Experts hope govt will sign Convention on Enforced DisappearanceExperts hope govt will sign Convention on Enforced Disappearance

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Thailand will hopefully sign the Convention on Enforced Disappearance later this year but the nation’s culture of impunity has still a long way to be broken down, experts said at the seminar on Monday.
Pitikan Sithidej, Ministry of Justice’s Department of Rights and Liberty Protection, said relevant agencies have concluded that they were ready to forward the accession to the 2006 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance for the government approval.

Ms Pitkian was speaking at the seminar on “Thai society and the right to know the truth on the disappearance case” to commemorate the International Day on Disappeared today.Thailand will hopefully sign the Convention on Enforced Disappearance later this year but the nation’s culture of impunity has still a long way to be broken down, experts said at the seminar on Monday.
Pitikan Sithidej, Ministry of Justice’s Department of Rights and Liberty Protection, said relevant agencies have concluded that they were ready to forward the accession to the 2006 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance for the government approval.

Ms Pitkian was speaking at the seminar on “Thai society and the right to know the truth on the disappearance case” to commemorate the International Day on Disappeared today.

The official said soon after the Abhisit government agreed with the proposal, the signing could be immediately done, hopefully later this year, but the ratification might need more time due to the constitutionally-required parliamentary endorsement.

The committee to consider the convention accession was chaired by permanent secretary for justice with few human rights defenders joining but there was no relatives of the disappeared represented.

Mrs Angkhana Neelapaijit, president of the Justice for Peace Foundation, said Thailand has been ignorant about the enforced disappearance crime; only her husband lawyer Somchai’s has been brought up to judicial system but on a less-penalty offence against freedom only.

The appeal court will read on 24 September the verdict on the high-profile case of Mr Somchai who has been abducted by the authorities six years ago.

Without the domestic relevant laws, relatives of the disappeared victim have gone through difficulties in legal affairs such as insurance payment, re-marriage, travel/passport issuance, etc., not to mention trauma, said Mrs Angkhana.

She said the Abhisit government have recently set up a remedial compensation committee for the southern cases but monitoring and documenting of cases in other regions have yet to be conducted nationwide.

Even on Somchai case, Mrs Angkhana has received only 80,000 baht compensation but not the cremation payment due to no-corpse proof.

Islamic principles in the south has interpreted that wives of the disappeared have no right of children custody and could not be re-married, “Trauma of the disappeared’ families are more complicated than relatives of those who were murdered since the fate of the disappeared remained unknown. Difficulties will be worse as most of the disappeared are breadwinners,” she said.

Basil Fernando, Asian Human Rights Commission, said the convention key word was ‘the right to know,’ but truth that must be guaranteed by the state does not necessarily mean to immediately know the perpetrators.

“Enforced disappearance has been transformed to mystery, but it should not be the case—state does not have the right to be silent,” said the Hong Kong-based Fernando.

The veteran activist said Thailand and the region should see more debates—not only about the enforced disappearances but other gross violation of human rights such as torture.

Wit Jirapaet, a senior attorney general, said the UN should provide more concrete and practical details on two issues—the timeframe to define the death of the disappeared and the capability and neutrality of the investigative panels.

Vitit Muntabhorn, Chulalongkorn University’s law professor, said the right to truth on the whereabouts and facts was resolute and uncompromised while the rights to truth about the circumstances including the revelation of the perpetrator identification might be achieved through the court decision.

Mr Vitit said offence on disappearance was a continuous offence dealing directly with agents of state, “We do not have to wait until we have a new law or amended law in relation to the convention. The existing laws could be wisely interpreted so the reform could be started.”

Homayoun Alizadeh, representative of the Office of the UN Human Rights Council, said truth was the most important thing for the relatives and the society, “Once justice has not yet given to the concerned parties, society has to strive to work towards prosecution of perpetrators to break the silence of impunity culture.”

Mr Alizadeh emphasized that without justice, society could not have peace and reconciliation.

Ms Pitigan conceded that the compensation act has not adequately covered the disappearance cases, “remedial measures could only be done by cabinet policies only—starting since the compensation for the May 1992 missing persons that more than 400,000 baht was given to 29 families.”

From: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/193755/experts-hope-govt-will-sign-convention-on-enforced-disappearance

The official said soon after the Abhisit government agreed with the proposal, the signing could be immediately done, hopefully later this year, but the ratification might need more time due to the constitutionally-required parliamentary endorsement.

The committee to consider the convention accession was chaired by permanent secretary for justice with few human rights defenders joining but there was no relatives of the disappeared represented.

Mrs Angkhana Neelapaijit, president of the Justice for Peace Foundation, said Thailand has been ignorant about the enforced disappearance crime; only her husband lawyer Somchai’s has been brought up to judicial system but on a less-penalty offence against freedom only.

The appeal court will read on 24 September the verdict on the high-profile case of Mr Somchai who has been abducted by the authorities six years ago.

Without the domestic relevant laws, relatives of the disappeared victim have gone through difficulties in legal affairs such as insurance payment, re-marriage, travel/passport issuance, etc., not to mention trauma, said Mrs Angkhana.

She said the Abhisit government have recently set up a remedial compensation committee for the southern cases but monitoring and documenting of cases in other regions have yet to be conducted nationwide.

Even on Somchai case, Mrs Angkhana has received only 80,000 baht compensation but not the cremation payment due to no-corpse proof.

Islamic principles in the south has interpreted that wives of the disappeared have no right of children custody and could not be re-married, “Trauma of the disappeared’ families are more complicated than relatives of those who were murdered since the fate of the disappeared remained unknown. Difficulties will be worse as most of the disappeared are breadwinners,” she said.

Basil Fernando, Asian Human Rights Commission, said the convention key word was ‘the right to know,’ but truth that must be guaranteed by the state does not necessarily mean to immediately know the perpetrators.

“Enforced disappearance has been transformed to mystery, but it should not be the case—state does not have the right to be silent,” said the Hong Kong-based Fernando.

The veteran activist said Thailand and the region should see more debates—not only about the enforced disappearances but other gross violation of human rights such as torture.

Wit Jirapaet, a senior attorney general, said the UN should provide more concrete and practical details on two issues—the timeframe to define the death of the disappeared and the capability and neutrality of the investigative panels.

Vitit Muntabhorn, Chulalongkorn University’s law professor, said the right to truth on the whereabouts and facts was resolute and uncompromised while the rights to truth about the circumstances including the revelation of the perpetrator identification might be achieved through the court decision.

Mr Vitit said offence on disappearance was a continuous offence dealing directly with agents of state, “We do not have to wait until we have a new law or amended law in relation to the convention. The existing laws could be wisely interpreted so the reform could be started.”

Homayoun Alizadeh, representative of the Office of the UN Human Rights Council, said truth was the most important thing for the relatives and the society, “Once justice has not yet given to the concerned parties, society has to strive to work towards prosecution of perpetrators to break the silence of impunity culture.”

Mr Alizadeh emphasized that without justice, society could not have peace and reconciliation.

Ms Pitigan conceded that the compensation act has not adequately covered the disappearance cases, “remedial measures could only be done by cabinet policies only—starting since the compensation for the May 1992 missing persons that more than 400,000 baht was given to 29 families.”

From: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/193755/experts-hope-govt-will-sign-convention-on-enforced-disappearance