China to ease one-child policy, abolish labor camps, report says
updated 10:54 AM EST, Fri November 15, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- China announces changes to one-child policy and labor camps
- Labor camps will be abolished, state-run news agency reports
- China has hinted at these changes in recent months
(CNN) -- After months of hints, China announced Friday it will relax its decades-long one-child policy and abolish labor camps in an effort to improve human rights, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Officials had said earlier both controversial policies were under review, but that did not diminish the force of Friday's announcement.
The biggest change could be the abolishment of the so-called "re-education through labor" system under which tens of thousands are imprisoned in China without trial.
"Reform through labor" was set up in the 1950s under Mao Zedong and modeled on Soviet gulags -- a place where "counterrevolutionaries" and "class enemies" could be detained without trial.
Millions are believed to have died through overwork, suicide and harsh conditions until a system overhaul in the 1970s when Deng Xiaoping released prisoners accused of political and religious offenses.
According to the latest available figures from the Ministry of Justice, 160,000 people were held in 350 re-education through labor centers nationwide at the end of 2008. The United Nations has said the figure is possibly as high as 190,000 people.
As part of the reforms, China said it will reduce the number of crimes subject to the death penalty.
Even those who know little about China have likely heard about its one-child policy. China's family planning laws require most families living in urban areas to have one child.
The policy will be slightly relaxed so that couples will be allowed to have two children if one of the parents was an only child, Xinhua reported. Currently, both parents must be sole children to be eligible for a second child.
The one-child policy, though applauded by many for slowing down China's population growth, has been widely criticized for resulting in forced abortions and hefty fines that are sometimes used to enforce it.
Some critics say the law hurts China's elderly, who typically rely on their children for support in old age, and even constrains economic growth as the working age population begins to decline.
"Since the policy now allows it, I will definitely have a second child," one 25-year-old woman in Beijing told CNN. "It's too lonely for a single child."
Another man, walking through the Beijing metro with his girlfriend, agreed.
"When I get married, I would prefer having two children as I'm the only child in my family. My childhood was a bit boring," he said.
A third commuter also praised the changes: "It's a great new policy. Raising three kids is a bit stressful, but two are just perfect."
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