China considers altering labour camp system

Beijing: Chinese lawmakers will consider modifying a system that lets police send crime suspects to labour camps without trial, state media said yesterday.

However, the legislators apparently have no plan to ban it, as international right groups have recommended.

A new version of the "re-education through labour" system, or "laojiao," is one of 20 agenda items for the legislative session that opens on Monday, the China Daily newspaper said.

The system has been widely criticised by the United Nations, the European Union and other organisations, who say it should be abolished as part of Beijing's acceptance of international legal norms.

The current system, in place since 1957, allows police to incarcerate a crime suspect for up to four years.

Critics say it is misused to detain political or religious activists, and violates suspects' rights.

The English-language China Daily noted the draft law has been stalled on the legislative agenda for two years due to disagreements. It said there were still "lots of disagreements" this year.

"Re-education" through labour is used with people accused of offences as minor as petty theft and prostitution. A court reviews cases after the suspects are sent to the labour camps.

Chinese-language media in Beijing have reported very little on the proposed changes, which Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, called a "telltale sign" that the law was unlikely to be passed this year.

"I don't think the [China Daily] article is a guarantee this law is going to be passed," he said. "You would have seen more stories in the Chinese language media."