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THAILAND: Threats to human rights defenders in the South

February 12, 2009

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-011-2009



12 February 2009
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THAILAND: Threats to human rights defenders in the South

ISSUES: Human rights defenders; threats
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Working Group on Justice for Peace (WGJP) that a group of soldiers and police raided the branch office of WGJP in Pattani province in the South. It took place after the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) made a report, which in fact invited security forces in southern Thailand to target human rights defenders as suspected terrorists.

CASE DETAILS:

According to information received, about 20 persons under the command of Lt. Col Pravej Sudhiprapha arrived in three pick-up trucks early in the morning of February 8 and searched the office for three hours. They went through data in the computers and files and interrogated the two volunteers present on the premises. Nothing was confiscated.

The commander stated that the area is under martial law. This means that the authorities do not need search warrants from the courts to search private property. However, he failed to show any reasonable doubt or any clear evidence on the reason for the raid.

Noteworthy is the fact that the raid took place two days after the military warned in Bangkok Post Newspaper, 7 February 2009 that "southern militants may take the opportunity to disguise themselves as rights activists, in order to incite hatred against officials or distort information to create misunderstanding about security operations among locals".

The WGJP is one of a handful of groups in Thailand in recent years that has systematically documented and reported abuses in the south of the country. And there can be no doubt that this is a shabby attempt at intimidation on the part of the security forces, in keeping with the ISOC's open invitation to target human rights defenders.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the authorities listed below, urging them to investigate the raid on the office of WGJP and stop threats against human rights defenders.

Please be informed that the AHRC has written separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights defenders calling for intervention in this matter.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear _________,

THAILAND: Threats to human rights defenders in the South

Name of raided organization: the office of the Working Group on Justice for Peace, Pattani province
Name of officials involved: Lt. Col Pravej Sudhiprapha with approximately 20 personnel under his command.
Date of incident: 5am on 8 February 2009

I am writing to express my deep concern about a raid led by an army commander on a human rights office in Pattani province which took place early in the morning of February 8, 2009.

According to information received, about 20 army and police personnel led by Lt. Col Pravej Sudhiprapha arrived at 5am in three pick-up trucks. They searched the office of the Working Group on Justice for Peace in pattani province in southern Thailand for three hours. They went through data in the computers and files and interrogated the two volunteers present on the premises.

I am informed that this raid was conducted two days after the Internal Security Operations Command warned of militant plots. The commander of Region 4, stationed in the south of Thailand, granted an interview to the Bangkok Post newspaper on February 7. In effect he stated that "southern militants may take the opportunity to disguise themselves as rights activists in order to incite hatred against officials or to distort information to create misunderstanding about security among locals".

If this information is correct, it amounts to an open invitation to the security forces in southern Thailand to target human rights defenders as suspected terrorists. In short, it announces a policy for army, police and other personnel, already operating under conditions of almost total impunity, to target human rights organizations, their staff and volunteers.

In fact, such raids have been a part of a routine intimidation and coercion of human rights and legal aid groups in Thailand for many years. But this particular raid is of special concern because of the extraordinary conditions in the south together with the expansive powers available to the security forces there above and beyond those in other parts of the country.

I therefore urge you to make a special inquiry into the report published in the Bangkok Post that the ISOC has taken aim at human rights defenders and agencies in southern Thailand and on the office of the WGJP. I demand that the Prime Minister make an unequivocal public statement to the effect that there will be no future attacks or intimidation, physical or otherwise, of human rights defenders working in southern Thailand. Furthermore, any security force personnel found responsible for such acts will face legal action. A notice to this effect should be issued to commanders at all levels and distributed to all branches of the security forces in the south.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva
Prime Minister
c/o Government House
Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 288 4000 ext. 4025
Tel: +66 2 288 4000

2. Mr. Chaowarat Chanweerakul
Minister of Interior
Office of the Ministry of Interior
Atsadang Road, Ratchabophit
Pranakorn, Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 226 4371/ 222 8866
Tel: +66 2 224 6320/ 6341
E-mail: om@moi.go.th

3. Prof. Saneh Chamarik
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission of Thailand
422 Phya Thai Road
Pathumwan, Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 219 2940
E-mail: commission@nhrc.or.th or saneh@nhrc.or.th

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-011-2009
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.