China Ends ‘Custody and Education’ Punishment for Sex Workers

In a country that offers its citizens a reward more than 12 times the annual workers’ salary for snitching on porn producers, sex workers are not surprisingly treated as criminals and social pariahs. But China has taken at least a small step forward in its treatment of sex workers, ending this week a brutal program of forced labor known as “custody and education.” Chinese legislators voted to end the system as of December 29, after three decades of what activist Shen Tingting called “forced labour, compulsory testing for sexually transmitted disease … humiliation and physical violence” for sex workers who under Chinese law may be detained at “education centers” without charges, according to a report by The Borneo Post.   In 2013, China abolished its decades-old “re-education” system, in which criminal and political offenders were sent to forced labor camps to be "educated." But the system remained in place for sex workers, and their clients.  Even though China is believed to have several million sex workers, sex work, like porn, is illegal in the People’s Republic of China. Even without the “custody and education” system, sex workers are still subject to detentions up to 15 days, and fines as high as $725—a significant sum, with the average Chinese worker taking home only about $11,000 per year—according to The Independent newspaper.  The group Human Rights Watch has described sex workers in China as being “beaten, blackmailed, and harassed” by government authorities. China’s government-run press agency, Xinhua, announced the elimination of the “custody and education” program in a report on Saturday. But the mouthpiece for the ruling Chinese Communist Party also said that the program “has played an important role in maintaining a good social atmosphere and public order.” Photo By Daderot / Wikimedia Commons Public Domain