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UPDATE (Thailand): Hundreds released from army detention prevented from going home

November 2, 2007

UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Update on Urgent Appeal

2 November 2007

[Re: UG-005-2007: THAILAND: Hundreds of villagers rounded up and detained in southern Thailand]
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UP-143-2007: THAILAND: Hundreds released from army detention prevented from going home

THAILAND: Arbitrary arrest & detention; emergency regulations; denial of freedom of movement & residence; internal displacement; declining rule of law
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END EMERGENCY DECREE IN SOUTHERN THAILAND
http://thailand.ahrchk.net/edecree

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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned that although over 300 men have been allowed to go free from a number of army camps in the south of Thailand after court orders that they cannot be detained against their will, the army is refusing to let them to return to their homes. 

UPDATED INFORMATION:

As the AHRC has already reported (AHRC-PL-048-2007), on 30 October 2007 three courts in southern Thailand--at Surat Thani, Chumpon and Ranong--ordered that over 300 men brought for "vocational training" at army camps in those provinces could not be held against their will.

The men were all brought from areas to the further south where there is ongoing civil conflict. They were alleged to be insurgent suspects from a sweep that the security forces conducted in the middle of the year (UG-005-2007); however, the army had no firm evidence against them with which to lodge criminal cases and so it instead brought them to camps on the pretext of giving occupational training and re-education.

On October 5, relatives of over 80 detainees brought cases to the three courts after many had applied to be able to visit their homes but were refused.

In their findings, the courts didn't say that the army had done anything illegal, but said that it had no grounds to hold the men against their will (see commentary at UPI Asia Online).

So far 180 have left the camps, and others are reportedly planning to leave in the coming days, despite various attempts by the military to prevent them from doing so.

However, they have been staying in Surat Thani rather than going home because their names are on a list issued on 22 July 2007, about a month after the operation began, under an announcement of the regional army commander that 399 persons would be prohibited from entering the provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla for up to six months.

Human rights defenders, lawyers and others in Thailand have questioned the order, which although under martial law provisions does not give any reasons for the decision, or indicate why the persons named have been targetted.

Today, November 2, human rights lawyer Somchai Homlaor and Angkhana Neelaphaijit, the chairperson of the Thailand-based Working Group on Justice for Peace went with ten villagers to lodge an appeal against the army prohibition with the justice committee of the interim legislative assembly.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

Mass arrests and detentions in army facilities followed by attempts at identifying--through the use of military personnel--the innocence or guilt of detained persons as in this case amounts to a gross violation of fundamental human rights from which no derogation is permitted, even at times of emergency. Many United Nations experts have written on this in detail, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers in his 2007 report.

The emergency regulations over the southern provinces were introduced by the former prime minister to protect security officials there from prosecution. The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings has commented that they enable army and police personnel to "get away with murder". The regulations have greatly inflamed the violence in the south since they were introduced over two years ago. They were recently renewed for the tenth time.

For full details on the decree and violence in the south visit: http://thailand.ahrchk.net/edecree

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the concerned authorities to call for these persons to be allowed to return to their homes and for an inquiry into the vocational training camp programme. Please also demand that the government of Thailand lift the Emergency Decree on the southern provinces without delay.

To support this appeal, please click here:

Suggested letter:

Dear ________,

THAILAND: Army order prohibiting vocational trainees from returning home violates international law

I am writing to express my concern at an announcement issued by General Viroj Buacharoon, commander of the Fourth Army Region (southern Thailand) dated 22 July 2007 prohibiting 399 persons from entering or residing in the provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla for six months from that date or until the order is rescinded.

Although the announcement was issued under Martial Law sections 8 and 11(7), it gave no indication of the reasons that these persons, all of whom are listed as residents of the four provinces, are being prohibited from their homes. There are also no criteria given to indicate how the list was drawn up or how the names of these persons in particular came to be on it.

I draw your attention to article 12(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Thailand is a party, to the effect that, "Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence." It seems self-evident to me that this order is a violation of this important section of international law.

I acknowledge that article 12(1) is a part of the covenant from which derogation may be permitted at time of public emergency as per article 4(1), but point out that this can only be done "to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation". Again, there is no evidence upon which it may be concluded that it is strictly required to prevent these men from going to those provinces as the army has not indicated how it identified them in particular and what criteria were used to make the lists, or what risk they would pose if they were allowed to return to their hometowns.

Thus, the 22 July 2007 order must be considered as a violation of the covenant unless shown otherwise. I urge that it be revoked and that these persons be allowed to move freely within their own country.

I also take this opportunity to call for an independent inquiry into the establishing and running of vocational training camps in Surat Thani, Chumpon and Ranong provinces where over 300 of the persons on the list of those prohibited from the southern provinces were held until provincial courts ordered on October 30 that the army could not keep them against their will and outside of any law. I have many concerns about how it was possible for the military to hold these persons in those camps in the first place, let alone keep them even when they obviously did not want to stay. I trust that the government of Thailand too will be interested to obtain answers to these questions, and hope that the concerned agencies will be keen to take action to get them.

Finally, I also call on the government of Thailand not to continue renewing the Emergency Decree over the southern provinces. The decree has only resulted in further bloodshed and lasting distrust of the government and damage to its institutions in the south, and as this case illustrates, has encouraged increasingly arbitrary and legally dubious activities among state officers there, including military officers at the highest levels. Until such a time as it is lifted there cannot and will not be an end to the incidence of violence and abuses that continue to plague the region.

Yours sincerely,

_______________

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS 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. General Sonthi Boonyaratglin
Interim Deputy 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

3. 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 11120
THAILAND
Tel: +662 502 6776/ 8223
Fax: +662 502 6699/ 6734 / 6884
Email: om@moj.go.th

4. Mr. Aree Wongaraya
Interim Minister of Interior
Office of the Ministry of Interior
Atsadang Road
Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Tel: +662 224-6320/ 6341
Fax: +662 226 4371/ 222 8866
Email: om@moi.go.th

5. Pol. Gen. Seripisuth Themiyavet
Commissioner-General
Royal Thai Police
1st Bldg, 7th Floor
Rama I, Patumwan
Bkk 10330
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 251 5956/ 205 3738/ 255 1975-8
E-mail: feedback@police.go.th

6. Lt. Gen. Viroj Buacharoon
Commander
Fourth Army Area
Sirinthon Camp, Khaotoom
Yarang, Pattani 94160
THAILAND
Tel: +66 73 262 598
Fax: +66 73 262 572

7. Mr. Pranai Suwanarat
Director
Southern Border Province Administrative Center (SBPAC)
Yala Provincial Office
Muang District, Yala 95000
THAILAND
Tel/Fax: +66 073 203 802

8. Mr. Chaikasem Nitisiri
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

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

10. Mr. Homayoun Alizadeh
Regional Representative for Asia-Pacific of OHCHR
UNESCAP
UN Secretariat Building, 6th Fl., Room A-601
Rajdamnern Nok Ave.
Bangkok 10200,
THAILAND
Tel: +662 288 1496
Fax: +662 288 3009

11. Ms. Leila Zerrougui
Chairperson
UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: WORKING GROUP ARBITRARY DETENTION)

12. Mr. Leandro Despouy
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
Room: 3-060
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9160
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR INDEPENDENCE JUDGES & LAWYERS)

Thank you.

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

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-143-2007
Countries :
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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.