The Rehab Archipelago - Human Rights Watch

was in the process of preparing a response, although that response was not provided by
the time this report went to print. 306
As noted above, Human Rights Watch wrote to organizations that have implemented
USAID-funded projects in drug detention centers (FHI, AED, and the Ho Chi Minh City
Provincial AIDS Committee) requesting information on any existing mechanisms to monitor
human rights abuses in the centers, or existing reports of human rights abuses against
detainees. However, by the time this report went to print Human Rights Watch had not
received a response from any of these organizations. 307
US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
The US State Department’s “Information Brief” on the INL-funded project discussed above
makes no reference to the existence of forced labor or other human rights abuses in
detention centers.
INL's response to Human Rights Watch's letter did not include any information in relation
to the request for details of reports of human rights abuses in centers in which it has been
involved. 308 Human Rights Watch wrote to Daytop International to request information on
306 Letter from Human Rights Watch to Dr. Rajiv Shah, July 8, 2011, administrator, USAID, requesting a response by July
29, 2011; Letter from Francis Donovan, mission director, USAID in Vietnam, to Human Rights Watch, August 4, 2011.
307 Letter from Human Rights Watch to Albert Seimens, chairman and chief executive officer, Family Health
International, from Human Rights Watch, May 17, 2011; Letter from Human Rights Watch to Gregory R. Niblett,
president and chief executive officer, Academy for Educational Development, May 24, 2011; Letter from Human
Rights Watch to Hua Ngoc Thuan, chairman, Ho Chi Minh City Provincial AIDS Committee, May 2, 2011.
308 Letter from Gregory Stanton, demand reduction program officer, Bureau for International Narcotics and law
Enforcement Affairs, US Department of State, to Human Rights Watch, June 16, 2011. Recent State Department
reports from bureaus other than INL do identify the existence of forced labor in detention centers. See the US
State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices –
2010: Vietnam,” April 8, 2011, www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/eap/154408.htm (accessed June 6, 2011). The
report states under the heading “Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” that
“[t]he government reported that more than 33,000 drug users were living in forced detoxification labor camps. The
overwhelming majority of these individuals were administratively sentenced to two years without judicial review.”
Under the heading “Arbitrary Arrest or Detention” the report notes that police “can propose that one of five
"administrative measures" be imposed by people's committee chairpersons at district and provincial levels
without a trial. …Terms of 24 months were standard for drug users and prostitutes. Individuals sentenced to
detention facilities were forced to meet work quotas to pay for services and the cost of their detention.” See also
US State Department, “Trafficking in Persons Report— 2011: Vietnam,” June 27, 2011,
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/164233.htm (accessed July 11, 2011). The report states, “There
continued to be evidence of forced labor in drug treatment centers in which drug offenders, sentenced
administratively, are required to perform low-skilled labor, though this practice is reportedly declining.”
85 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2011