In 2012 over 235,000 people were detained in compulsory drug detention centers in various countries in Asia. Between 2007 and 2013, researchers conducted interviews with almost 200 individuals who had been recently released from such centers in China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. These individuals reported being held in detention for as long as five years while being denied due process, clinical determination of drug dependency, and evidence-based drug treatment. Many also reported being subjected to forced labor, strenuous physical exercise, and physical abuse. This article concludes that ‘long-term, compulsory detention for treatment of drug dependency is counter to established principles of medical care and violates a wide range of human rights, including the right to health. Individuals held in drug detention centers in China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos are subject to torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment’.
Citation: Joseph J. Amon, Richard Pearshouse, Jane Cohen, Rebecca Schleifer, ‘Compulsory Drug Detention Centers in China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos: Health and Human Rights Abuses’, Health and Human Rights, Volume 15, Number 2 (2013)