DHARAMSHALA, December 30: As the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress passed a resolution on Saturday abolishing over five decade of Re-education through Labour (RTL), the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy based here fears that the extra judicial detentions and arrests will continue.
“If the PRC is going to truly and meaningfully implement reforms it must abolish RTL both in name and practice. This requires abolishing all forms of extrajudicial detention and not merely relabeling it to placate international and domestic critics,” said Tsering Tsomo, Executive Director of TCHRD.
The Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress said that the RTL had fulfilled its “historic mission” and that with changes in Chinese laws and new laws on public security and drugs, RTL has become ‘redundant’. However, this justification, according to TCHRD, fails to recognize the fundamental problems inherent in RTL. “It ignores the substantial criticism of RTL for being an illegal system of arbitrary detention, forced labor, and torture.
“Not only does the PRC not recognize RTL as a flawed system that violates basic human rights, it seems committed to preserving the abuses related to RTL in other forms. One of the most troubling aspects of the abolition of RTL is the statement that RTL became redundant,” Tsering noted.
Tsering doubted China’s intentions saying it appears that the PRC intends to merely replace RTL with other forms of arbitrary detention, such as compulsory drug rehabilitation and compulsory legal education classes. “These systems are already used in Tibet and continue the abuses associated with RTL under a different name.”
The resolution also stated that all the RTL sentences before the abolition of the system remained valid. After abolition, those still serving RTL term will be set free and their remaining terms will not be enforced.
In August this year, China released Sonam Gewa, Lobsang Samten, Lobsang Nyima and Tenzin Sherab of Zilkar monastery before completion of their prison terms. This month, at least five Tibetans were released before completion of their jail terms.
Since 2009, as many as 125 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in Tibet protesting against the Chinese occupation and its hard line policies. The Chinese government has responded to the self-immolations with even harsher policies, criminalizing the fiery protests and sentencing scores of people to heavy prison terms on charges of “intentional homicide” for their alleged roles in self-immolation protests.
