China ends forced labour punishment for sex workers and clients
- People could be held for up to two years under scrapped extrajudicial ‘custody and labour’ system
- State media reports that change came into effect on Sunday and all those being held will be released
China’s legislature abolished an extrajudicial system of forced labour used to punish sex workers and their clients on Saturday, but it stressed that prostitution remains illegal.
China banned prostitution after the Communist revolution in 1949, but it returned with a vengeance after landmark economic reforms began in the late 1970s, despite periodic crackdowns.
The official Xinhua news agency said China’s legislature had voted to scrap the “custody and education” system under which people can be held for up to two years.
It said the decision would be effective from Sunday, when all those currently held in detention under the system would be released.
State media said the instruction to do away with the system had come from the cabinet and parliament had recommended a review last year, noting that the programme was increasingly not being applied in practice.
It had come in for criticism not only for its extrajudicial nature, as China seeks to promote a more law-based society, but also because of abuses such as the supposed rehabilitation facilities being run as profit-making ventures.