The Rehab Archipelago - Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch believes that people living with HIV currently detained in the centers
should be released from detention and treated in the community where their HIV infection
can be effectively managed and they do not face the abuses they face in detention.
In situations where torture and other forms of inhumane treatment, forced labor, and other
human rights abuses are widespread and systematic, healthcare professionals operating
there have an ethical obligation to address those human rights abuses.
The World Medical Association's Declaration of Tokyo states that:
The physician shall not countenance, condone or participate in the practice
of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading procedures,
whatever the offense of which the victim of such procedures is suspected,
accused or guilty, and whatever the victim's beliefs or motives. 343
The International Council of Nurses’ position on “the care of detainees and prisoners” states:
Nurses who have knowledge of abuse and maltreatment of detainees and
prisoners [are expected to] take appropriate action to safeguard their
rights.… Nurses [are expected to] abstain from using their nursing
knowledge and skills in any manner, which violates the rights of detainees
and prisoners. 344
The failure of donors and the implementing partners to monitor the human rights
conditions of detainees renders impossible any accurate assessment of the impact of
donor’s humanitarian assistance. Thus, while donors are driven by a stated intention to
relieve detainee suffering, there is no adequate means to assess whether detainee
suffering is indeed relieved.
343 World Medical Association: Guidelines for medical doctors concerning torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment in relation to detention and imprisonment. Adopted by the 29th WMA
Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, October 1975.
344International Council of Nurses, “Nurse’s role in the care of detainees and prisoners,” Geneva, 2006,
http://www.icn.ch/publications/position-statements/ (accessed May 1, 2011). See also International
Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), “Ethics in
Social Work, Statement of Principles,” approved at the General Meetings of the International Federation of
Social Workers and the International Association of Schools of Social Work in Adelaide, Australia, October
2004, http://www.ifsw.org/f38000032.html (accessed May 1, 2011).
93 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2011