The Laogai Research Foundation (LRF) was established in 1992 by Laogai survivor Harry Wu in order to gather information on and raise public awareness of the Laogai—China’s extensive system of forced-labor prison camps.

LRF also works to document and publicize other systemic human rights violations in China, including executions and the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners, the coercive enforcement of China's “one-child” population control policy, and Internet censorship and surveillance.

LRF serves as an authoritative source for journalists, researchers, politicians, and other human rights organizations on human rights in China generally and the Laogai and forced labor in China specifically.