Yunnan stops some terms of 're-education through labour' camps

Yunnan province has said it will no longer send people to controversial “re-education through labour” camps for three types of political offences, state media reported on Thursday.

A senior official in Yunnan, in the southwest, said people suspected of “undermining state security” and “smearing the image of top officials” will no longer be sent to the camps, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Meng Sutie, the top justice official in the province, said the change would also apply to people judged to have “caused unrest” while making complaints about government officials, according to the report.

He added that Yunnan would “temporarily suspend” such sentences for other kinds of illegal activity as a prelude to national reforms.

Under China’s re-education through labour system, police are empowered to send people to labour camps for terms of up to four years, leading to widespread rights abuses and use of the camps to punish political dissenters.

Chinese authorities have issued a number of statements suggesting major changes to the system will be made this year, with Meng’s comments going further than any previous ones, but critics worry that such reforms may be merely superficial.