Drug Detention in China and Cambodia

Acknowledgements: Joseph Amon, Rebecca Schleifer and colleagues

Health & Human Rights DivisionHuman Rights Watch

China

Background

• 5-6 million drug users• Roughly half of all HIV infections associated

with IDU• Rapidly expanded community-based

methadone• >350,000 drug users detained in detox, RTL– 700 detox centers, 165 re-education through labor– Rapid expansion from 1995 on

Sometimes I’m afraid I might be sick with AIDS but I’d rather be sick and free than go get tested, get arrested, and be sick in detox or RTL

Fear of Arrest

Conditions in detox/RTL

This place is hell. We are supposed to be there for quitting drugs but instead we work like we are slaves and then get beat up.

Conditions in detox/RTL

A former RTL center guard said that the guards used the HIV testing data to know

… which female inmates they could sleep withwithout using a condom.

Women in RTL need comforting, especially the younger ones. I would sleep with them to comfort them and then give them some heroin to make them feel better.

Cambodia

Background

Estimated 6,000 (NACD)-46,000 (UNAIDS) drug users

2,382 individuals in detention Increasing trend

40% increase in 2008 About 1 in 4 detainees were <=18,

including children under 15

My parents called the police to arrest me. They said I am a drug user and I caused trouble to them... I never saw a lawyer. [The police] beat me when I struggled and refused to go.

Arbitrary/ Illegal detention

Right to health

They made me exercise... I was vomiting. I felt they just exploited me. I just wanted to get out [of Choam Chao.]... If I was tired and could not do exercise then the room captain would come and beat me.

Children in centers/ Torture

“[The staff member] would use the cable to beat people... On each whip the skin would come off and stick on the cable.”

Human Rights Violations • Illegal and arbitrary detention

- No lawyer, no trial, no appeal

• Physical and mental abuses- Beaten, whipped, shocked and raped- Forced labour

• Right to health- Failure to provide adequate HIV/TB prevention, treatment and care- No drug treatment, only abuse

Government Response - ChinaJanuary 06, 2010 -- China's ministries of public security (MPS) and health have ordered detention houses, prisons, drug rehabilitation centers and hospitals to improve medical care for detainees and convicts. The ministries said in a notice that detention facilities should have in-house nurses and doctors, and practitioner pharmacists if possible, according to a statement on the MPS website Wednesday. Detention facilities with insufficient in-house doctors should seek assistance from hospitals for daily medical requirements, the notice said. Detention facilities are also required to establish medical profiles for those in custody and hold consultations on major medical cases.

Government Response - Cambodia• Quotes by Cambodian government officials:

– Khieu Sopheak, Ministry of Interior: those in detention "need to do labor and hard work and sweating - that is one of the main ways to make drug-addicted people become normal people."

– PM Hun Sen: “They are not criminals. They are the victims, so they should receive proper treatment”. The PM went on to say that existing centers “do not meet medical standards” and that he was turning down requests to build more centers and had directed the Health Ministry to purchase “detoxification” drugs.

UN position(s)UNAIDS:

“I believe that the centres in Cambodia should be closed… [I call for] the earliest possible closure of detention centres which do not meet minimum standards in Cambodia and other countries.”

UN country team in Cambodia: “The UNCT has been informed of the RCG’s intention to scale down the number of treatment centres to one by 2015. The UNCT welcomes a shift to an evidence- and community based model in line with a rights based approach. The UN hopes that a reduction in the number of centres will be mirrored by a significant reduction in the number of clients as they become progressively served by a developing community-based drug dependence system…”