While the Action Plan talks about assistance for survivors of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake , there is no mention of Chinese activists who have been detained since last June for pursuing the issue of shoddy construction in schools that collapsed during the quake . These activists are amongst the estimated half million people who are under punitive detention without trial or charge , in the system known as ' laojiao ' or re-education through labour . Laojiao sentences , which can be imposed by police officers and offer no trial mechanism to individuals facing them , serve functions such as suppressing political dissidents , maintaining public order , facilitating police criminal investigation and treating drug addiction . Moreover , the ' black jails ' , unregistered jails where dissidents are housed indefinitely are not addressed at all , and it is unclear whether the provisions for detainees will be seen as encompassing these facilities
2008 Sichuan earthquake
2008 Sichuan earthquake
National Human Rights Action Plan