Home / News / Urgent Appeals / THAILAND: A well-known environmental activist is missing
 

THAILAND: A well-known environmental activist is missing

December 7, 2006

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

7 December 2006
------------------------------------------------------
UA-392-2006: THAILAND: A well-known environmental activist is missing

THAILAND: Abduction and forced disappearance; violation of right to life and security; persecution against human rights defenders; un-rule of law
------------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission has been informed of the alleged abduction and subsequent forced disappearance of Mr. Thares Sodsri (53), a well known environmental activist in Baan Kha Distirct, Rachaburi province during the evening of 30 November 2006. Two weeks before his disappearance, Mr. Thares had reportedly submitted evidence to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment about widespread destruction of the forest in Ratchaburi and was due to testify in court against suspects in a forest encroachment case. 

CASE DETAILS:

At around 10 am on 1 December 2006 Miss Sompit Jinnguy, 28 year-old house maid of Mr. Thares Sodsiri, made a complaint to Police Major Supot Thong-orn of the Bankha Police Station, Rachaburi that Mr. Thares was missing. She told Pol Maj Supot that she left Mr. Thares's house in Banbung sub-district, Ban Kha district, Ratchaburi in the evening of November 30 but when she came back to the house at 7:30am on the following day, she found that the spotlight in front of the house was still on and Mr. Thares was missing.

The police reportedly found traces of blood and three used 11mm handgun cartridges, two bullets and tire traces on the front lawn of Mr. Thares house. The police then searched the area of one square kilometre around the house but Mr. Thares was not found. Investigators suspect that Mr. Thares may have been shot dead in his house and his body taken removed.

Later, Pol Gen Maj Chaicharn Kitichan, Superintendent of the Ratchaburi Provincial Police went to investigate the area and ordered a check of Mr Thares's incoming and outgoing telephone calls and also ordered the Canine police to search for him.

On December 2, the police raided five different locations in Ban Kha district for clues to crack the case. They confiscated two pistols, a blood-strained pickup truck and clothes, which were all sent for forensic examination. Five people, including Amnart Romphoree, a village headman, have been question in the case so far but no arrest warrants have been sought to date.

According to the abducted activist's wife Mrs. Pongchit Sirirat, three dogs at their house had been killed by poisoning a few days before the abduction.

Mr. Thares is a well-known environmental activist in Ratchaburi who has been conducting a campaign against illegal forest encroachment projects in Ban Kha sub-district. He had led villagers to guard the forest from influential figures seeking to mine and plant palm on more than 1,000 rai of forest land. These influential figures are allegedly made up of the local political leadership; village heads, kamnan, chairmen and members of tambon administration organizations.

According to Mr. Thares' wife, just two weeks before the incident Mr. Thares had submitted a VCD showing widespread forest destruction in Ratchaburi by a local influential politician to the Natural Resources and Environment Minister Kasem Sanitwong as well as to the Minister of Interior, and requested them to sack the alleged politician. He was also due to testify in court against suspects in a forest encroachment case.  The wife insists that local politicians behind illegal forest encroachment projects were behind her husband's abduction.

Mr. Thares' campaigning concentrated on an area of forest that stretches across 20,000 rai of land in Ratchaburi and Phetchaburi provinces. The area is under a royally-initiated project for forest protection and wildlife officials are preparing to declare the area a new national park. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

On 30 August 2006 the Asian Legal Resource Centre and Working Group on Justice for Peace, a new local human rights group chaired by Angkhana Neelaphaijit, wife of missing lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit (http://www.ahrchk.net/somchai), submitted the details of 12 disappearances in southern Thailand, arising from seven incidents between 2002 and 2005, to the United Nations (UA-286-2006; ALRC-PL-006-2006). They are among some 23 cases acknowledged by the government of Thailand in which the families have been paid compensation, but not given any information about what happened to their loved ones.

There is at present no reliable estimate of the total number of persons who have been forcibly disappeared in the south of Thailand since 2002, when hostilities steadily increased under the current administration. Informed persons put the number in the hundreds. Due to the lack of effective avenues for complaint and overwhelming fear, families of victims have not generally come forward to complain publicly (see AS-133-2006).

These cases all also speak to the patent lack of protection for witnesses and families of victims in the south. For related information see: Protecting witnesses or perverting justice in Thailand, article 2, vol. 5, no. 3, June 2006.

Mr. Thares' case should not be a repeat of unsolved disappearance of Somchai Neelaphaijit and other cases. Furthermore, to prevent such disappearances, the Thai government must join a new UN treaty to prohibit disappearances without delay.  

To see the details of killings of 14 activists, please read the article, "Collusion and influence behind the assassinations of human rights defenders in Thailand" in Special Report: Rule of Law vs. Rule of Lords in Thailand published by the AHRC's sister organization the Asian Legal Resource Centre (Article 2, Vol. 4, No. 2. April 2005). Most of the cases remain unsolved.


SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the Interim Minister of Justice and other persons below to ask their urgent intervention into this matter to locate the whereabouts of the missing activist and speed up a probe into this case. Please also ask for Thailand to join a new UN treaty to prohibit disappearances.  

To support this appeal, please click:

Sample letter:

Dear __________,

THAILAND: A well-known environmental activist is missing

Name of victim: Mr. Thares Sodsri, aged 54, environmental activist; resident of 77/2 Moo 2, Bangung sub-district, Ban Kha District, Ratchaburi province
Date and place of disappearance: At night of 30 November 2006 at his house in Bangung sub-district

I am writing to bring your urgent attention regarding another alleged abduction and subsequent disappearance of a well-known environmental activist in Ratchaburi province on 30 November 2006.

According to the information I have received, Mr. Thares Sodsri, 54, who has been conducting a campaign against illegal forest encroachment projects in Ban Kha sub-district, is missing since the evening of 30 November 2006. 

I was informed that the police found traces of blood and three used 11mm handgun cartridges, two bullets and tire traces on the front lawn of Mr. Thares's house. I suspect that Mr. Thares may have been shot dead in his house and his murderers took the body to destroy it elsewhere.

I was also informed that on December 2, the police raided five different locations in Ban Kha district for clues to crack the case. They confiscated two pistols, a blood-strained pickup truck and clothes which were all sent for forensic examination. Five people, including Amnart Romphoree, a village headman, have been question in the case so far. However, no arrest warrants have been sought to date.

Over the last 10 years, Mr. Thares has been campaigning concentrated on an area of forest that stretches across 20,000 rai of land in Ratchaburi and Phetchaburi provinces. He had also led villagers to guard the forest from influential figures seeking to mine and plant palm on more than 1,000 rai of forest land. These influential figures are allegedly made up of the local political leadership; village heads, kamnan, chairmen and members of tambon administration organizations.

There is rational suspicion that local politicians behind illegal forest encroachment projects were behind Mr. Thares' disappearance.

Just two weeks before the incident Mr. Thares had submitted a VCD showing widespread forest destruction in Ratchaburi by a local influential politician to the Natural Resources and Environment Minister Kasem Sanitwong as well as to the Minister of Interior, and requested them to sack the alleged politician. He was also due to testify in court against suspects in a forest encroachment case. 

Besides, according to Mr. Thares' wife, 3 dogs at their house had also been poisoned in suspicious circumstances before the abduction. I suspect that the alleged abductors did so to prevent from getting the neighbours' notice for the planned abduction.

The circumstances of the abduction indicate that it is well prepared incident. In fact, this is yet another incident of forced disappearances and killings of human rights defenders in Thailand. Most of the cases remain unsolved. Even in the most high profile case of the disappearance of the human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, the Thai government has failed to find what really happened to him and where he is. Mr. Thares' case should not be a repeat of unsolved disappearance of Mr. Somchai.

I therefore strongly urge you to conduct an independent and thorough inquiry about this matter. The Government of Thailand should bear the responsibility of Mr. Thares's disappearance and must take speedy action to find his whereabouts. I also call upon your government to the Thai government to sign the new UN Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance as soon as it comes into effect later this year. I also urge you to use your official capacity to ensure the free visits by all UN special experts on human rights, in particular the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to the country as a whole to investigate the situation of disappearances and attacks on human rights defenders. 

I look for your urgent intervention into this matter.

Yours sincerely,


---------------

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

1. General Surayud Chulanont
Interim Prime Minister
c/o Government House
Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Tel: +662 280 1404/ 3000
Fax: +662 282 8631/ 280 1589/ 629 8213
E-mail: spokesman@thaigov.go.th 

2. Mr. Charnchai Likitjitta
Interim Minister of Justice
Office of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice Building
22nd Floor Software Park Building,
Chaeng Wattana Road
Pakkred, Nonthaburi
Bangkok 11120
THAILAND
Tel: +662 502 6776/ 8223
Fax: +662 502 6699/ 6734 / 6884
Email: ommoj@moj.go.th

3. Mr. Pachara Yutidhammadamrong
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Lukmuang Building
Nahuppei Road
Prabraromrachawang, Pranakorn
Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Tel: +662 224 1563/ 222 8121-30
Fax: +662 224 0162/ 1448/ 221 0858
E-mail: ag@ago.go.th or oag@ago.go.th

4. Prof. Saneh Chamarik
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission of Thailand
422 Phya Thai Road
Pathum Wan District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Tel: +662 2219 2980
Fax: +66 2 219 2940
E-mail: commission@nhrc.or.th 

5. Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights defenders
Att: Melinda Ching Simon
Room 1-040
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 93 88
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS)

6. Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Attn: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXECUTIONS)

7. Mr. Santiago Corcuera
Chairperson
UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
Attn: Tanya Smith
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: + 41 22 917 9176
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: WORKING GROUP EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS)


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-392-2006
Countries :
Issues :
Document Actions
Share |
Subscribe to our Mailing List
Follow AHRC
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.