Mandatory Drug Treatment Approaches for Minors in Vietnam: A Comparison with Global Standards

Abstract

Vietnam’s compulsory drug rehabilitation framework for minors aged 12 to under 18 is formally presented as a mechanism of treatment, education, vocational training and social reintegration. Vietnamese law contains certain child-protective elements, including provisions on care, treatment and reintegration support for minors affected by substance use disorders. However, these elements do not make the overall framework fully compatible with international children’s rights and public-health standards. The continued reliance on compulsory rehabilitation, together with the 2025 amendment to the Penal Code introducing criminal liability for certain forms of illegal drug use, reveals a persistent tension between health-based child protection and coercive legal control. Assessed against the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the treatment standards developed by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vietnam’s current approach raises concerns regarding voluntariness, proportionality, deprivation of liberty, procedural safeguards, age-appropriate care and reintegration. The analysis identifies structural and regulatory deficiencies in the existing framework and argues for a transition toward voluntary, community-based, evidence-informed and child-sensitive interventions. Reform should not merely improve compulsory institutions, but should reduce reliance on coercive placement and ensure that any exceptional restriction of a child’s liberty is clinically justified, time-limited, independently reviewed and consistent with the best interests of the child