The Rehab Archipelago - Human Rights Watch

Subsidizing Detention Costs
The current decrees governing drug detention centers explicitly list international aid
among the possible sources of drug detention center budgets. 349 Studies have attempted
to estimate the economic costs of operating drug detention centers in Vietnam. One such
study reported that:
Annual cost per trainee was US$225 (Yen Bai) and $630 (Hanoi). Projected
annual costs of government plans to place 75% of [injecting drug users] in
06-centres would rise, in Hanoi, from US$5 million in 2005 to $10-$15
million in 2015. 350
Such studies have concluded that “drug rehabilitation in closed settings is not costeffective
and does not work.” In the course of such studies, it was noted that healthrelated
costs vary greatly from center to center, but were around 10 percent of total costs. 351
In effect, external involvement offsets many health-related costs of detaining people in
drug detention centers, thus making the centers more economically profitable.
Non-Engagement by Donors
In the course of researching this report, Human Rights Watch wrote to some donors who
stated in written responses that they were not engaged in Vietnam’s drug detention centers.
In 2009, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID)
announced that its existing HIV prevention program in Vietnam would merge with the
existing World Bank-funded and government run project identified above. 352 In
correspondence to Human Rights Watch, the UK secretary of state clarified that DfID has
never funded projects in Vietnam’s drug detention centers and noted:
349 Decree 135/2004/ND-CP, June 10, 2004, art. 8; Decree 94/2009/ND-CP, October 26, of 2009, art. 4. A similar
provision has been in place since the mid-1990s. See, for example, Decree No. 20/CP on April 13, 1996, art. 5.
350 “Cost analysis as a tool for assessing options for addressing drug use and related HIV infection in Vietnam,”
T. Xuan Sac, et al., Abstract no. WEPE0883, AIDS 2006 - XVI International AIDS Conference, August 13-18, 2006.
Copy on file with Human Rights Watch.
351 “Does drug rehabilitation in closed settings work in Vietnam,” Duc T. Tran, presentation at Harm Reduction
2009, Bangkok, April 21, 2009, attended by Human Rights Watch researcher.
352 “UK finances Vietnam’s anti-AIDS prevention,” Nhan Dan online, June 9, 2009,
http://www.hoilhpn.org.vn/NewsDetail.asp?Catid=122&NewsId=10920&lang=EN (accessed July 28, 2011).
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