The Rehab Archipelago: Forced Labor and Other Abuses in Drug Detention Centers in Southern Vietnam, Human Rights Watch (2011)

This report, published by Human Rights Watch (HRW), catalogues the experiences of individuals in 14 detention centers throughout Southern Vietnam.  The report concludes that the treatment while confined to these centers can amount to violations of human rights law including torture.  Of note, the report highlights the major international funders of such centers, including the UNODC (page 82).  The UNODC’s program goals and the human rights oversight and complaints mechanism are critiqued as lacking (page 87-88).  At one point, HRW cites the technical assistance provided by UNODC for the training manuals of staff employed by the center as “antithetical” to human rights law (page 90).  The report concludes with recommendations to UNODC and other international funders to take action and review all funding and programming does not support violations of human rights law (page 100).

Citation: Human Rights Watch. 'The Rehab Archipelago: Forced Labor and Other Abuses in Drug Detention Centers in Southern Vietnam' (HRW Report) 7 September 2011

HRDP summary