Harm Reduction

Harm Reduction

PEACE

PEACE

Torture of People Who Use Drugs, Human Rights Violations and Crimes Against Humanity

   Severe torture happens in the name of drug treatment, they are mostly without proper treatment protocols or guidelines. It is nothing but a concentration camp with harsh draconian rules and unbelievable amount of human suffering all in the name of good and morals. Countries of Southeast Asia are also on the list of people who violate Human Rights in the name of Alcohol and Drug Treatment. People can be locked up, Starved, Isolated, Beaten, Made to do hard labour, Psychological torment all in the name of doing good to the individual who may have drank Alcohol or used Drugs habitually. There need to be Community bodies consisting of community of affected people, who have to be employed by the Governments to check abuses and generate reports. There need to be more studies to understand and stop the still continuing decades old abuse and Torture. International network of people who use drugs and United Nations have recognised this Treatment Abuse as Crime against humanity and Human Right violation. In some southeast Asian countries electric shock has been a treatment protocol, Creativity has reached it's heights on how to torture people who use drugs. There is something called Itchy wood treatment, a person will be locked in a cage made of wood, that is allergic to humans. The person inside can not lay-down or sit as it will start to give a nasty allergic reaction to skin which touches the wood. While beatings are common, punishment such as running or standing in the hot-sand barefoot and other inhumane sanctions are common discussions of PUD. Most of the Inmates are made to do very hard work and exhausting labour. In some cases this forced labour is related to the functioning of the centre, such as growing vegetables or working in the kitchen, Cleaning and swabbing, those who attempt to refuse to work are beaten by Centre Staff. In other cases, inmates are used to construct new buildings in the centres, or sent in work gangs to construction sites at houses or, in one case, a hotel. While the types of labour might differ from centre to centre, all forms of forced labour in the centres are prohibited by international law.

Many places around Asia, the facilities described as drug detention centres go by a variety of names: Compulsory Treatment centres, Drug rehabilitation centres, Detoxification centres. They are common in Southeast Asia, with an estimated combined population of 350,000 detained Inmates. These facilities may differ greatly by, and even within, a country. However, regardless of their name, centres that hold people against their will for drug dependency treatment should be considered “drug detention centres” operating outside international law. Many people are held in such centres without ever seeing a lawyer or a judge, or without having means to challenge the legality of their detention. Even when such centres are enabled by national legislation (and where that legal framework is fully respected in practice), detention in such centres is arbitrary, and violates international law because it is a medically and scientifically inappropriate response to any actual clinical need for treatment of drug dependence. The various restrictions on individual rights resulting from detention in such centres are not strictly necessary, nor the least restrictive means, to achieve the purpose of drug treatment. Drug treatments and rehabilitation has become a cottage industry, with no Detoxification but cold-turkey (Leaving the person to go through withdrawals), some withdrawals are so extreme, that they go through hallucinations for 1 week such as Alcoholics. The legend and belief which was propagated in the past still continues that these Alcoholics and Drug dependants have to go through such inhumane pain so that it teaches them a lesson to not drink or use substances again. This illusion of treatment somehow spread around the world and continues to make sure these people who are suppose to be detoxified and counselled are left to go through Inhumane and apathetic torture, all in the name of doing good and morality.
    





























“street sweeps” of drug users and other people considered
“undesirable” by authorities. © 2013 Human Rights Watch.



Young men who had been working under the supervision on the construction site of a hotel are driven in a pickup towards the drug detention center. © 2013 Human Rights Watch.