VOA标准英语2011--Vietnam's Drug Rehab Centers Under Fire

Vietnam's Drug Rehab Centers Under Fire

Rights advocates in Vietnam are criticizing a form of treatment used by the government to rehabilitate¹ illegal drug users and sex workers.
In a newly released report, the international human rights group Human Rights Watch says the so-called therapy is little more than forced labor².
Surrounded by fences or walls and watched over by guards, Vietnam’s drug rehabilitation³ centers provide what the government calls labor therapy to treat thousands of addicts⁴ every year.
But this week's report by Human Rights Watch contests how much good the camps actually do, with accusations⁵ of forced labor and torture from former detainees.
There are more than 100 drug rehabilitation centers in Vietnam. Under Vietnamese law, drug addicts can be held for up to four years for treatment. Detainees work in a variety of jobs, from agriculture to construction.
The government says the work keeps addicts away from the temptations of the outside world while giving them useful jobs.
However, Human Rights Watch says the centers are “little more than forced labor camps,” designed as profit-making machines for businesses.
Nguyen Van Minh, head of the Department of Social Evils Prevention under the Ministry⁶ of Labor, Invalids⁷ and Social Affairs, says the rehab centers help people recover from their addictions⁸. The work helps addicts recover their health, Minh says, and learn a trade that will help them reintegrate into society when they are released.
The centers first emerged at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 as camps that provided “re-education through labor.” They were given a boost in the mid⁹ 1990s as part of a government campaign to eradicate¹⁰ so-called “social evils.”
Human Rights Watch says more than 300,000 people passed through the centers between 2000 and 2010. Since 2000, the number of camps has nearly doubled, from 56 to 123.
However, government figures show detained patient relapse rates at 70 to 80 percent. Researchers say that is because the camps are more focused on making money than treatment.
“If you are talking about heroin¹¹ dependence¹², you need to have medical assisted treatment and opium¹³ substitution such as methadone,” said Eamonn Murphy, UNAIDS country coordinator¹⁴ in Vietnam.
Murphy adds therapy camps actually harm detainees because they delay treatment. He says camp conditions encourage the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis¹⁵.
“The issue here is you cannot wait until someone is very sick before you introduce them to treatment because the benefits of the treatment are limited," says Murphy. "So you need to introduce people as early as possible.”
Work varies across the camps, from agricultural work to construction. The Human Rights Watch report details one recent resident who worked peeling cashews.
The resin¹⁶ burnt his skin. He said if any detainees refused to work they were slapped. He said if they continued to refuse, they were sent to a punishment room.
Other former detainees interviewed said they had to pay for expenses like food, the costs of which were deducted¹⁷ from their wage. Some said they even owed money upon release.
The report says if the detainees refuse to work they are beaten with electric batons¹⁸ or truncheons.
Vietnamese official Nguyen Van Minh denied the charges. He said drug addicts only work for two to three hours in the rehab centers. In the future, he said, the government will cover their food costs.
There is no public record of companies with commercial or contractual relations with the centers. Human Rights Watch says some products may have made their way into the supply chain of companies who sell goods abroad.
Swiss-based Vestergaard Frandsen was alerted by the rights group after it was discovered centers were producing mosquito nets for the company.
Following an investigation¹⁹, the company terminated relations with the subcontractors who were involved in commissioning companies to work at the centers.
International donors²⁰ only have provided limited funding for the centers for more than a decade with programs such as staff training and support for HIV.
Eamonn Murphy, the UNAIDS country coordinator in Vietnam, says compulsory²¹ detention²² is not the answer. Instead, he says, the government should continue expanding voluntary community-based services, which have provided access to effective drug treatment services, including methadone since 2008.
“The community-based program where the government are looking to reach 80,000 heroin-dependent people by 2015 is significant, it’s the way to go," Murphy says. "And so far in the last two years there has been a rapid effort by the government to scale up this program. It’s now gone from two initial pilot provinces to 26 centers across the country and there are plans for many more.”
The United Nations says there is little evidence to prove compulsory detention can cut relapse rates. In fact, the majority of residents in the camps have been detained at least once before.
Human Rights Watch has called on all donors and companies to stop working with the forced detention centers.

1 rehabilitate   

vt.改造(罪犯)，修复；vi.复兴，(罪犯)经受改造

参考例句：

• There was no money to rehabilitate the tower.没有资金修复那座塔。
• He used exercise programmes to rehabilitate the patients.他采用体育锻炼疗法使患者恢复健康。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

4 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

5 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 invalids   

病人，残疾者( invalid的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The invention will confer a benefit on all invalids. 这项发明将有助于所有的残疾人。
• H?tel National Des Invalids is a majestic building with a golden hemispherical housetop. 荣军院是有着半球形镀金屋顶的宏伟建筑。

8 addictions   

瘾( addiction的名词复数 )； 吸毒成瘾； 沉溺； 癖好

参考例句：

• He has removed the stigma of drug addictions. 他已经洗去吸毒的污点了。
• Intelligent people are good at using reason to control excessive addictions. 智慧的人善于用理性来控制过度的嗜欲。

9 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

10 eradicate   

v.根除，消灭，杜绝

参考例句：

• These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
• They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。

11 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

12 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

13 opium   

n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的

参考例句：

• That man gave her a dose of opium.那男人给了她一剂鸦片。
• Opium is classed under the head of narcotic.鸦片是归入麻醉剂一类的东西。

14 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

15 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

16 resin   

n.树脂，松香，树脂制品；vt.涂树脂

参考例句：

• This allyl type resin is a highly transparent, colourless material.这种烯丙基型的树脂是一种高度透明的、无色材料。
• This is referred to as a thixotropic property of the resin.这种特性叫做树脂的触变性。

17 deducted   

v.扣除，减去( deduct的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cost of your uniform will be deducted from your wages. 制服费将从你的工资中扣除。
• The cost of the breakages will be deducted from your pay. 损坏东西的费用将从你的工资中扣除。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 batons   

n.（警察武器）警棍( baton的名词复数 )；（乐队指挥用的）指挥棒；接力棒

参考例句：

• There were many riot policemen with batons. 有许多带警棍的防暴警察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Chinese police fight? Number one is a person with batons to fight! 满街飘的中国国旗，是一个老华侨在事发时那出来分给大家的，很感动，真的，从来一向多一事不如少一事的中国人今天团结到一起站出来反抗。 来自互联网

19 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

20 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 compulsory   

n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的

参考例句：

• Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗？
• Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。

22 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。