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UPDATE (Thailand): Repeated failed commitment to assign Department of Special Investigation to Somchai case

July 26, 2005

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

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

Update on Urgent Appeal

26 July 2005

[RE: FA-06-2004: THAILAND: A human rights lawyer Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit missing; UA-94-2004: Severe torture victims still in custody while police torturers remain in posts; UP-14-2004: Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit is still missing and the police may be involved in his disappearance; UP-26-2004: 5 suspects in the alleged abduction of missing human rights lawyer Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit bailed out; UP-20-2005: Human rights lawyer still missing after nearly one year; Action needed today to have case transferred; UP-24-2005: Thai minister refuses to act on missing human rights lawyer case; UP-37-2005: Thai PM orders action on missing human rights lawyer, while court hears of torture; UP-45-2005: Wife of missing human rights lawyer intimidated; UP-49-2005: THAILAND: Government commits to giving witness protection to missing lawyer's family]
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UP-89-2005: THAILAND: Repeated failed commitment to assign Department of Special Investigation to Somchai case

THAILAND: Forced disappearance, torture, impunity
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the disappearance of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit and the Thai government’s announcement that the case is being taken over by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI). On 19 July 2005, Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Wannasathit said that DSI had decided to take over the Somchai case because people suspected official involvement in his disappearance.

While the AHRC welcomes this news, and hopes that it will lead to arrests against those responsible for Somchai’s disappearance, we are most skeptical of this latest announcement as it is the third of its kind by the Thai government. In August 2004, former Minister of Justice Pongthep Thepkanjana wrote to AHRC that, “An ad hoc committee under the responsibility of the Special Investigation Department has been set up to work on information gathering, forensic evidence as well as other investigation for the case”. The committee, he added, had made “a lot of progress”. By September, however, it was evident that there was no committee and no progress.

Then, in May this year, the AHRC received a second written statement from the Ministry of Justice that the DSI was acting on this case; “The Ministry of Justice,” the letter stated, “Has assigned the Department of Rights and Liberties Protection, Central Institute of Forensic Science and the Department of Special Investigation to co-proceed in related issues” on the case. It has also “given an order to the Department of Special Investigation to take further investigation, but the whereabouts of Mr Somchai are still undiscovered.”

Because of these previous hollow commitments to assign the DSI to investigate Somchai’s case, we welcome this latest news with hesitation. At this time we are also forced to question the relevance and effectiveness of the DSI in properly investigating serious criminal cases. Several other cases that the AHRC has also reported on, in addition to Somchai’s, reveal the inability of the DSI to fully investigate such cases.

Take the complaint of Ekkawat Srimanta, who was brutally tortured by police in Ayutthaya province, which was supposedly taken up by the DSI. Given the mounds of evidence in that case, where the victim was taken straight to hospital with hundreds of electrical burns all over his genitals and other body parts, the DSI should have been able to lodge criminal charges against the perpetrators without delay. Yet one of the alleged perpetrators, Police Lieutenant Colonel Seubsak Pinsaeng turned up in court last week to testify against another person who has accused him of torture, and told the court that he was back at duty as Ekkawat's case had 'gone quiet'.

The killing of environmentalist Charoen Wat-aksorn has also reportedly been handled by the DSI. More than a year has passed since his murder and only the hired gunmen have been indicted. His widow has insisted that the investigators can identify the persons behind the killing, but as they are influential people they too have enjoyed impunity. The DSI has sat on the case for a year without result, and Charoen's widow says that it has excluded a great deal of evidence from its investigation. After meeting with her on June 21, when she led protesters to the front of their offices, the Minister of Justice and the Director of the DSI agreed to 'reopen' the investigation. What this means in practice remains to be seen.

The DSI has proven unable to bring justice in the two example cases provided above. How the Thai government proposes for it to be more successful in the case of Somchai remains unknown. Whether it will even actually assign the DSI to Somchai’s case, given its past promises to do so, also remains unclear. It is for these reasons that we write to you now calling for your intervention.

Given its repeated written commitment to assign the DSI to investigate Somchai’s disappearance, the Thai government must follow through on this promise. A year and a half has now passed since Somchai was forcibly disappeared and more must be done to bring to justice those responsible for this. Impartiality should be applied at all times, and impunity to those involved should not be accepted under any circumstances whatsoever.

In the meantime, an overhaul of the DSI itself should be seriously considered by the Thai government. An increase in budget, personnel and training is the minimum required if the DSI is to become a stronger, faster and more transparent body in investigating criminal matters.


SUGGESTED LETTER:

Please write to the Thai Minister of Justice voicing your concern over the government’s repeated failed commitment to assign the DSI to Somchai’s case and the current relevance of the DSI in investigation criminal cases.

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Sample letter:

Dear Mr Suwat,

THAILAND: Repeated failed commitment to assign Department of Special Investigation to Somchai case

I write to voice my concern at your department’s recent announcement that it will assign the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to the case of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit. While I welcome this news, I am also aware that the Thai government has promised this action on several previous occasions, and yet has clearly not followed through on this. In addition to writing letters to human rights organizations confirming the involvement of the DSI in Somchai’s case, the government also gave assurances in March 2004 that all necessary steps would be taken to find out what happened to Somcahi after he was forcibly removed from his car in Bangkok. Given that a year and a half has now passed since his disappearance, and with no persons having been found guilty for their involvement in this, it is evident that the Thai government has far from adhered to its promise.

If the government publicly declares that it is to assign the DSI to Somchai’s case, as it has, then it should follow through with this promise. Failure to do so reflects very poorly on the government and suggests that some kind of cover-up is perhaps taking place. As a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the government has failed in its obligations and evidently needs reminding of this. 

At this time I am also forced to question the actual relevance and effectiveness of the DSI in properly investigating serious criminal cases. I am aware of several other cases, in addition to Somchai’s, which reveal the inability of the DSI to fully investigate criminal matters, such as the brutal torture of Ekkawat Srimanta and murder of Charoen Wat-aksorn. 

In the meantime, an overhaul of the DSI itself should be seriously considered by the Thai government, and in particular your justice department. An increase in budget, personnel and training is the minimum required if the DSI is to become a stronger, faster and more transparent body in investigating criminal matters.

I therefore look to your intervention in this case.

Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE WRITE TO:

Mr Suwat Liptapanlop
Minister of Justice
Office of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice Building
22nd Floor
Chaeng Wattana Road
Pakkred, Nonthaburi
Bangkok 11120
THAILAND
Tel: +662 2 502 6776/ 8223
Fax: +662 502 6699/ 6734 / 6884

PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:

1. Dr Thaksin Shinawatra
Prime Minister
Government House,
Pissanulok Road, Dusit District,
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Tel: +662 280 1404/ 3000
Fax: +662 282 8631/ 280 1589/ 629 8213
Email: thaksin@thaigov.go.th, 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 Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission 

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-89-2005
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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.