after daughter's rape|author=Tania Branigan|newspaper=The Guardian|date=16 August 2012}}</ref>

==Detentions==

===Conviction and detention===
Sentencing for re-education through labor is generally carried out by the police rather than by the judicial system, so individuals are rarely charged or tried before being detained.<ref name="HRW"/><ref name="HRIC"/><ref name="LAT"/><ref name="cpp">{{cite web|access-date=12 December 2008 |title=Chinese 'Justice' & Detention Centres in Tibet |date=24 June 2007 |url=http://www.guchusum.org/AboutUs/ChinesePrisonsinTibet/tabid/81/Default.aspx |publisher=Gu Chu Sum - Political Prisoners Association |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625024206/http://www.guchusum.org/AboutUs/ChinesePrisonsinTibet/tabid/81/Default.aspx |archive-date=25 June 2007}}</ref><ref name=CHRD>{{cite web | title=Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Re-Education through Labor Abuses Continue Unabated:Overhaul Long Overdue | url=http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class11/200902/20090210224220_13575.html | publisher=[[Chinese Human Rights Defenders]] | date=10 February 2009 | access-date=25 February 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429173441/http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class11/200902/20090210224220_13575.html | archive-date=29 April 2009}}</ref> [[Chinese public security bureau|Public security bureau]]s (police offices) are able to carry out administrative detentions for "minor" infringements that are not considered criminal acts;<ref name=Rojek100>Rojek (2001), p. 100.</ref> at least one analyst has suggested that local public security bureaus often abuse their authority and detain individuals for things such as personal vendettas.<ref name=Seymour151>Seymour (2005), p. 151.</ref> Individuals may also be sentenced to re-education through labor by courts, but the proportion of individuals who receive trials rather than going directly into administrative detention is determined in part by how much capacity that province has for re-education detainees—provinces with large re-education through labor apparatus generally allow fewer detainees to have trials.<ref name=Seymour150151>Seymour (2005), pp. 150&ndash;1.</ref> Where detainees have been allowed a trial, their lawyers have faced "intimidation and abuse," according to some reports,<ref name="section1e">{{cite web | url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27768.htm | publisher=[[United States Department of State]] Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor | title=China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau) | date=25 February 2004 | access-date=17 November 2008 | work=2003 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices}} Section 1e: "Denial of Fair Public Trial ."</ref> and the individuals under trial have sometimes been convicted on the basis of confessions that were coerced through "torture and severe psychological pressure."<ref name="section1e"/> In at least one instance, convicted individuals were sent to re-education through labor even after being found not guilty in a trial.<ref name="section2c">Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2004); Section 2c: "Freedom of Religion."</ref><ref name=CHRD/>

Most detainees in re-education through labor facilities are reported to be drug users, petty criminals, and prostitutes, as well as some political prisoners;<ref name="issue"/> James Seymour has also claimed that most individuals sentenced to re-education through labor are from urban areas.<ref name=Seymour149>Seymour (2005), p. 149.</ref> Individuals who attempt to leave the country illegally have also been sentenced to re-education through labor upon their return.<ref name="section6f">Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2004); Section 6f: "Trafficking in Persons."</ref> In periods leading up to visits from foreign dignitaries or politically sensitive anniversaries (such as the anniversary of the [[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989]]), local authorities have supposedly detained "undesirables" such as the homeless, mentally or physically disabled individuals, and migrant workers.<ref name="section2d">Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2004); Section 2d: "Freedom of Movement within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration and Repatriation."</ref> One China specialist at the [[RAND Corporation]] has claimed that the police, faced with a lack of "modern [[Drug rehabilitation|rehabilitation]] and treatment programs," use re-education through labor convictions to "warehouse" individuals for "an increasing number of social problems."<ref name="issue"/>

Detainees can seek to have their detention repealed through an "administrative review" (''xingzheng fuyi'', 行政复议) of the decision or by filing an "administrative litigation" (''xingzheng susong'' 行政诉讼) against the Re-education Through Labor Management Committee that detained them.  According to the advocacy group [[Chinese Human Rights Defenders]], however, these options are ineffective and the groups overseeing the reviews and litigations often have the same interests as the management committee that originally ordered the detention.<ref name=CHRD/>

===Conditions in the facilities===
[[File:Shayang workers.JPG|right|thumb|250px|Workers in the Shayang Re-education Through Labor camp; photo from the archives of the [[Laogai Museum]]]]
The United States Department of State called the conditions in prisons "harsh and frequently degrading," and said the conditions in re-education through labor facilities were similar, citing overcrowded living spaces, low-quality food, and poor or absent medical care.<ref name="usstate">Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2004); Section 1c: "Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment."</ref><!--<ref name="winslow">{{cite web | url=http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/rwinslow/asia_pacific/china.html | work=[http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/rwinslow/index.html Crime and Society: A comparative criminology tour of the world | access-date=17 November 2008 |  last=Winslow | first=Robert | author2-last=Cunningham | author2-first=Makini Shani | date=3 October 2005}}</ref>--> Detainees in camps are required to work for little or no pay;<ref name="section6c">Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2004); Section 6c: "Prohibition on Forced or Bonded Labor."</ref> while Chinese law requires that prison laborers' workday be limited to 12 hours a day.<ref name="LRF15">Laogai Handbook (2006), p. 15.</ref> In 2001, sociologist Dean Rojek estimated that detainees generally worked six days a week, "in total silence."<ref name=Rojek100/> Much of the labor done by re-education through labor detainees is geared towards agriculture<ref name=Seymour151/> or producing goods, many of which are sold internationally, since re-education through labor detainees are not counted as official "prisoners" and therefore not subject to international treaties.<ref name="LRF17">Laogai Handbook (2006), p. 17.</ref> They also perform work ranging "from tending vegetables and emptying septic pits to cutting stone blocks and construction work."<ref name="cpp"/>

Although drug abusers are ostensibly placed in re-education through labor to be treated for their addictions, some testimonial evidence has suggested that little "meaningful treatment" takes place in at least some of the centers, and that drug abusers often relapse into addiction upon their release from detention.<ref name="issue"/>

The facilities have been widely criticized for the physical abuse that is said to go on within them. [[Corporal punishment]] is commonly used,<ref name=Rojek100/> and torture and physical abuse are also thought to be widespread in the facilities.<ref name="usstate"/> In April 2003, Zhang Bin, an inmate at the re-education facility [[Huludao City Correctional Camp]], was beaten to death, reportedly by other inmates and by the labor supervisor.<ref name="usstate"/> Zhang's death, along with the March 2003 death of inmate Sun Zhigang in a [[custody and repatriation]] prison, sparked calls within China for reform of the system, although reforms were not made immediately.<ref name="usstate"/><ref name="position">{{cite web | url=http://www.uscc.gov/researchpapers/2005/05_08_18_trade_group_law_postion_paper.htm | date=18 August 2005 | access-date=17 November 2008 | publisher=U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission | title=A Position Paper | last1=Stewart | first1=Terence | last2=Lighthizer | first2=Robert | last3=Hartquist | first3=David | last4=Schagrin | first4=Roger | last5=Andros | first5=Linda | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121091946/http://www.uscc.gov/researchpapers/2005/05_08_18_trade_group_law_postion_paper.htm | archive-date=21 November 2008}}</ref>

Though most reports describe the conditions of re-education camps as "brutal,"<ref name=Seymour151/> there are some claims of prisoners being well-treated.  For example, when he was released from a three-year re-education sentence in 1999,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/archive_news_detail.asp?pp_cat=&art_id=38513&sid=&con_type=1&archive_d_str=19991009 | title=Student jailed one year for critical poster  | work=[[The Standard (Hong Kong)|The Standard]] | date=9 October 1999 | access-date=27 February 2009}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> dissident [[Liu Xiaobo (intellectual)|Liu Xiaobo]] said that he had been treated very mildly, that he had been allowed to spend time reading, and that the conditions had been "pretty good."<ref name=Seymour151/>

Forced labor may include breaking rocks and assembling car seat covers, and even [[gold farming]] in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/05/26/chinese-prisoners-forced-play-world-warcraft-detainee-says/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110528001311/http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/05/26/chinese-prisoners-forced-play-world-warcraft-detainee-says/|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 May 2011|title=Chinese Prisoners Forced to Play World of Warcraft, Detainee Says|publisher=FOX News|date=26 May 2011}}</ref>

According to Chinese [[state media]] [[Xinhua]], slightly over 50% of detainees released from prison and re-education through labor in 2006 received government aid in the form of funds or assistance in finding jobs.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200701/17/eng20070117_341844.html | agency=[[Xinhua News Agency]] | date=17 January 2009 | title=China says social care helps lower crime rate among ex-convicts | access-date=23 February 2009}}</ref>

===Life after release===
 
Detainees who are released from re-education through labor camps may still be unable to travel or see other people freely.  Individuals who remain in re-education through labor for 5 or more years may not be allowed to return to their homes, and those who do may be closely monitored and not permitted to leave certain areas.<ref name="section2d"/> For example, in July 2003 a priest who had been released from detention was kept under house arrest, and five men who attempted to visit him were themselves detained.<ref name="section2c"/>

==Criticism==
The re-education through labor system has been criticized by human rights groups, foreign governments and UN bodies, and Chinese rights lawyers. Some Chinese government agencies and reformers within government have likewise criticized the system as being unconstitutional, and advocated for its reform or abolition.

[[Human Rights Watch]] has stated that the "re-education through labor" system violates international law, specifically Article 9 (4.)of the [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]] (ICCPR), which provides that "Anyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take proceedings before a court, in order that the court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of his detention..."<ref name="HRW"/> Re-education through labor has also been criticized by numerous [[human rights]] groups for not offering procedural guarantees for the accused,<ref name="HRIC">{{cite web | url=http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/article?revision_id=14287&item_id=14286 | title=Reeducation Through Labor: A Summary of Regulatory Issues and Concerns | date=1 February 2001 | access-date=18 October 2008 | publisher=[[Human Rights in China (organization)|Human Rights in China]] | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907082528/http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/article?revision_id=14287&item_id=14286 | archive-date=7 September 2008}}</ref><ref name="tables">{{cite web | last=Eckholm | first=Eric | title=Beijing, Turning Tables, Defends its Repression of Sect | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E5DB1738F93BA15751C0A9679C8B63 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130130135326/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E5DB1738F93BA15751C0A9679C8B63 | url-status=dead | archive-date=30 January 2013 | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=28 February 2001 | access-date=18 October 2008 }}</ref> and for being used to detain [[political dissident]]s,<ref name="LRF1"/> teachers,<ref name="usstate2"/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ahrchk.net/news/mainfile.php/ahrcnews_200509/2888/ | title=School Founder 'Seriously Ill' in Prison and Children Beg in the Streets after Closure of Children's Home in Lhasa: New Information about the Gyatso Arrests | publisher=[[International Campaign for Tibet]] | access-date=18 October 2008 | date=12 September 2005}}</ref> [[Chinese house church]] leaders,<ref name="Laogai research">{{cite web | url=http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/handbook05-06.pdf | title=Laogai Handbook | publisher=The Laogai Research Foundation | year=2006 | access-date=18 October 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080527202338/http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/handbook05-06.pdf |archive-date = 27 May 2008}}</ref> and Falun Gong practitioners.<ref name="HRIC"/><ref name="LRF1">Laogai Handbook (2006), p. 1.</ref> Furthermore, even though the law up until 2007 specified a maximum length of detainment of four years, at least one source mentions a "retention for in-camp employment" system that allowed authorities to keep detainees in the camps for longer than their official sentences.<ref name="HRW"/>

Re-education through labor has been a focus of discussion not only among foreign human rights groups, but also among legal scholars in China, some of whom were involved in the drafting of the 2007 laws meant to replace the system.<ref name="HRIC"/>

In addition to legal scholars, the [[Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China]] had criticized the system.<ref name="LAT">{{cite web |  title=China thinks of closing its reeducation prisons | date=5 March 2007 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-mar-05-fg-reeducate5-story.html | work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | last=Magnier | first=Mark | access-date=7 November 2008 }}</ref> In light of the widespread disapproval of the system, HRIC called in 2001 for the system to be abolished entirely.  Among its criticisms it cited the fact that the wording of re-education through labor laws was excessively vague, allowing authorities to manipulate it; the fact that the punishment given in re-education centers was too severe for the crimes committed; the abusive conditions at re-education centers; and the variation of re-education through labor laws from one province to another.<ref name="HRIC"/> The Chinese [[Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China|Ministry of Justice]], has also noted that the system violated items in the [[Constitution of the People's Republic of China|Chinese constitution]].  Wang Gongyi, vice-director of the Institute of Justice Research affiliated to the Ministry of Justice, said that the re-education through labor system contradicts several items in the Constitution, the Criminal Procedure Law, and the [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]], which China signed in 1998.<ref name="XH abolition"/>

Although many human rights groups and legal scholars both within and without China called for the reform or total abolition of re-education through labor, China's security agencies have defended the use of the system as being necessary to maintain social stability.  A 1997 report in China's ''[[Legal Daily]]'' hailed re-education through labor as a means to "maintain social peace and prevent and reduce crime."<ref name="HRW"/> The Ministry of Public Security stated in 2005 that re-education through labor helped maintain rule of law and was mainly used for rehabilitating lawbreakers.<ref name="issue">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/09/international/asia/09china.html? | page=2 | title=Issue in China: Many in Jails Without Trial  | date=9 May 2005 | access-date=22 October 2008 | last=Yardley | first=Jim | work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> In 2007, when new laws were drafted, the Ministry of Public Security was opposed to the proposal that would allowing judicial review before punishment was enforced.<ref name="XH abolition"/>

===Profit opportunities===
The ''laojiao'' system employs tens of thousands of people. Profits are made through sale of the products of forced labor and through the collection of bribes received to reduce sentences or to ensure that relatives receive adequate food.<ref name=NYT121412>{{cite news|title=Opposition to Labor Camps Widens in China|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/world/asia/opposition-to-labor-camps-widens-in-china.html|access-date=15 December 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=14 December 2012|author=Andrew Jacobs}}</ref>

==Abolition==
During the [[Third plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|third plenum of the 18th Party Central Committee]] in Beijing on 15 November 2013, Chinese officials announced that they planned to abolish the Re-education Through Labor system.<ref>{{cite news|last=Buckley|first=Chris|title=China to Ease Longtime Policy of 1-Child Limit|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/world/asia/china-to-loosen-its-one-child-policy.html?_r=0|access-date=3 February 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=15 November 2013}}</ref><ref name="Amnesty">Amnesty International, [https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/042/2013/en/ “Changing the Soup but Not the Medicine?" Abolishing Re-Education Through Labour in China], Amnesty International Publications, 2013</ref>

The planned abolition of the system, however, has been criticised by human rights groups, with [[Amnesty International]] issuing a report titled "Changing the Soup but Not the Medicine." Amnesty's report concludes that the camp closures are a positive step forward for human rights, but the fundamental problems of arbitrary detention remain in China:<ref name="Amnesty" />

<blockquote>Many of the policies and practices which resulted in individuals being punished for peacefully exercising their human rights by sending them to RTL have not fundamentally changed: quite the contrary. There is ample evidence that such policies and practices are continuing in full force. The latest anti-Falun Gong campaign, launched earlier this year and intended to operate for three years, shows that the CCP's determination to rid China of this spiritual group has not abated. Falun Gong practitioners continue to be punished through criminal prosecution and being sent to "brainwashing centres" and other forms of arbitrary detention. Petitioners likewise continue to be subjected to harassment, forcibly committed to mental institutions and sent to "black jails" and other forms of arbitrary detention. Human rights defenders, democracy advocates, whistle-blowers and other political activists are also being increasingly targeted through criminal detention, "black jails", short-term administrative detention, and enforced disappearances, rather than RTL.<ref name="Amnesty"/></blockquote>

On 28 December 2013, the [[Standing Committee of the National People's Congress]] abolished the re-education through labor system.<ref name=npc2013/> Detainees were released without finishing their sentences.<ref name=telegraph2014/>

==See also==
{{Portal|China|Law}}
*[[Custody and repatriation]]
*[[Human rights in the People's Republic of China]]
*[[List of Re-education Through Labor camps in China]]
*[[Mao Hengfeng]], a human rights activist, who has been repeatedly ill-treated and tortured in the RTL camps.
{{Clear}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{Library resources box}}
*{{cite book |author1-link=Jerome A. Cohen |author2-link=Margaret K. Lewis |last1=Cohen |first1=Jerome A. |last2=Lewis |first2=Margaret K. |date=2013 |title=Challenge to China : How Taiwan Abolished Its Version of Re-Education Through Labor |url=http://www.berkshirepublishing.com/home/product.aspx?projid=7000 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131118020826/http://www.berkshirepublishing.com/home/product.aspx?projid=7000 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-11-18 |location=Great Barrington, MA |publisher=Berkshire Publishing Group |isbn=9781614729327 |access-date=17 November 2013 }}
*{{cite web | url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27768.htm | publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |author=<nowiki>Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor</nowiki> | title=China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau) | date=25 February 2004 | access-date=17 November 2008 | work=2003 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices}}
*{{cite web | url=http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/handbook05-06.pdf | title=Laogai Handbook | publisher=The Laogai Research Foundation | year=2006 | access-date=18 October 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070316163112/http://www.laogai.org/news2/book/handbook05-06.pdf | archive-date=16 March 2007}}
*{{cite web | url=http://www.laogai.it/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/laogai-handbook.pdf | title=Laogai Handbook | publisher=The Laogai Research Foundation | year=2008 | access-date=25 February 2009 | archive-date=28 February 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228232013/http://www.laogai.it/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/laogai-handbook.pdf | url-status=dead }}
*{{cite book | last=Rojek | first=Dean G | chapter=Chinese Social Control: From Shaming and Reintegration to "Getting Rich is Glorious" | title=Crime and Social Control in a Changing China | editor=Liu Jianhong |editor2=Zhang Lening |editor3=Steven F. Messner | year=2001 | publisher=Greenwood Press | series=Contributions to Criminology and Penology 53}}
*{{cite book | title=Crime, Punishment, and Policing in China | year=2005 | editor=Børge Bakken | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield | isbn=0-7425-3574-6 | last=Seymour | first=James D. | chapter=Sizing up China's prisons | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XhPgV4LM8boC}}

{{China national security}}{{Authority control}}
{{Good article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Re-Education Through Labor}}
[[Category:Political repression in China]]
[[Category:Penal labor in China]]
[[Category:Penal system in China]]
[[Category:Human rights abuses in China]]