List of Issues on the Rights of Drug Addicts in China Submitted to UN Committee Against

List of Issues on the rights of drug addicts in China submitted to UN Committee against Torture by Beijing Aizhixing Institute on Feb 8th, 2015

就药物成瘾者群体权利致禁止酷刑委员会民间议题清单

北京爱知行研究所 2015 年 2 月 8 日

1. Confinement.

Confinement refers to regulatory penalties against detainees for serious violation of prison regulations and disciplines. People have been punished by confinement in solitary confinement indoors, isolated from others.

1) Please describe the number of people who were punished by confinement and average time of each confinement during the period from 2008 to 2014 in all compulsory isolation drug treatment centers in China.

2) Please indicate what measures have been taken to ensure the confinement will not damage health of detainees.

2. Forced labor issues:

China’s Compulsory Isolation Drug Treatment Centers are managed by both the department of public security and the department of justice. Drug addicts who have been decided to receive compulsory isolation drug treatment will spend 3-6 months in the compulsory drug treatment centers of public security department and then will be sent to the treatment centers of the department of justice for the left time, altogether 2- 3 years.

Regulations on Compulsory Isolation Drug Treatment Centers by Public Security Organs clearly define that drug addicts in treatment can’t be forced to labor. While Regulations on Compulsory Isolation Drug Treatment by Judicial Administrative Authorities doesn’t define whether drug addicts can be forced to work.

1) Please describe why Regulations on Compulsory Isolation Drug Treatment by Judicial Administrative Authorities doesn’t provide that forced labor is prohibited.

1 2) Please describe the labor protection conditions for drug addicts in the compulsory isolation drug treatment centers by Judicial Administrative Authorities.

3. Medical care.

1) Please indicate what measures have been taken to ensure that drug addicts with disability or severe illness in regulatory sites (including detention centers, compulsory drug treatment centers, and prisons, etc.) have the rights to necessary medical treatment and care.

2) Please indicate what measures have been taken to protect people with HIV/AIDS in the regulatory sites have access to medications, treatment and care.

3) Please indicate what measures have been taken to protect privacy of people with HIV/AIDS in regulatory sites.

4) Please indicate what measures have been taken to guarantee that drug addicts with HIV/AIDS who are receiving antiviral drugs will continue to receive antiviral drugs or other medical treatment after they are detained or sent to the compulsory isolation drug treatment centers, or other regulatory sites.

5) Please indicate whether drug addicts in the compulsory isolation drug treatment centers will have access to health insurance.

4. Compulsory isolation drug treatment center.

1) Please indicate what measures have been taken to prevent inmate violence in the compulsory isolation drug treatment center.

2) Please indicate what measures have been taken to guarantee that drug addicts in the rehabilitation treatment will be able to have at least 2-hour outdoor activities in the compulsory isolation drug treatment center every day.

3) Please indicate what measures have been taken to guarantee that the compulsory isolation drug treatment centers will implement food standards, and that drug addicts in the rehabilitation treatment will be able to eat cooked, hot, hygiene and enough food.

2 5. Methadone treatment.

In 2003, China began to develop methadone maintenance treatment as a part of harm reduction of drug use including prevention of HIV among drug addicts. But policemen have been coming, investigating and detaining drug addicts around or even inside methadone clinics quite often nationwide in China which harms harm reduction objective of health department and the health rights of drug addicts.

1) Please indicate what measures have been taken to prevent policemen from investigating and detaining drug addicts around or inside methadone treatment clinics in China.

6. Unnatural deaths in the regulatory sites.

Chinese media has reported cases of unnatural deaths in the detention centers. Some victims are drug addicts.

1) Please describe the number of drug addicts who suffered unnatural deaths during the period of 2008 and 2014 in all regulatory sites in China.

7. Dynamic real-time management and control of drug addicts.

Based on information technology, Chinese public security department began to develop the dynamic real-time management and control mechanism of drug users in 2006. By the end of 2013, Chinese public security department registered 2,475,000 drug users nationally. This means that those registered drug users will experience regular real-time dynamic management and control by public security department, and may be taken away by police for compulsory drug testing without evidence of using drugs whenever their identity are recognized when they are using ID in hotels or other places that they need to show ID. Compulsory drug use testing reinforced social stigma against drug addicts especially those who have given up using drugs for many years, caused damages in the family life and employment of drug addicts, etc.

1) Please indicate what measures have been taken to guarantee that drug users or former drug users under dynamic management and control will enjoy equal access to hotels or other places that they need to show their ID, and that their

3 family life or employment will not be destroyed by the Arbitrarily compulsory drug testing of police department.