No Exit China’s State Surveillance over People Who Use Drugs

In China, although drug use is an administrative and not criminal offense, individuals detained by public security authorities are subject to coercive or compulsory “treatment,” which can include community-based detoxification and rehabilitation and two years of compulsory isolation. Individuals are...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHealth and human rights Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 135 - 146
Main Authors LIN, MU, SUN, NINA, AMON, JOSEPH J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Boston President and Fellows of Harvard College 01.06.2022
Harvard School of Public Health
Harvard University Press
Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
Subjects
Coercion
Detoxification
Drug abuse
Emergency communications systems
Government
Higher education
Human rights
Internet
Mobile phones
News
Offenses
Police
Privacy
Questioning
Registration
Rehabilitation
Right of privacy
Security
Surveillance
China
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Summary:In China, although drug use is an administrative and not criminal offense, individuals detained by public security authorities are subject to coercive or compulsory “treatment,” which can include community-based detoxification and rehabilitation and two years of compulsory isolation. Individuals are also entered into a system called the Drug User Internet Dynamic Control and Early Warning System, or simply the Dynamic Control System. The Dynamic Control System, run by the Ministry of Public Security, acts as an extension of China’s drug control efforts by monitoring the movement of people in the system and alerting police when individuals, for example, use their identity documents when registering at a hotel, conducting business at a government office or bank, registering a mobile phone, applying for tertiary education, or traveling. This alert typically results in an interrogation and a drug test by police. This paper seeks to summarize, using published government reports, news articles, and academic papers, what is known about the Dynamic Control System, focusing on the procedures of (1) registration; (2) management; and (3) exit. At each step, people subject to the Dynamic Control System face human rights concerns, especially related to the right to privacy, rights to education and work, and right to health.
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Competing interests: None declared.
ISSN:1079-0969
2150-4113