Laogai Research Foundation

Laogai Research Foundation
founding	1992
Seat	Washington, DC , United States
main emphasis	NGO
people	Harry Wu , Executive Director

The Laogai Research Foundation is a human rights NGO based in Washington, DC , USA. The foundation has set itself the goal of "collecting information about the extensive Laogai system of forced labor camps in the People's Republic of China and raising public awareness of it".

history

The foundation was established in 1992 by Harry Wu, a former political prisoner in the People's Republic of China. Wu was born in Shanghai in 1937 to a wealthy family. During his studies he came into conflict with the Chinese Communist Party and was considered a counter-revolutionary right-wing radical during the anti-right movement. Wu was arrested in 1960 and sent to a laogai, where he was finally released 19 years later. He emigrated to the United States in 1982 and began publicizing the systematic human rights violations inflicted on the Chinese people by the Chinese Communist Party. Ten years later, his work culminated in the establishment of the Laogai Research Foundation.

Current work

Harry Wu gives the Dalai Lama a tour of the Laogai Museum in October 2009.

The Laogai Museum in Washington DC was founded in 2009 with support from Yahoo! Human rights fund established.

The foundation publishes an annually updated Laogai Handbook, which lists all known information about Laogai activities in China, including location, size, known inmates, products made, and other statistics for each camp. The foundation is also researching the links between American companies and the Laogai camps. In 1992 she documented the extensive use of the products manufactured in the Laogais by the Columbus McKinnon Chain Hoist Company, which the company's president also confirmed before Congress. In February 2010, the foundation published a research report showing that China is actively promoting laogai products and services online, even on websites sponsored by the Chinese government, even though exporting laogai products is illegal under Chinese law. Importing Laogai products is illegal in the United States, Germany, and Italy. Another project of the Foundation is “Laogai: The Machinery of Repression in China”, a book on the history of Laogai in China, edited by the director of the Nicole Kempton Foundation and published in 2009 by Umbrage Editions. Other works have appeared in the Chinese language. In addition, the Laogai Research Foundation maintains two active blogs, one in English and one in Chinese; Nicole Kempton runs her own blog at the Huffington Post. In 2008 the foundation opened the Laogai Museum, headquartered in Washington. In 2009, the Dalai Lama paid a visit to the museum as part of a meeting with Wu and Kempton. In April 2011 the foundation celebrated the grand opening of the completely renovated Laogai Museum at the new location in Dupont Circle .

Although the foundation has a particular focus on Laogai, it has also investigated other human rights violations in China, including the repression of minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang , China's one-child policy, the persecution of Falun Gon and Charter 08 members, and involuntary organ harvesting by detained inmates and prisoners of conscience for use in China's organ transplant industry.

The foundation's extensive archive collection, consisting of Chinese and US government documents, personal testimonies from Laogai survivors, and video and press documents, has been available online since fall 2010.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Laogai Research Foundation Internet Archive , accessed October 3, 2017.
2. ↑ Press Release: Laogai Museum Now Open to the Public Wayback Machine , accessed October 3, 2017.
3. ↑ manual ; Original  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on October 3, 2017.  
4. ^ Forced labor in China Google Books , accessed October 3, 2017.
5. ↑ Communist China: Laogai Research Foundation New Report On Forced Labor RESPONSIBLE FOR EQUALITY AND LIBERTY (REAL) , accessed October 3, 2017.
6. ↑ Laogai: Reform Through Labor in China ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Washington College of Law , accessed October 3, 2017. 
7. ↑ German Parliament condemns China's 'laogai' Camps Spiegel Online called, on 3 October 2017th
8. ^ Laogai: The Machinery of Repression in China , Amazon.com , accessed October 3, 2017.
9. ↑ 网上 书店 | 劳改 基金会  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Laogai.org , accessed October 3, 2017.  
10. ↑ BLOG | Laogai Research Foundation  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Laogai.org , accessed October 3, 2017.  
11. ↑ 博客 | 劳改 基金会 Wayback Machine , accessed October 3, 2017.
12. ↑ Nicole Kempton The Huffington Post , accessed October 3, 2017.
13. ↑ LAOGAI MUSEUM TO WELCOME HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA Wayback Machine , accessed October 3, 2017.
14. ^ Laogai Museum Grand Opening a Success | Laogai Research Foundation  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Laogai.org. , accessed on October 3, 2017.  
15. ↑ Spotlight on the LRF Archive | Laogai Research Foundation  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Laogai.org , accessed October 3, 2017.