The Rehab Archipelago - Human Rights Watch

Detention without Due Process
II. Findings
I was caught by police in a roundup of drug users. They saw me with other
users. They took me to the police station in the morning and by that
evening I was in the drug center.… I saw no lawyer, no judge.
—Quy Hop, a man in his early thirties who spent four years in detention60 Detention by Police
None of the people whom Human Rights Watch interviewed saw a lawyer, judge, or court at
any time before or during their detention in drug detention centers and—despite
regulations providing for appeal of administrative decisions— were unaware of means to
appeal the decision to detain them in a center. 61
Most detainees enter centers on a compulsory basis. Cam Khe was a regular heroin user in
his late 20s when he was taken into police custody in Ho Chi Minh City in 2007.
In less than two days [after being detained by the police] I was put into a
center in another province.… I signed nothing. I did not go voluntarily. The
police read the decision [to detain me] out loud to me. The decision said I
was to be in a drug center for two years…. I saw no courtroom and I was told
nothing about appeals. 62
Lang Giang is a woman in her late 20s who was released from her second period of
detention in mid-2010. After her first period of detention (for five years), she was released
in 2006 and eventually returned home because she ran out of money.
I didn't know that there were already papers ready for me. A policeman and
two members of the civil defense force (dan phong) detained me. 63 They
took me to the local police station. My urine test was positive. I was given a
60 Human Rights Watch interview with Quy Hop, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.
61 Ordinance 44, art. 118 allows for administrative decisions to be appealed.
62 Human Rights Watch interview with Cam Khe, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.
63 The civil defense force (dan phong) is a voluntary security force under the authority of ward-level People's
Committees that often collaborates with local police.
25 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2011