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On paper, many Vietnamese laws, decrees, and directives are consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and demonstrate the government’s stated commitment to care, protect, and educate children. Policies regarding street children largely call for a humanitarian approach that prohibits abuse and promotes rehabilitation and family reunification.
In practice, however, the government regularly authorizes campaigns in which street children are arbitrarily rounded up and institutionalized. Government officials turn a blind eye towards the abysmal conditions in the Social Protection Centers, particularly at Dong Dau, and the physical and emotional abuse street children suffer there. Social Protection Centers in their current form are inappropriate institutions for children and run contrary to policy objectives of protecting and rehabilitating street children and helping to reunite them with their families.
Children should not be detained except as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.213 When they are so deprived, they must be treated humanely with their best interests as the guiding principle for decisions and actions that are taken about their well being. Human Rights Watch urges the Vietnamese government to work with government ministries and employees, international donors, UN agencies, and NGOs to close the gap between stated commitments to child protection and the harsh reality of life for the street children of Hanoi.
Human Rights Watch makes the following recommendations:
- Call for an independent investigation of conditions and practices at Dong Dau Social Protection Center and for development of a plan of action to halt abuses there.
- End the practice of arbitrary arrests, roundups, and detention of street children, and ensure that any detentions are in full compliance with both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- Enforce the absolute prohibition on physical abuse and corporal punishment of children by police, security officials, staff, and other detainees while in police custody or government detention facilities, including Social Protection Centers. Protect children from all forms of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, as required by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Vietnam’s Law on Child Protection.
- Promptly investigate complaints concerning mistreatment and physical abuse of children by police and staff in police custody or government detention facilities, including Social Protection Centers, and order disciplinary measures and criminal proceeding where appropriate.
- Enhance training for police and government staff at all levels on the special needs and rights of children (in particular street children), including international standards for the treatment of children deprived of their liberty and the administration of juvenile justice.
- Ensure that children who are arrested and detained are promptly informed of the reason for their detention and are allowed access to a lawyer. Ensure that detention of all children, including street children, is subject to judicial oversight and that they have the right to challenge the legality of their detention. Imprisonment of children should always be a measure of last resort, for the shortest possible time, and in institutions with adequate juvenile facilities.
Ensure that conditions in Social Protection Centers comply with standards set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Vietnam’s Law on Child Protection, as well as international standards for the treatment of children deprived of their liberty and for administration of juvenile justice. In particular, children in detention should be:
- Allowed to contact their families or guardians, who should be immediately notified when the child is arrested or detained.
- Provided adequate access to appropriate food, medical care, bedding, and water and hygiene; and have opportunities for education and recreation.
- Separated from adults.
- Fully informed of the rules, regulations, and their rights and responsibilities upon entrance to a detention facility, as well as appropriate systems of redress.
- Not locked in rooms for extended periods but allowed outside of their rooms for exercise and leisure activities.
- Provided immediate access to adequate medical care and medical facilities for the prevention and treatment of illness.
- Provided access to training and educational programs while in detention.
- Provided effective mechanisms to make uncensored complaints about the conduct of institutional staff members or the conditions of confinement.
- Reunited with their families if this is deemed the best solution after adequate consultation has taken place with the children and their families, or placed in appropriate children's homes, approved voluntary institutions, and NGO-run programs for street children.
- Allow independent nongovernmental organizations, including international human rights monitors, to periodically investigate Social Protection Centers and conduct confidential interviews with detained children of their choosing, with the consent of the children involved.214
- Invite the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to visit Vietnam and investigate allegations of police abuse of street children, and abuse of children in Social Protection Centers and other detention facilities.
- Invite the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to visit Vietnam and investigate the detention of children in Social Protection Centers and other detention facilities.
- Raise concerns about mistreatment of street children by police and in Social Protection Centers in donor bilateral meetings with Vietnamese authorities, and work with them to promote children's rights.
- Press the Vietnamese government to seek accountability of officials—including CPFC, MOLISA, DOLISA, Social Protection Center staff, and the police—for abuses committed against street children, including extortion and physical abuse.
- Earmark assistance for: training of police, law enforcement officials, staff from Social Protection Centers and government agencies such as CPFC and MOLISA on the rights of the child, the special needs of street children, and international standards for the administration of juvenile justice and the treatment of children deprived of their liberty.
- Insist that donor-supported projects for street children place the best interests of children at the center of their operation, and are monitored to ensure no abuse or mistreatment of children is occurring.
- Support and initiate projects that offer effective alternatives to institutionalization and facilitate the reunification of street children with their families (barring forced reunification where inappropriate).
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