The Rehab Archipelago - Human Rights Watch

Work was compulsory. We produced bamboo furniture, bamboo products,
and plastic drinking straws. We were paid by the hour for work: eight-hour
days, six days a week. 145
Luc Ngan believed that the drinking straws were sold to a company called Tran Boi. 146
Vietnamese media reports in 2003 and 2004 describe Tran Boi Co. as working in Youth Center
No. 2 to provide detainees with jobs under the “post rehabilitation management” pilot
program. 147 Business directories describe Tran Boi Production Co. Ltd. as a plastics company
located in Ho Chi Minh City. 148 Human Rights Watch wrote to Tran Boi Production Co. Ltd. in May
and again in June 2011 seeking its reply to the information received about the company. Tran
Boi Production Co. Ltd. had not provided a response by the time this report went to print. 149
CASE STUDY: VESTERGAARD FRANDSEN
Vestergaard Frandsen SA is an international company headquartered in Switzerland
that specializes in products designed for disease control and complex emergency
responses, including insecticide treated mosquito nets. 150 The company has stated
policies on respect for international labor standards and human rights principles. 151
In late 2010, Human Rights Watch received information that mosquito bed nets
bearing tags with the company name Vestergaard Frandsen SA were being produced
in “Rehabilitation Center No. 2” in Haiphong city (northern Vietnam). 152
145 Human Rights Watch interview with Luc Ngan, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.
146 I bid.
147 “A Chance To Rebuild Their Life,” Saigon Times Magazine, November 6, 2003; Thu Hang, “Factories
exclusively for post-rehabilitation individuals,” Vietnam Express, April 20, 2004 [translation by Human Rights
Watch], http://vnexpress.net/gl/xa-hoi/2004/04/3b9d1d86/ (accessed February 15, 2011).
148 Panpages (online business directory), “Tran Boi Production Co. Ltd.,” undated,
http://vietnam.panpages.com/industry-agricultural-and-garment/plastic-products/tran-boi-production-coltd-
34116.html (accessed February 15, 2011).
149 Letters from Human Rights Watch to the Director of Tran Boi Production Co. Ltd., May 2, 2011 and June 10,
2011, copies on file with Human Rights Watch.
150 Vestergaard Frandsen, “PermaNet 2.0: Long-lasting Insecticidal Net,” undated, http://www.vestergaard-
frandsen.com/component/docman/cat_view/51-product-brochures/61-permanetr/62-permanetr-20 (accessed
July 5, 2011).
151 Vestergaard Frandsen, “Business Conduct Principles,” undated, www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/our-
passion/business-conduct-principles (accessed July 5, 2011).
152 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld), Phnom Penh, Cambodia, September 8, 2010. This report of
production of bed nets is unrelated to the mention of bed nets by Vu Ban in Center No. 2 (page 65).
45 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2011