The Justice for Peace Foundation (JPF) today called
on the Thai Government to ratify and comply with the International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearances in a report which documents the enforced disappearance of
59 people from throughout Thailand.
“JPF has found that enforced disappearances take
place within a broader context of state violence which is used to
silence dissenting views and to eliminate suspected criminals, outside
of the rule of law”, said Angkhana Neelapaijit, JPF President.
JPF has personally documented 40 incidents of
enforced disappearances involving 59 people. 12 people were from
northern Thailand, five from western Thailand, seven from Isaan (north
east), 33 from the deep south. JPF found that men from minority ethnic
groups, such as Malayu or Hill Tribe communities, are disproportionately
more vulnerable to enforced disappearances. In the cases documented by
JPF, 94% of the victims were male and 86% from ethnic minorities.
JPF has found that two government policies directly
contributed to increasing enforced disappearances in Thailand: the
highly militarized counter-insurgency approach adopted in southern
Thailand by various governments and the War on Narcotic Drugs beginning
in 2003. In addition to these two policies, JPF has found that
particular categories of people are vulnerable to enforced
disappearances throughout Thailand. These are: (i) people with close
relationships with officials and /or come into conflict with officials;
(ii) activists engaged in human rights, political or corruption
activism; (iii) witnesses of crimes or human rights violations; and (iv)
migrants.
“Enforced disappearances are not only a problem in
southern Thailand. We have found cases of disappearances in every region
in Thailand. Nor is this a new problem. We have information on cases of
enforced disappearances since 1952 and multiple cases during particular
periods of history such as suspected communists in the early 1970s,
northern farmers in the late 1970s and victims of the May 1992 military
crackdown on protesters”, said Angkhana Neelapaijit.
Methods of disappearing a person follow three
patterns throughout Thailand. The first, and most common, involves
officials taking the victim from the street by forcing them into a
vehicle and driving away. Secondly, the disappearance begins with the
victim being arrested from his home or place frequently used by him.
Thirdly, the victim is invited to meet an official at a specific
location and then disappears. The detention of the individual is
consistently denied when families seek information about their missing
relative.
“JPF believes that people who are disappeared are
subject to multiple human rights violations such as arbitrary detention,
torture and extra-judicial killings”, said Angkhana Neelapaijit. “We
have documented evidence in southern and northern Thailand that indicate
these patterns of abuses”, she added.
Judicial remedies, the right to truth and the right
to reparations for enforced disappearances remain largely denied by the
state in Thailand. The failure to define enforced disappearance as a
crime in Thailand stands in the way of prosecutions. Compounding this
are weak investigatory and prosecutorial bodies that lack independence.
Right to truth is systematically denied as government agencies seek to
hide, rather than reveal the truth about enforced disappearances.
Provision of reparations to relatives of the disappearances has been
extremely limited in Thailand.
“Decades of impunity have created a context in which
administrative and security officials know that their illegal actions
are condoned by the state and that the likelihood of legal action
against them is extremely low”, said Angkhana Neelapaijit. “Families,
including myself, have even been denied the right to know the truth
about our loved ones”.
JPF today, made the following recommendations:
The Government should ratify the International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons fromEnforced
Disappearances.
The Government should adopt legislation that
criminalizes the act of enforced disappearance, creates appropriate
investigation mechanisms and ensures the full rights of the victim and
their relatives.
The Government should amend existing legislation
relating to witness protection, detention, “good faith” clauses
and destruction of evidence.
Investigation and prosecution procedures should be
improved, including immediate filing of first information reports,
immediate investigation, rapid referral to DSI, involvement of
independent forensic experts, provision of witness protection, and
respect for the rights of the relatives.
Where necessary commissions of inquiry should be
established into particular categories of enforced disappearances and
other human rights violations such as (i) ongoing disappearances related
to suspicion of involvement with drugs; (ii) human rights violations in
northern Thailand in 2003; and(iii) killings and disappearances of
activists.
A national level reparations mechanism should be
established. Until this is established in all cases of enforced
disappearance relatives should receive interim compensation.
The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand
should play a significantly enhanced role in establishing the truth and
ensuring justice and reparations.
In all known cases of enforced disappearances there
should be independent and thorough
investigations leading to prosecutions and sentencing
of the perpetrators.
For further information please contact:
AngkhanaNeelapaiji – 084-728-0350
PDF in Thai
