The Rehab Archipelago - Human Rights Watch

• People are detained in such centers without due process. Detainees have no
practical opportunity to access a lawyer, a hearing, or to appeal the decision to
detain them.
• Work in such centers is not optional. According to the laws that govern the
operation of Vietnam’s drug detention centers, detainees have a legal obligation to
abide by the rules of the center, including work regimes. Center directors are
authorized to punish detainees for refusing to work.
• Labor in the centers is sometimes unpaid or paid at wages below the minimum
wage. Centers also levy charges against detainee’s wages for items such as food,
accommodation and “managerial fees.” These charges often represent a
significant amount and, in some cases, all of detainee’s wages.
• In many centers, beatings are commonplace. Physical abuse is meted out as
punishment for infringements of center rules (including the obligation to work). On
occasion, such ill treatment—involving severe beatings of detainees with
truncheons or shocks from electric batons—constitutes torture.
Specifically, in relation to [the company’s] operations in Vietnam we would be grateful for
the following information:
• Whether [the company] currently or previously has had commercial arrangements
with the drug detention centers for the processing/manufacturing of [product].
If so:
• What is or was the contractual basis by which your products are
processed/manufactured (e.g., as a contract between [the company] and the center(s),
a contract between [the company] and specific government departments or agencies,
a sub-contract with a third party, or some other commercial arrangement).
• The scale of [the company’s] production in Vietnamese drug detention centers,
including, for each center: the total number and type of product produced for each
of the years 2006-2011.
• The quality control mechanisms in place and specifically whether [the company’s]
personnel (or quality control sub-contractors employed by [the company]) visit drug
detention centers in Vietnam.
• Methods by which [the company] monitors labor conditions involved in the
processing or production of your products.
• The existence of any records or reports detailing labor violations and other
concerns about the treatment of workers in drug detention centers in Vietnam,
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