China Adopts Draft Regulation on Vagrants

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, June 19, 2003

China Adopts Draft Regulation on Vagrants

The Chinese central government adopted on Wednesday a draft regulation on aid to vagrants and beggars in urban areas and measures to improve workplace safety at coal mines.

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The Chinese central government adopted on Wednesday a draft regulation on aid to vagrants and beggars in urban areas and measures to improve workplace safety at coal mines.

The executive meeting of the State Council, presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday, held that the regulation the central government issued in 1982 on housing and sending back vagrants and beggars in urban areas is no longer suitable for the current situation.

Officials attending the meeting said that great changes had taken place in economic and social fields and the situation with regard to the flow of migrant population had also changed significantly during the past two decades.

The draft regulation was designed to resolve the problem of vagrants and beggars in urban areas and improve social relief mechanisms and related regulations, the meeting concluded.

It was decided that the existing regulation should be done away with and a new regulation adopted, to be made public for implementation after further revision.

The cabinet agreed to throw out the obsolete rule on urban vagrants management at the centre of a major controversy over the death of a graphics designer in Guangdong Province..

One person commenting on the bulletin board of sina.com said it was a pity that the policy change has come by only after "lessons of blood".

He was referring to the recent death of 27-year-old graphic designer Sun Zhigang in Guangzhou. The Hubei native was killed on March 20 after being detained three days before because he was not carrying a valid residency permit. Although his employer provided the relevant document within hours, he remained in detention and was beaten to death by his roommates.

The ringleader was later sentenced to death after the tragedy was exposed by the media and stirred widespread outrage from the public nationwide.

Some legal experts have written to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, appealing for a review of the constitutionality of the detention measures after the death of Sun.

In order to fundamentally solve the problems concerning urban vagrants and beggars, and improve China's social welfare system, the meeting examined and passed in principle a new set of management methods concerning such kinds of people.

The new rule will be promulgated and implemented based on amendments made to the draft. Details of the new rule were not available.

The decision to annul the archaic administrative regulation, the legal basis for internment and deportation by public security authorities, won immediate applause from Internet surfers, who hailed it as great step forward in the country's drive towards a more civilized society.

The move suggests that the new government, headed by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, who took their helms in March, "is ready to do concrete deeds for the benefits and interests of the great masses of people," said one comment on the bulletin board of sina.com.

In an answer to public calls, some local governments have already amended their detention measures to ensure they do not violate the human rights of the detainees.

For example, Fuzhou, in East China's Fujian Province, has issued a notice recently regulating the city's work on the detention and repatriation of vagrants and beggars.

It stipulates that the detainees enjoy the rights of communication and personal property, and their security must be ensured. It strictly prohibits levy of charges from the detainees - a common practice in the country's detention centres - and forbids forced labour.

Also adopted at the meeting was a decision to take additional effective measures to reduce coal mine accidents, including increased funding to improve workplace safety for coal miners.

Meanwhile, the government officials attending the meeting adopted a draft law on public facilities for cultural activities and physical exercises, which is expected to be issued after additional revision.

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