Source: Laogai Research Foundation

The system of Custody and Repatriation offeres authorities a means to easily round up persons belonging to marginalized groups in society ("Laogai Handbook - Introduction") [ID 3813]

"In urban centers throughout China, millions of migrants searching for work in the city have created a population that in recent years has been at risk of frequent and arbitrary detention. The system of Custody and Repatriation (shourong qiansong, below C&R) has offered authorities a means to easily round up “undesirable elements” from society and force those who do not have official papers to live and work in the cities to return to their native villages. An investigation by the New York-based organization Human Rights in China found that people in low status occupations, such as beggars, street children, garbage collectors, prostitutes, and the homeless, are all at risk of being detained during periodic “clean-up” campaigns.

Although this form of administrative detention now affects upwards of two million people every year with some five to 20 percent of these being children, it has so far received no attention outside China. One of the reasons for this is that most of those detained under C&R belong to the most marginalized groups in society, generally referred to by the city authorities as “three no’s personnel” (sanwu renyuan); that is to say, those having no papers, no job, and no fixed abode. Their lack of such essentials offers them little recourse when police detain them. According to Chinese law, police maintain the right to detain them and force them to return to their poverty-stricken villages at any time.

C&R is most commonly put into action in urban areas when authorities are expecting public events and fear unwanted attention going towards the cities lower status elements. Chinese authorities carried out massive sweeps of C&R in 1993 when a committee came to Beijing to inspect its suitability to host the 2000 summer Olympic games. Similar sweeps took place when US President Bill Clinton came to Beijing in 1998 and when UN Secretary General Kofi Annan came to the capitol in 2000. Many human rights organizations are duly concerned that such inevitable clean-ups in the face of Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Games will force thousands of homeless, migrant workers and street children into overcrowded and unsafe detention centers.

A recent “clean-up effort” took place in November 2001 when Beijing launched its own World AIDS Day. The purpose of the event was to demonstrate Beijing’s willingness to finally acknowledge the epidemic within China’s borders. Yet, simultaneous to the Beijing events, dying AIDS victims were detained, as were the journalists keen on interviewing them. C&R was thus employed as a means to legally allow the government complete control over its own public relations. Ironically, the AIDS victims were seen by authorities as an embarrassment, and therefore removed from public until the event was over.

C&R, like Laojiao, is not considered a form of punishment but an administrative measure. Civil affairs officials complain that the police use the measure to detain people they cannot find legal means for holding in detention centers. C&R is a flexible institution, essentially giving the police authority to remove anyone from the streets for any reason for as long as they choose."

Document(s): Laogai Handbook - Introduction

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Arbitrary arrest and detention remained serious problems ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 22766]

"Arbitrary arrest and detention remained serious problems. The law permits police and security authorities to detain persons without arresting or charging them. Because the government tightly controlled information, it was impossible to determine accurately the total number of persons subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. According to 2005 official statistics, 500,000 persons were held in 310 reeducation-through-labor camps. In 2004 special administrative detention facilities held more than 350,000 offenders."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Family members of activists and rights defenders, Falun Gong practitioners, journalists, unregistered religious figures, and former political prisoners were targeted for arbitrary arrest and detention ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 22849]

"Family members of activists and rights defenders, Falun Gong practitioners, journalists, unregistered religious figures, and former political prisoners were targeted for arbitrary arrest and detention. On September 29, state security officers detained the brother and son of Ye Guozhu, who was imprisoned in 2004 for leading protests against forced evictions. Ye Guozhu's son, Ye Mingjun, reportedly was released on bail on October 30. Ye Guozhu's brother, Ye Guoqiang, remains in custody. Ye Guoqiang reportedly has not been permitted to meet with attorneys, and it is not clear if he has been formally charged. In November 2006 Geng He, the wife of prominent human rights defender Gao Zhisheng, was attacked by local officials while shopping in Beijing. On May 27, Yuan Weijing, the wife of legal advisor Chen Guangcheng, was released from house arrest. She reportedly has continued to be subjected to police surveillance and other harassment."

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Arbitrary arrest or detention ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 18962]

"Arbitrary arrest and detention remained serious problems. The law permits police and security authorities to detain persons without arresting or charging them. Because the government tightly controlled information, it was impossible to determine accurately the total number of persons subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. According to 2005 official statistics, 500,000 persons were held in 310 reeducation-through-labor camps. In 2004, special administrative detention facilities held more than 350,000 offenders. The government also confined some Falun Gong adherents, petitioners, labor activists, and others to psychiatric hospitals.[...]

Among those specially targeted for arbitrary detention or arrest during the year were current and former China Democracy Party (CDP) activists, Falun Gong practitioners, domestic and foreign journalists, unregistered religious figures, and former political prisoners and their family members. Gao Zhisheng was detained and questioned several times during the year. On August 15, authorities reportedly abducted Gao from his sister's home in Shandong Province and thereafter detained him. Gao's wife and children were under house arrest in Beijing. On November 24, Gao Zhisheng's wife, Geng He, was attacked by local officials while shopping in Beijing. In February activist Hu Jia disappeared after launching a hunger strike protesting government abuses. Officials held Hu for 41 days at an undisclosed location without any legal formalities or notice to his family."

Document(s): Open document

21.07.2006 - Source: International Federation for Human Rights

Shangdong province: Arbitrary detention of lawyer, who denounced extensive violence and arbitrary detention employed by authorities in implementing birth planning policy in 2004-2005 and had been assisting villagers to take legal action against these authorities; his whereabouts and reason for detention remain unclear ("Arbitrary detention / Judicial harassment - CHN 006 / 0706 / OBS 087") [ID 17043]

Document(s): Open document

31.03.2006 - Source: World Organisation Against Torture

Arbitrary detention of 2 rural land rights activists; arrest by security forces in apparent retaliation for their efforts against local corruption and unlawful land seizures ("Arbitrary detention of Mrs. Liu Hua and Mr. Yue Yongjin [CHN 003 / 0306 / OBS 039]") [#48081],  [ID 17044]

Document(s): Open document

31.03.2006 - Source: International Federation for Human Rights

Liaoning Province: Former head and former chairman of village in Sujiatun District of Shenyang, have been exposing corruption among village officials, detained without giving reason ("Arbitrary detention - CHN 003 / 0306 / OBS 039") [#48249],  [ID 17045]

Document(s): Open document

21.10.2005 - Source: Committee to Protect Journalists

Beijing: China correspondent for Singapore daily The Straits Times, has been held for 6 months without charge or access to lawyer ("China: Journalist Ching Cheong imprisoned without lawyer") [#38382],  [ID 3791]

Document(s): Open document

19.08.2005 - Source: BBC News

US businessman accused of spying for Taiwan, kept under house arrest without charge since his arrest in Sichuan province in May ("US man held on China spy charge") [#35605],  [ID 3792]

Document(s): Open document

13.01.2005 - Source: International Federation for Human Rights

Woman sentenced to 18 months of Re-education Through Labour (RTL) by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau in April 2004, for protesting and petitioning against family planning policies ("Arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of Ms. Mao Hengfeng") [#28491],  [ID 3793]

"At the end of 2004, high-level Chinese officials reportedly authorised an extension of Ms. Mao’s detention by three months. However, neither the detained activist nor her family were allowed to examine the order authorising this extension, nor was she informed of any recourse for appeal."

Document(s): Open document

31.08.2004 - Source: BBC News

After 5 months in detention without trial, the editor of a Chinese investigative newspaper, Cheng Yizhong, has been freed without any official explanation ("Chinese newspaper editor freed") [#25253],  [ID 3794]

Document(s): Open document

20.07.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Beijing: prominent government critic released by authorities following almost seven weeks of arbitrary detention ("China: Prominent government critic released") [#24134],  [ID 3795]

Document(s): Open document

15.06.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

The Chinese authorities have arbitrarily detained a doctor who treated injured students during the June 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square, his wife and an environmental activist; all 3 are at risk of torture or ill-treatment in custody ("China - UA 200/04") [#23292],  [ID 3796]

Document(s): Open document

10.06.2004 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Dr. Jiang Yanyong, a government critic who exposed the government's cover-up of SARS epidemic, remains arbitrarily detained together with his wife ("Release Whistleblowing Doctor") [#23206],  [ID 3797]

Document(s): Open document

19.12.2003 - Source: Human Rights Watch

HRW: Tenant Rights Advocate Arbitrarily Jailed ("China: Tenant Rights Advocate Arbitrarily Jailed") [#18264],  [ID 3798]

"[...]
On October 28, Zheng was sentenced to three years in prison for “illegally providing state secrets to a foreign organization.” A Shanghai appeals court this week upheld the sentence. [...]
“The Shanghai developers are building condos, not airfields,” said Davis. “Local courts are using the state secrets law to protect local business interests. Beijing should intervene to stop this misuse of the law.”
[...]"

Document(s): Open document

06.06.2003 - Source: World Organisation Against Torture

OMCT: Reporter and editor, imprisoned for 2 years without trial, began a hunger strike to protest against his ill-treatment and torture in custody/ he and 3 co-defendants were all arrested in March 2001 for the political views that they posted on the internet ("China: torture, hunger strike and harsh sentencing of 4 internet activists [Case CHN 060603]") [#13362],  [ID 3800]

"The four men have reportedly been subjected to ill-treatment and torture during their two year detention without trial, as they have refused to accept their guilt concerning these charges. Xu Wei, who is reported as being particularly stubborn, suffered the harshest treatment, including brutal beatings and electric shocks to his genitals, which have resulted in numbness of the lower body. The four men have reported their treatment to the authorities but have received no response. Attempts by members of their families to pass messages to the men have been blocked, with one official responding "There are no human rights now. These are unusual times – the time of SARS. Don’t you know?""

Document(s): Open document

31.03.2003 - Source: US Department of State

USDOS: In some circumstances, persons can be detained withouth charge or trial and sentenced up to 3 years in reeducation-through-labor camps and other similar facilities ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2002") [#11835],  [ID 3801]

"Arbitrary arrest and detention remained serious problems. The law permits authorities, in some circumstances, to detain persons without arresting or charging them, and persons may be sentenced administratively to up to 3 years in reeducation-through-labor camps and other similar facilities without a trial. Because the Government tightly controlled information, it was impossible to determine accurately the total number of persons subjected to new or continued arbitrary arrest or detention. Official government statistics indicated that there were 230,000 persons in reeducation-through-labor camps. According to a 2001 article by the official news agency, 300 reeducation-through-labor facilities have held more than 3.5 million prisoners since 1957. In addition, it was estimated that before 1996 as many as 1.7 million persons per year were detained in a form of administrative detention known as custody and repatriation; the number of persons subject to this form of detention reportedly has grown since 1996 to approximately 2 million per year. The Government also confined some Falun Gong adherents and labor activists to psychiatric hospitals. Although the crime of being a "counterrevolutionary" was removed from the criminal code in 1997, western NGOs estimated that as many as 1,300 persons remained in prison for the crime. Another 600 were serving sentences under the State Security Law, which covers the same crimes as the repealed law on "counterrevolution."

In some cases, police could unilaterally detain a person for up to 37 days before releasing him or formally placing him under arrest. Once a suspect is arrested, the Criminal Procedure Law allows police and prosecutors to detain him for months before trial while a case is being "further investigated." The Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that authorities must notify a detainee's family or work unit of his detention within 24 hours. However, in practice failure to provide timely notification remained a serious problem, especially in sensitive political cases. Under a sweeping exception, officials were not required to provide notification if doing so would "hinder the investigation" of a case. Police continued to hold individuals without granting access to family members or lawyers, and trials continued to be conducted in secret.

The Criminal Procedure Law does not address the reeducation-through-labor system, which allows nonjudicial panels of police and local authorities, called Labor Reeducation Committees, to sentence persons to up to 3 years in prison-like facilities. The committees could also extend an inmate's sentence for an additional year. Defendants were legally entitled to challenge reeducation-through-labor sentences under the Administrative Litigation Law. They could appeal for a reduction in, or suspension of, their sentences; however, appeals rarely were successful."

Document(s): Open document
text with hyperlinks

31.03.2003 - Source: US Department of State

USDOS: Authorities can detain persons without trial to "protect urban social order"; this provision affects the homeless, the unemployed, persons without permission to live or work in urban areas, Falun Gong practitioners and in some provinces the mentally ill; reportedly 20 percent of those detained are children ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2002") [#11835],  [ID 3802]

"The Criminal Procedure Law also does not address the custody and repatriation system, which allows authorities to detain persons administratively without trial to "protect urban social order." Until they were returned to their home provinces, those detained were held in custody and repatriation centers, and could be required to pay for the cost of their detention and repatriation by working while in detention. Persons who could be detained under this provision included the homeless, the unemployed, petty criminals, Falun Gong practitioners, persons without permission to live or work in urban areas, and, in some provinces, additional categories of persons such as the mentally ill and persons with mental disabilities. According to one report, as many as 20 percent of those detained were children. If the location to which they were to be repatriated could not be determined, or if they could not be repatriated for financial reasons, persons could be sent to "resettlement farms." Those unable to work could be sent to "welfare centers." Many other persons were detained in similar forms of administrative detention, known as "custody and education" (for prostitutes and their clients) and "custody and training" (for minors who committed crimes). Persons could be detained for long periods under these provisions, particularly if they could not afford to pay fines or fees."

Document(s): Open document
text with hyperlinks

31.03.2003 - Source: US Department of State

USDOS: China reportedly uses psychiatric facilites to incarcerate political dissidents, trade unionists and Falun Gong adherents ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2002") [#11835],  [ID 3803]

"According to researchers, the country had 20 "ankang" institutions, high-security psychiatric hospitals for the criminally insane, directly administered by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS). Dissidents and other targeted individuals were housed with mentally ill patients in these institutions. The regulations for committing a person into an ankang psychiatric facility were not clear. Credible reports indicated that a number of political and trade union dissidents, "underground" religious believers, persons who petitioned the Government for redress of grievances, and hundreds of Falun Gong adherents were incarcerated in such facilities during the year. For example, political activist Wang Wanxing, originally held for trying to unfurl a banner on Tiananmen Square to commemorate the third anniversary of the June 4, 1989 massacre, was confined in a Beijing ankang facility. Huang Jinchun, a judge in Beihai, fired from his job and admitted to a psychiatric hospital in November 1999 for refusing to renounce his belief in Falun Gong, also remained in an ankang facility at year's end. He reportedly displayed no signs of mental illness but was given daily injections of narcotics. According to NGO reports, more than 30 persons were committed during the year to the Harbin Psychiatric Hospital against their will after petitioning authorities for redress of various personal grievances. In August The Royal College of Psychiatrists sponsored a motion to expel China from the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) for using psychiatric facilities to incarcerate political prisoners; a decision was pending at year's end."

Document(s): Open document
text with hyperlinks

28.02.2003 - Source: Committee to Protect Journalists

CPJ: illegal detention: Internet publisher has been imprisoned for more than two and a half years without being convicted of any crime ("China: CPJ condemns illegal detention of Internet publisher") [#11134],  [ID 3804]

Document(s): Open document

13.02.2003 - Source: New York Times

New York Times: China has held U.S.-based dissident incommunicado since nine months for entering the country with a fake passport ("China Has Held U.S.-Based Dissident Incommunicado Since April") [#10916],  [ID 3805]

"More than nine months after his detention for traveling on a false passport, a United States-based dissident from China is still being held incommunicado and his relatives have received no formal notice of the charges.
[...]
Last June, the police told the brother by telephone that Mr. Yang was formally arrested, but they would not specify the charges or provide the written notice that is normally required by law.
In a written response to questions today, China's State Council asserted that the Beijing Public Security Bureau "has, in accordance with the legal procedure, informed his relatives in China."
Mr. Yang was originally detained for the false passport, but the authorities "discovered that Yang was suspected of other criminal activities," the response said. "The judicial department is now carrying on further investigation on him in accordance with the law," it said.
Officials gave no hint of their suspicions, but if they charge Mr. Yang with subversion because of his democracy advocacy abroad, he could face stiff penalties.[...]
Last spring as worker demonstrations erupted in northeastern China, Mr. Yang decided to use a false passport and see things at first hand, his wife has said. He entered the country, but on April 26 he was detained in the southern city of Kunming.[...]
In late June, Mr. Yang's brother, Yang Jianjun, 52, received a phone call from the local police saying his brother had been formally arrested and was in jail in Beijing. Since then, the relatives say, they have heard nothing.
[...]"

Document(s): Open document
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24.01.2003 - Source: UN Human Rights Council (formerly UN Commission on Human Rights)

UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ("Civil and Political Rights, Including Questions of Torture and Detention (E/CN.4/2003/8/Add.1)") [#18150],  [ID 3810]

"The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was established by resolution 1991/42 of the Commission on Human Rights. The mandate of the Working Group was clarified and extended by Commission resolution 1997/50, and reconfirmed by resolution 2000/36. Acting in
accordance with its methods of work, the Working Group forwarded to the Government the above-mentioned communication.
[...]"

Document(s): Open document

26.09.2002 - Source: Committee to Protect Journalists

CPJ: Writer detained without official reasons ("Vietnam: CPJ condemns detention of writer") [#8748],  [ID 3807]

"[...]
Police did not disclose the reasons for the writer's arrest, although CPJ sources believe it may be linked to a recent essay he wrote criticizing border agreements between China and Vietnam. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

09.04.2002 - Source: Committee to Protect Journalists

CPJ: The wife of a journalist, whose imprisonment has received significant international attention, was detained as well ("China: Wife of CPJ award-winner detained") [#6460],  [ID 3809]

"The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the detention of Li Yanling, wife of Jiang Weiping, imprisoned journalist and recipient of CPJ's 2001 International Press Freedom Award. On March 18, Li was detained after being called in for questioning by security officials in Dalian, where the couple live, according to CPJ sources.
[...]"

Document(s): Open document

07.05.2001 - Source: New York Times

New York Times: China arrests book club memebers ("China Arrests Book Club Members") [#1568],  [ID 3812]

"Chinese police arrested eight members of a book club that failed to ask for official permission to meet, the wife of one of those detained said Monday.
[...]
Police did not explain the arrests, but Xiao's wife said she thought it was because the book club had not registered with authorities before meeting.
[...]
Police and Shaodong county authorities refused to comment.
[...]"

Document(s): Open document