The Rehab Archipelago - Human Rights Watch

illion (US$ 2 million) will be invested in the 78-hectare Nhi Xuan area, which
is expected to start operation next year and to provide jobs for 5,000-6,000
post-rehabs, mainly in the garment, footwear, woodwork, electrical, electronic,
mechanical engineering and handicraft sectors. Special incentives will be
offered to businesses investing in the [post-rehabilitation] project, such as
land rent reduction, preferential credit and tax exemption. 44
“Post rehabilitation management” was intended for those considered to be at high risk of
relapse, which was defined as detainees who had been in centers twice or more, detainees
who had been disciplined twice or more, or those without stable family or employment
support. 45 The provision that those who had been disciplined twice or more in drug
detention centers could be subject to “post rehabilitation management” indicates that the
additional detention could be ordered on punitive grounds.
In principle, the decision to detain them for “post rehabilitation management” was to be
taken by the chairman of the People’s Committees at the provincial or municipality level. 46
However, in practice, the extension of detention orders was largely an automatic
bureaucratic process. Between 2003 and 2008, while the pilot project lasted, at least
30,681 people were detained for the additional two to three years of “post rehabilitation
management.” 47 During the same period, just 263 people were allowed to leave the centers
without the additional two to three years of detention. 48
From the point of view of detainees, the system changed very little regardless of whether
one was in “rehabilitation” or “post rehabilitation management.” Some detainees were
transferred to other centers. The main difference in the lives of detainees was that periods
of detention and forced labor were arbitrarily extended: detainees were held for far longer
than they had initially understood or (in the case of voluntary admissions) requested.
Many detainees told Human Rights Watch that after extension of their detention they
simply stayed at the same center performing the same form of labor.
44 Ibid.
45 Decree 146/2004/ND-CP, “Stipulating the Procedures and Authority to Issue the Decision of Taking the Post Rehab
Individuals into the Establishments for Management, Vocational Training and Job Placement,” July 19, 2004, art. 5(1).
46 Decree 146/2004/ND-CP, July 19, 2004, art. 3.
47 The figure is taken from the Report to the National Assembly and is likely incomplete since it is dated from
mid-2008, not the end of the year. See “Report to the National Assembly on the result of five years’
implementation of Decree No. 16/2003/QH11 on ‘Post rehab monitoring, vocational training and job
placement’,” May 5, 2008, appendix 2A [translation by Human Rights Watch].
48 Ibid.
THE REHAB ARCHIPELAGO 20