Thai Government Blamed For Human Rights Failures

[Jai Dee]

Govt gets blame for rights failures

A persistent lack of will and sincerity from top government ministers are the main obstacles to human rights improvements in Thailand, including the country’s failure to ratify the UN Convention on Torture (CAT), human rights groups say.

The government agreed to ratify the UN Convention against Torture more than two years ago but is yet sign it.

In a response to concerns voiced by Amnesty International in October 2004, the government said it had accepted the convention “in terms of policy,” but argued it needed further time “for more extensive inter-agency consultations to identify what new laws or amendments of existing domestic laws would be needed.”

However, human rights groups say the necessary framework has been in place for some time. Only reluctance and failure to push forward the ratification at a ministerial level have prevented its completion, say rights advocates.

“The [justice] minister hasn’t taken the necessary steps, together with the prime minister, to finalize it,” said Nick Cheesman of the Hong-Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).

“Everything else has been done, we know the bureaucrats are ready. At the drop of a hat, if that was signed, the legal changes could be made to implement it.”

Although Justice Ministry officials have denied the slow progress is due to deliberate obstruction by Justice Minister Chitchai Wannasatit, pictured, they suggest that he and other top politicians may lack an understanding of the key issues.

Improvements in human rights protection in Thailand since institutions such as the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) were formed and human rights was placed as one of the eight key policies of the government four years ago has been slow, say human rights groups.

Thailand recently failed to win a seat on the new United Nations Human Rights Council after rights groups listed it as one of several candidate nations whose human rights record rendered it “unfit” to sit on the international body.

DSI was set up under the Justice Ministry in October 2002 as an independent agency to try and tackle the problems of organized crime, but it has completely failed in the areas of police brutality and attacks against human rights defenders, say rights advocates.

“DSI has done a great job in business crime, economic crime and human trafficking and other areas, but when it comes to the issue of human rights defenders or investigating their fellow profession, they haven’t done anything that can prove that they act as an independent agency,” said Human Rights Watch Thailand representative Sunai Phasuk.

“DSI has been dubbed the Thai FBI, but, in fact, it is not. The way it operates is as if it is just another special branch of the police.”

Sunai suggested that DSI may need a complete overhaul, with specialist officers trained specifically for the role rather than transferring police officers to the department.

Other human rights groups say DSI’s failures, particularly in high-profile cases like that of missing human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, falls on the shoulders of its director, Pol Gen Sombat Amornwiwat.

“We really have to move this blockage that is this person and his immediate subordinates, who are stopping these cases from progressing,” said Cheesman.

“Having the director of the organization as a police officer is the problem. That’s the real issue.”

The decision to remove Gen Sombat may have to be taken by the Cabinet, but the responsibility for making the change rests with the Justice Minister, Cheesman added.

The European Union this month joined a growing number of international groups and institutions that have raised concerns over the slow progress into the case of murdered human rights lawyer Somchai.

Somchai’s wife, Angkhana, recently wrote to the Justice Minister accusing Gen Sombat of deliberately blocking the investigation into the murder of her husband.

However, Gen Sombat has denied the charges and, in a recent interview, said he was doing all he could to bring Somchai’s killers to justice.

“I understand Khun Angkhana’s frustrations,” Gen Sombat told ThaiDay. “Even though I used to be a police officer, [in] my new role as head of the civilian force, DSI, I have dignity and a sense of responsibility.

“I still believe I can perform my duty because I have more than 30 years of service and I am a senior government official, but it’s up to my superiors to consider that.”

The Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Saneh Chamarik, said the only way that the human rights situation in Thailand can change is if the public puts pressure on the country’s political leaders.

“The Justice Ministry has a lot of good personnel, but somehow they have to come under the influence of this kind of cultural attitude at the higher political level,” Saneh said.

“This is something that is wrong in Thai politics, but there is nobody paying attention to this.”

Saneh said he had little hope that the nation’s leaders could be trusted to change the status quo, and added that informing the public of the situation and urging them to pressure the political authorities was a key aim of the NHRC.

“We attach specific importance to public knowledge, because, without public pressure, you can’t expect those in authority to take action,” he said.

“It is very, very difficult in this country because we don’t have responsible political authorities.”

Source: ThaiDay - 22 May 2006

[Thaising]

Govt gets blame for rights failures

However, Gen Sombat has denied the charges and, in a recent interview, said he was doing all he could to bring Somchai’s killers to justice.

“I understand Khun Angkhana’s frustrations,” Gen Sombat told ThaiDay. “Even though I used to be a police officer, [in] my new role as head of the civilian force, DSI, I have dignity and a sense of responsibility.

“I still believe I can perform my duty because I have more than 30 years of service and I am a senior government official, but it’s up to my superiors to consider that.”

That proved the top are pulling the string. No wondered there is no justice.

Edited May 22, 2006 by Thaising