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UPDATE (Thailand): Thai minister refuses to act on missing human rights lawyer case

March 9, 2005

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

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Update on Urgent Appeal

9 March 2005

[RE: FA-06-2004: THAILAND: A human rights lawyer Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit missing; UP-14-2004: THAILAND: Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit is still missing and the police may be involved in his disappearance; UP-26-2004: THAILAND: 5 suspects in the alleged abduction of missing human rights lawyer Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit bailed out; UP-20-2005: THAILAND: Human rights lawyer still missing after nearly one year; Action needed today to have case transferred]
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UP-24-2005: THAILAND: Thai minister refuses to act on missing human rights lawyer case

THAILAND: Disappearances; Attacks on human rights defenders; Impunity; Government inaction
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Dear friends,

Further to our last update on the case of the human rights lawyer Mr Somchai Neelaphaijit, who was abducted one year ago (UP-20-2005), the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is sorry to inform that the Minister of Justice of Thailand Mr Pongthep Thepkanjana has refused to have the case transferred to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) under his ministry. This means that the police are still responsible for the investigation, even though it is the police who are accused of abducting Mr Somchai.

Through the Thai media the minister has given many confusing statements about the reason that the case has not been transferred to DSI. He has said that the police have already arrested five officers and charged them in connection with the disappearance. However, these men deny the charges and anyway the charges are less than the offence. Also, the body of Mr Somchai has not been found.

The minister has also said that no one lodged a complaint with the DSI to take up the case. In fact, the Law Society of Thailand and wife of Mr Somchai have appealed for the case to be taken by the DSI. The AHRC and Thai Working Group on Human Rights Defenders have also on a number of occasions requested the same.
 
Some reports are also giving information about efforts by powerful people in the government to cover-up the case. One source said that even if the case is transferred to the head of the DSI, the police officer in charge might try to protect the mastermind behind the forced disappearance of Mr Somchai. According to other reports, there are alleged to be records that one of the police accused of abducting Mr Somchai telephoned to a senior official in the Government House around the time of the event.

It is very important that if there is to be any progress in the case of Mr Somchai that the DSI be given authority over the case and the Minister of Justice take personal responsibility to obtain a satisfactory outcome. The different reasons given by the minister that the case has not been transferred have no credibility.

To see our previous appeals on this case please visit FA-06-2004, UP-14-2004, UP-26-2004 and UP-20-2005. 

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)


SUGGESTED ACTION:

Saturday, March 12 is the first anniversary of Mr Somchai's disappearance. The AHRC urges you to send letters to the Minister of Justice expressing outrage that the case has not been solved, and insisting that it be transferred from the police to the DSI.

We again give a sample letter below. Please mail, fax and email your letters. If you are in a city where there is a Thai diplomatic mission, please call the mission and take the letter in person.

Sample letter:

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Dear Mr Pongthep,

RE: Refusal to transfer case of Mr Somchai Neelaphaijit to DSI
 
I am writing to express my strong disappointment that the case of missing human rights lawyer Mr Somchai Neelaphaijit has not been transferred to the Department of Special Investigation under your ministry.

According to the information I have received, you have expressed satisfaction with the way the case is being handled by the Royal Thai Police, as five officers have been charged in connection with his abduction. However, the charges they face do not match the gravity of the crime, and they have denied involvement.

Almost a year has passed and the case has not been solved. The body of Mr Somchai has not been found. Your government has not done what you had earlier committed to do, which was to take every necessary step to uncover the truth in this case. It can only be concluded from the circumstances that powerful people in the government and authorities in Thailand are obstructing justice and protecting the perpetrators for their own reasons.

I urge you to ensure that this case is transferred to the DSI and that it is given all resources necessary to solve it, so that the perpetrators may be held accountable. I also urge you to take full personal responsibility to ensure that the matter is solved. Your personal reputation rests on the body of Mr Somchai being recovered and the perpetrators brought fully to justice.

I would again remind you that at present there is no effective independent avenue for receiving and investigating complaints of serious abuses by the police in Thailand. I urge you to take steps to ensure that one be established. I also urge you to take steps to make forced disappearance illegal and subject to strong criminal sanctions.

Yours truly


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

Mr Pongthep Thepkanjana
Minister of Justice
Office of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice Building
22nd Floor
Chaeng Wattana Road
Pakkred, Nonthaburi
Bangkok 11120
THAILAND
Fax: +662 502 6699/ 6734 / 6884
Email: phongthep@moj.go.th


PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:

1. Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra
Prime Minister
Government house,
Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District,
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 282 8631/ 280 1589/ 629 8213
Email: govspkman@mozart.inet.co.th

2. Professor Saneh Chamarik
Chairperson
The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand
422 Phya Thai Road
Pathurn Wan District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 219 2940
Email: commission@nhrc.or.th

3. Pol. Gen. Sombat Amonwiwat
Director-General
Department of Special Investigation
Ministry of Justice Building
Chaeng Wattana Road
Pakkred, Nonthaburi
Bangkok 11120
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 913 7777
Email: dir.gen@sid.go.th

4. Mr. Diego Garcia-Sayan,
Chairperson
UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
C/o OHCHR-UNOG, 1211 Geneva 10,
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
E-mail: urgent-action@ohchr.org

5. Ms Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights defenders
Att: Ben Majekodunmi
Room 1-040
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
E-mail: bmajekodunmi@ohchr.org


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-24-2005
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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.