New | New forms of extrajudicial detention emerge to replace China’s labour camps
'Reprimand centres' established in Henan province to replace re-education through labour camps, commonly used to detain petitioners with grievances against officials
China’s notorious ‘re-education through labour camps’ have been replaced by “reprimand centres”, a new form of extrajudicial detention, in the central province of Henan.
Re-education through labour camps, which were frequently used to detain petitioners with grievances against officals, were abolished by the National People's Congress Standing Committee in December.
The new reprimand centres are responsible for “conducting 24-hour non-stop reprimand, warning and education” to “abnormal petitioners”, the Beijing News reported. They existed in cities including Nanyang, Zhumadian, Dengzhou, and Xinxiang, it said.
A recent microblog post by a Nanyang citizen showed a photograph of such a centre at the city’s Wolong district, saying his 70-year-old mother was detained there after petitioning outside of the city.
The centre aroused much attention among internet users and was dubbed a “new labour camp”.
The Zhumadian city government has called the reprimand centre in Zhengyang, a county under its jurisdiction, “a new result of the active exploration of how to legally handle abnormal petitioners together” in a news item on its website in December.
