China mulls labor reeducation system reform
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E-mail Xinhua, October 9, 2012
The Chinese government on Tuesday issued a white paper on judicial reform, highlighting the progress that has been made in safeguarding justice and protecting human rights.
Discussing the white paper at a press conference, Jiang Wei, a senior official in charge of the judicial system reforms, said that China is formulating reforms for the country's reeducation through labor system.
"Some loopholes currently exist in the system's regulations and procedures," Jiang said in response to a question at a press conference held by the Information Office of the State Council, which issued the white paper.
"The necessity of the reforms has been recognized and authorities have done plenty of research and heard advice from experts and legislators, and they are now working on a plan for the reforms," the official said, adding that the system has its basis in the country's legal system and has played an important role in maintaining social order.
China's reeducation through labor system was approved by the top legislature and established in the 1950s. From the end of the 1970s to early 1980s, the system had been modified to include more regulations.
The white paper, the first of its kind issued by Chinese government, said the ultimate purpose of the judicial reforms is to maintain social fairness, justice and human rights protections.
"China's judicial reforms are aimed at strengthening judicial organs' capability to maintain social justice by optimizing the structure of the judicial organs and the allocation of their functions and power, standardizing judicial acts, improving judicial proceedings and enhancing judicial democracy and legal supervision," it says.
As early as the 1980s, following the end of the tumultuous ten-year Cultural Revolution, China started judicial reforms that were aimed at enhancing the function of court trials, expanding the openness of trials, improving attorney defense functions and training professional judges and procurators.
In 2004 and 2008, China continued to carry out reforms on a larger scale to meet the needs of the public.
Reforms promote human rights
Improving the protection of human rights is an important goal, the white paper says, citing a 2012 amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law that included "respecting and protecting human rights."
In terms of protecting human rights, effective measures are being taken to deter and prohibit the obtainment of confessions through torture, better protect the rights of criminal suspects and defendants and protect attorneys' rights to exercise their duties. Measures are also being taken to strictly control and prudently apply the death penalty.
Jiang said that a series of efforts have been made to prevent judicial cases in which people were unjustly charged.
The Criminal Procedure Law amended in 2012 stipulates that no person may be forced to prove his or her own guilt, adding that no criminal suspects or defendants may be forced to confess.
