Jointly denouncing a critical Human Rights Watch report on government-run drug rehabilitation centers, government and military bodies yesterday called the group’s conclusions “completely unacceptable” and “disruptive.”
Released Jan 18, “Skin on the Cable” recounts Human Rights Watch’s interviews with 53 former drug center internees who described an institutionalized system of arbitrary and forced detention, bloody beating and sexual abuse. Lacking any genuine effort at treatment and rehabilitation, the report added, the centers have done nothing to curb the country’s drug problem.
A statement issued yesterday by the National Authority for Combating Drugs, which was endorsed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and military police, said that the organization’s findings were “false.”
“Human Rights Watch’s report does not reflect all facts…. Instead, it is disruptive to the process of the rule of law in Cambodia,” the statement said.
During the release of the statement at NACD headquarters, officials took aim at Human Rights Watch’s health and human rights director Joe Amon.
“He wrote such a report I think maybe because he wants to be a UN official in Vienna,” said Meas Vyrith, NACD deputy secretary-general. “Does he want to be NACD chairman? No, it is impossible because the position belongs to Cambodia.”
Mr Amon dismissed Mr Vyrith’s claim in an e-mail from New York.
“The government’s assertion that this research was promoted for reasons of personal gain are absurd,” he said. “The only gain we seek with this report is to advance respect for human rights for all in Cambodia.
“Our report was the result of nearly one year of research and interviews with more than 50 individuals who had been detained in drug centers across Cambodia,” he added. “No other independent assessment has been conducted of conditions in these centers and we absolutely stand by the accuracy of our findings.”
Despite the government’s adamant denials, local aid agencies, drug experts and rights workers all say the report paints a fair picture of the reality inside these centers.
“It reflects the stories and realities we hear from drug users who have been there,” said Holly Bradford, founder of Korsang, a harm reduction NGO that works with drug users in Phnom Penh on a volunteer basis.
“The main concern is that [the centers] are illegal,” he said. “People are forced to go there without due process. If Cambodia had proper, ethical drug treatment, drug users would not need to be forced to go. They would be lined up at the door, begging to get in.”
