Vietnam protests highlight importance of ending mandatory "rehabilitation"

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Vietnam protests highlight importance of ending mandatory "rehabilitation"

17 January 2017
Talking Drugs

Recent protests and violence at mandatory “drug rehabilitation” centres in Vietnam highlight the importance of the government’s decision to transform such facilities into community-based voluntary centres.

In November 2016, detainees at Vietnamese mandatory drug centres "pelted guards with rocks before smashing a brick wall and escaping" from a mandatory centre, VnExpress reports. This was followed four days later by 200 detainees breaking the walls of another such centre.

In recent years, there have been numerous examples of people detained in mandatory centres staging protests and breakouts, which in turn have occasionally led to violent clashes with law enforcement.

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Thumbnail: Flickr CC Simon Brass