{"id":1737,"date":"2011-12-07T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/queme.org\/all\/all\/vietnam-committee-applauds-un-experts-call-to-close-down-rehabilitation-centres-for-drug-users-and-sex-workers-in-vietnam\/"},"modified":"2016-09-09T13:43:33","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T13:43:33","slug":"vietnam-committee-applauds-un-experts-call-to-close-down-rehabilitation-centres-for-drug-users-and-sex-workers-in-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/vietnam-committee-applauds-un-experts-call-to-close-down-rehabilitation-centres-for-drug-users-and-sex-workers-in-vietnam\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam Committee applauds UN expert\u2019s call to close down rehabilitation centres for drug users and sex workers in Vietnam"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS, 7 December 2011 (VIETNAM COMMITTEE) – The Vietnam Committee for Human Rights<\/strong> applauds the call to close down so-called \u201crehabilitation centres\u201d for injecting drug users and female sex workers by the United Nations\u2019 Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Mr. Anand Grover following his visit to Vietnam from 25 November to 5 December 2011. In comments at the conclusion of his visit, the UN expert esteemed that detention and compulsory treatment of people in such centres perpetuated \u201cstigmatization and discrimination\u201d<\/em> and \u201cviolated their right to health\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(1)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights has condemned the appalling conditions and frequent abusive detention in these institutions since the mid-1990s, when the government set up compulsory rehabilitation centres in widespread drives against \u201csocial evils\u201d<\/em>. Tens of thousands of people were arrested in these drives, not only sex workers and drug addicts, but also vagrants, homeless orphans, unemployed workers or farmers without residence permits who flocked to the big cities to look for work. The official press reported that in Ho Chi Minh City alone, the Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Welfare admitted signing 9,000 authorisations for detention \u201cwithout reading the case histories of any one of them\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(2)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since these rehabilitation centres are administrative, not criminal justice institutions, no arrest warrant is required, and police errors and abuse of justice are routine. Before international conferences in Hanoi, Police regularly \u201csweep the streets\u201d clean of vagrants, many of them young girls, sometimes receiving \u201cbounties\u201d for each person picked up and sent to the centres, as the Vietnam Committee informed the UN in its report on to the CEDAW (Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women)\u00a0(2)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even dissidents and government critics are liable to be detained in these centres. Under Ordinance 44 on \u201cRegulations on Administrative Violations\u201d, local Police may arrest citizens suspected of \u201cnational security\u201d violations without any process of law and detain them under house arrest, in psychiatric institutions or in \u201ceducational institutions\u201d for bad social elements, i.e. rehabilitation centres.<\/p>\n

The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights welcomes Vietnam\u2019s invitation to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health to visit Vietnam, and urges the government to implement his recommendations. We also call upon the Vietnamese government to issue standing invitations to all UN Special procedures, notably the Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, on Freedom of Religion and the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders<\/p>\n

\n

<\/a>(1)<\/a> UN Expert urges Vietnam to close down Compulsory Rehabilitation Centres for Drug users and Sex Workers<\/em><\/strong><\/font><\/a>, United Nations, Geneva, 5 December 2011,<\/p>\n

<\/a>(2)<\/a> Alternative Report on the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimnation against Women<\/em><\/strong><\/font><\/a> (CEDAW, Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, Paris 2007).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PARIS, 7 December 2011 (VIETNAM COMMITTEE) – The Vietnam Committee for Human Rights applauds the call to close down so-called \u201crehabilitation centres\u201d for injecting drug users and female sex workers by the United Nations\u2019 Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Mr. Anand Grover following his visit to Vietnam from 25 November to 5 December …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":375,"featured_media":27988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-vchr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}