109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 294
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Calling on the international community to condemn 
the Laogai, the system of forced labor prison 
camps in the People’s Republic of China, as a 
tool for suppression maintained by the Chinese 
Government.
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 294
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Whereas the Laogai is a vast prison labor system in the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China and consists of a network of more 
than 1,000 prisons, camps, and mental institutions in 
which detainees must work at factories, farms, mines, 
and other facilities; 
Whereas the two major aims of the Laogai are to generate 
economic resources for the state through free labor and
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to ‘‘reform criminals’’ through hard labor and political 
indoctrination; 
Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China 
relies on the Laogai as a tool for political suppression of 
pro-democracy activists, Internet dissidents, labor activ-
ists, and religious and spiritual believers, including Han 
Chinese, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, and ‘‘house 
church’’ Christians; 
Whereas, while the Soviet Gulags no longer exist, the Chinese 
Laogai is still fully operational, subjecting most of its 
three million prisoners to forced labor by threatening tor-
ture; 
Whereas fifty million people have suffered as prisoners in the 
Laogai since its inception; 
Whereas Laogai prisoners are deprived of religious freedom 
and forced to give up their political views in order to be-
come a ‘‘new socialist person’’ and uphold communism 
and the Chinese Communist Party; 
Whereas in recent years, more than 100,000 religious believ-
ers have been unjustly and illegally imprisoned in one 
Laogai camp alone, where they have been beaten, tor-
tured, and often killed; 
Whereas Laogai prisoners are forced to work long hours in 
appalling conditions, including mining asbestos and other 
toxic chemicals with no protective clothing, tanning hides 
while standing naked in vats filled with chemicals used 
for softening of animal skins, and working in mining fa-
cilities where explosions and other accidents are a com-
mon occurrence; 
Whereas it is documented that China’s national policy since 
1984 has been to extract organs from executed prisoners
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without prior consent of the prisoners or their family 
members, setting China apart from every other country 
in the world; 
Whereas there are more than 1,000 instances in which or-
gans are harvested from executed Chinese prisoners every 
year; 
Whereas both Chinese and foreign patients from around the 
world receive organs transplanted from executed Chinese 
prisoners; 
Whereas Laogai prisoners are required to make confessions 
of their wrongdoings, which include political and religious 
views that the Chinese Communist Party wishes to sup-
press; 
Whereas Chinese citizens are not guaranteed due process of 
law nor even a right to trial; 
Whereas many individuals are often convicted and sentenced 
with no trial at all, or they are convicted with ‘‘evidence’’ 
extracted through torture; 
Whereas in one part of the Laogai system known as the 
Laojiao, or reeducation-through-labor, Chinese citizens 
can be detained for up to three years without any judicial 
review or formal appearance in the judicial system; 
Whereas goods produced by forced labor in the Laogai system 
continue to be exported to the United States and the 
world; 
Whereas the Chinese Government has continuously encour-
aged the export of goods produced through the Laogai 
prison system and relies on forced labor as an integral 
part of its economy;
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Whereas forced labor and torture practices carried out in the 
Laogai violate international laws, standards, and treaties 
to which China is party, including the United Nations 
Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 
and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, In-
human or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and 
Whereas China, a member State of the International Labor 
Organization, also violates many agreements regarding 
labor conditions and the rights of workers: Now, there-
fore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress—
(1) calls on the international community to con-
demn the Laogai, the system of forced labor prison 
camps in the People’s Republic of China, as a tool 
for suppression maintained by the Chinese Govern-
ment; 
(2) calls on the Government of the United 
States to fully implement United States laws that 
prohibit the importation of forced labor products 
made in the Laogai; 
(3) calls on the Government of the United 
States to take actions to review the implementation 
of the Memorandum of Understanding on Prison 
Labor in 1992 and the Statement of Cooperation in 
1994 with respect to the Laogai;
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(4) will undertake efforts to join with the Euro-
pean Parliament to urge the introduction of a reso-
lution at the United Nations Human Rights Com-
mission condemning the Laogai and the human 
rights situation in China; 
(5) calls on the Government of the People’s Re-
public of China to release information about the 
Laogai, including the total number of Laogai camps 
and prisoners throughout China, the exact locations 
of the camps, and the business production activities 
taking place at the camps; 
(6) calls on the Government of the People’s Re-
public of China to release information about the 
number of executions of prisoners at the camps that 
are carried out every year, and the extent of the har-
vesting and transplantation of organs of executed 
prisoners; 
(7) urges the Government of the People’s Re-
public of China to allow unrestricted visits by inter-
national human rights inspectors, including United 
Nations inspectors, to Laogai camps throughout 
China; and 
(8) urges the Congressional-Executive Commis-
sion on China to continue to investigate the Laogai 
system in China and to make recommendations for
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United States policy that will help protect human 
rights for Chinese citizens.
Passed the House of Representatives December 16, 
2005. 
Attest:
Clerk.