In 2011, Human Rights Watch released a shocking report on how Vietnamese citizens struggling with drug addiction were being beaten, tortured and forced to work in compulsory drug detention centers.
Vietnamese officials reacted defensively, dismissing the report as “groundless” and asserting that the drug
centers are an effective, humane method of dealing with a growing drug problem.
But new interviews with recently released drug center detainees confirm that forced labor, torture, and other human rights abuses continue in the centers, despite the government’s pledge to scale up voluntary forms of drug treatment. ILRF partners interviewed fifteen former detainees between June 2012 and June 2013. 14 of the 15 former detainees reported being forced to produce goods for private companies and over half had either witnessed a beating or been beaten themselves simply for missing an assigned work quota.