The Rehab Archipelago - Human Rights Watch

workshop[s] for manufacture and equipment and materials for vocational
training and creating incomes. 35
The assessment also notes that, “[a]s profitable administrative units, the centers
do not have to pay taxes for their incomes.” 36
The Ho Chi Minh City Pilot Project
In 2001, Ho Chi Minh City authorities launched a “three reductions” campaign to intensify
their fight against three particular “social evils:” drugs, sex work, and crime. As part of the
campaign, large numbers of drug users were detained in centers. 37
By April 2003, official media reported that according to Nguyen Minh Triet, then-secretary of the
Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee and later president of Vietnam, the goal was for all drug users
to be brought to centers by 2003, all sex workers by 2004, and all homeless people by 2005. 38
At the same time, Ho Chi Minh City (and six other provinces) applied to the National Assembly
for permission to extend periods of detention beyond the two years established by the Drugs
Law. 39 The proposal was to add “one to two years if necessary, but not longer than three years”
of what was referred to as “management, vocational training and job placement for post
rehabilitation individuals” (quan ly, day nghe va giai quyet viec lam cho nguoi sau cai nghien).
The proposal was not without opponents in the National Assembly. Official media reported that
one member of the National Assembly’s Committee on Social Affairs objected to the proposal
on the grounds that extending detention for another two to three years would negatively affect
the detainees’ rights to freedom, to residence, and to choose their own job. In a similar vein, the
vice chairman of the Legal Committee of the National Assembly observed that forced labor is
prohibited under the existing international conventions to which Vietnam is a party. 40
35 Ibid., pp. 65-66.
36 Ibid., p. 66.
37 “HCM City will gather 20,000 addicts for rehab treatment,” Vietnam Express, February 16, 2002,
http://vnexpress.net/gl/phap-luat/2002/02/3b9b9275/ (accessed May 12, 2011) [translation by Human Rights Watch].
38 “Ho Chi Minh City continues bringing IDUs/DUs into 06 centers,” Tuoi Tre, April 19, 2003.
39 The other provinces were Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Hanoi, Long An, Quang Ninh, and Tay Ninh.
40 Cited in Ngia Nhan, “Ho Chi Minh City proposes to manage post rehab patients in centers,” Vietnam Express,
April 24, 2003, http://vnexpress.net/gl/xa-hoi/2003/04/3b9c72c8/ (accessed May 12, 2011) [translation by
Human Rights Watch].
THE REHAB ARCHIPELAGO 18