Pubdate: Sun, 14 Sep 2008 Source: Bangkok Post (Thailand) Copyright: The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2008 Contact: http://www.bangkokpost.co.th/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/39 Author: Thongbai Thongpao IS THAILAND'S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD ANYTHING TO CELEBRATE? On Dec 10 this year, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human rights. On that day in 1948, all member countries convened in Paris to endorse the fundamental rights of all human beings regardless of gender, race, colour or religion. Thailand ratified the declaration right from the start. We are now party to five major international human-rights instruments: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Bound by the commitments under these treaties, we have continually amended laws that violate them. They are taken into consideration when a new constitution is drafted. All organic laws are also amended to comply with these conventions. Punishments under the civil and penal codes have also been reviewed regularly to ensure full compliance. From the legal perspective, it can be said that Thailand has seriously promoted and upheld human rights. The 1997 constitution also created a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The body has since played a key role in promoting and protecting human rights, investigating alleged violations, setting up and endorsing related organisations and networks, and recognising the promoters of human rights. To celebrate the diamond anniversary, the local representatives of the UNHCR, in collaboration with the NHRC and local academics and human rights advocates, will present a publication on the human rights situation in Thailand. Since it is intended to celebrate an auspicious occasion, it is speculated that the book will focus on progress rather than violations. I have had a chance to read many of the investigation reports on human rights cases in Thailand, and I wonder whether any of them will ever make it to the publication. Over the years, thousands of victims have sought help from the NHRC, which investigated into their cases and, as a rule, came up with a toned-down conclusion. A blunter verdict would be that in many of these cases, the police are the major offenders. This is especially true of Thailand's so-called war on drugs, which began in 2003. At that time the police were told to fill their "arrest quotas" or faced transfers. Three months into the operation, at least 2,000 people were killed at the hands of police, prompting the UNHCR to send a representative to Thailand on an urgent mission. For its part, the NHRC has proposed that the government, police force and individual police officers should compensate relatives of the victims, a call that has to date fallen on deaf ears. In one case, a young couple in Nakhon Ratchasima won the top prize in the government lottery, worth millions of baht. They bought a new house that doubled as a small grocery shop in their village, along with a pickup truck to deliver goods. They would be leading a happy life running their small business today had police from Khon Buri district not suspected them of being "unusually rich". The police sought search warrants, but could not find anything amiss in the couple's house. But before they could produce any evidence of how they came upon their money, the couple were shot dead. The cash they carried to buy goods on that day was seized and 17 amphetamine pills were found on the seat of their pickup. The official police investigation failed to name the killers, but said the couple were suspected of involvement with drugs - a standard conclusion drawn on all "unsolved" cases in those days. Although common sense tells us a drug trafficker should not be so stupid as to leave drugs on the seat of his vehicle, the police seized all the couple's assets. After probing into the case, the NHRC proposed that the police pay compensation to the relatives, but this has been ignored. In another case in Phetchabun, a former army sergeant's purchase of a big house with a swimming pool drew the attention of police, who suspected him of trafficking drugs. They had no evidence against him apart from the fact he shared the same family name as one of their drug suspects. The sergeant was later killed mysteriously on his way home from jogging and the case was closed. Such cases are unlikely to be included in the 60th anniversary book to celebrate Thailand's accomplishments in the field of human rights. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath