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Government-run drug detention centres little more than forced labour camps - HRW
Government-run drug detention centres in Vietnam are little more than forced labour camps where drug users work six days a week processing cashews, sewing garments, or manufacturing other items for little or no pay, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its latest report.
The human rights group said drug users in the centres also suffered torture and physical violence.
In its report, “The Rehab Archipelago: Forced Labor and Other Abuses in Drug Detention Centers in Southern Vietnam,” HRW spoke to detainees in 14 centres under the authority of the Ho Chi Minh City government. The detainees said they were sent to the centres without a formal legal hearing or trial and without seeing a lawyer or judge.
There are more than 123 centres across the country, the report said, with international donors working with the centres since 1994, providing training to staff and support for HIV interventions.
“Forced labor is not treatment, and profit-making is not rehabilitation,” Joe Amon, health and human rights director at HRW, said.
“Donors should recognize that building the capacity of these centres perpetuates injustice, and companies should make sure their contractors and suppliers are not using goods from these centres.”
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