A/HRC/10/21
page 16
China
31. The Government of China reported that, over the past four years, the Legal Committee of
the National People’s Council, the People’s Supreme Court, the People’s Supreme Procuratorate,
the State Council Legislative Affairs Office and the Ministries of Public Security and Justice
have taken full account of the Working Group’s recommendations made after its visit to China
in 2004, in the course of the legislative and judicial reform process under way in China.
Amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure have been included in the legislative
programme of the tenth session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, in
order to prevent the extortion of confessions by torture; to strengthen arrangements to protect the
legal rights of litigants; to ensure better reflection of the policy of tempering severity in justice
with leniency; to ensure fair trials and to raise the standard of legal proceedings and to strengthen
protection of the rights of juvenile criminal suspects and defendants.
32. The Government reported that, on 28 August 2005, the Maintenance of Public Security
(Penalties) Act was enacted by the Standing Committee of the People’s National Congress and
passed into law on 1 March 2006. The Act ensures that the degree of severity of administrative
detention is more appropriately determined, sets out more stringent procedures, further
standardizes the penalties and provides for more effective oversight. The Act is more strongly
people-oriented, ensuring respect for and protection of human rights, upholding the rights of
citizens to a remedy and attaching due priority to the regulation and oversight of police authority.
The new legislation further restricts the discretionary powers of the public security authorities to
impose administrative detention. In 2006, 1,277 proceedings were instituted challenging
administrative detention orders, of which 910 were granted, 77 dismissed and 28 revised.
33. Concerning the system of re-education through labour, the Government reported that the
Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress at its tenth session incorporated
legislation on labour re-education, specifically the Unlawful Conduct (Rehabilitation) Act, in the
five-year legislative plan. In addition, Beijing and certain other cities have set up pilot schemes
for the social correction of persons serving terms of labour re-education outside the custodial
facility. Regarding the Working Group’s recommendation on mandatory medical treatment, the
Government reported that the relevant departments have completed the basic draft of a mental
health act, which has been included in the 2007 legislative plan. In 2005 the city of Ningbo and
in 2006 the city of Hangzhou promulgated mental health regulations setting out strict
requirements for the administration of mandatory psychiatric treatment. A new Narcotics Control
Act has been drafted, stipulating the conditions triggering compulsory treatment for drug
addiction and the protection of the rights and interests of those undergoing the treatment.
Ecuador
34. The Government of Ecuador submitted to the Working Group a complete report on the
implementation of the recommendations made by the Working Group after its February 2006
visit to the country. Provisions contained in Act No. 2003-101, which established “detención en
firme” (mandatory preventive detention), were declared contrary to the Constitution by the
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