China labour camps condemned

Robinson was applauded by Vice Foreign Minister Wang

UN human rights commissioner Mary Robinson has used a two-day seminar in the Chinese capital Beijing to condemn the country's notorious prison camps which practise "re-education through labour".

The concept of using forced labour as a punishment is against the accepted international human rights principles

Mary Robinson

Mrs Robinson called on the Chinese Government to abolish the system, which she said was against the international principles of human rights.

It allows the police to lock up petty offenders - mainly thieves, drug abusers and prostitutes - to up to three years forced labour without trial.

However, BBC Beijing correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes says the system is widely used to lock up those who criticise the regime or try to organise political dissent.

Labour re-education

Up to 3 years' forced labour without trial

Introduced in 1950

260,000 currently estimated in system

3.5 million detainees in total

"The concept of using forced labour as a punishment is against the accepted international human rights principles embodied in many international instruments," Mr Robinson said at a seminar on punishing petty crime attended by Chinese officials and legal experts.

The New York-based group Human Rights in China says 260,000 people are in labour camps, 60% of them for non-specific offences classed as "disturbing public order".

Five thousand members of the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong are among those detained, Falun Gong spokespeople say.

In all, HRC says more than 3,500,000 people have been through the system since it was introduced in 1950.

Under scrutiny

The spotlight was turned on human rights in China last week when the International Olympics Committee (IOC) evaluated Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Games.

Several Chinese dissidents were detained during the IOC inspection, while a woman who wrote to the body asking it to press Beijing to free political prisoners was sent to a labour camp for two years.

Xu suffers from hepatitis B

The Chinese Government has promised to reform the labour re-education camps as part of the process to ratify two important UN human rights covenants into Chinese law.

China signed the covenants, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1997 and 1998 respectively, but they have yet to ratified.

Mrs Robinson's statement is a strong indication that as far as she is concerned reforming the system does not go far enough.

On the eve of her visit, 35 dissidents published a letter calling for her to raise the case of Xu Wenli - one of China's most prominent political dissidents who is currently serving a 13 year prison sentence for attempting to set up the country's first opposition political party.

Mr Xu is reported to be suffering from hepatitis B and his family says his health is deteriorating fast.