Ethnic ChinaLit

Event Title: The Reform of the Reeducation through Labor (劳教) System
Speakers: By Prof. Fu Hualing (University of Hong Kong), Dr Nicholas Bequelin (Human Rights Watch), and Joshua Rosenzweig (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Date: Tuesday, 5 March 2013 at 19:00
Venue: Room Segalen, 25/F, Admiralty Centre, Tower 2, 18 Harcourt Road, Hong Kong
Reservation & Contact: Heipo Leung cefc@cefc.com.hk / tel: 2876 6910

Topic: While reform of the Re-education through labor system has been on China’s legislative agenda for a number of years, the sudden announcement in January that the Party intends to dismantle the system by the end of the year has caught many by surprise. Indeed for decades the Public Security Bureau has successfully resisted attempts to reform a system that it considered necessary for the fulfillment of the missions mandated by the Party. So what has changed? And what comes next? The decision raises both practical issues—what to do with the people formerly “dealt with” through re-education through labor (minor offenders, drug users, prostitutes and dissidents)—as well as a political one: In the eyes of the new leadership under Xi Jinping, what role should the law play in the governance of China?