Thailand: WGJP raises systematic and widespread torture at the UN
Category: News
The Working Group on Justice for Peace has been receiving dozens of complaints of torture and ill-treatment taking place in army camps throughout the three southern border provinces of Thailand demonstrating this is a systematic and widespread practice during interrogations of detainees suspected of national security offences. The Thai government must take responsibility to withdraw regulations allowing for abuse of power by the authorities and hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.
During the 7th session of the Human Rights Council taking place in Geneva 3-28 March 2008, WGJP is meeting with the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Kyung-wha Kang, the Special Rapporteur on Torture, Mr. Manfred Nowak, as well as the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Counter-terrorism, Dr. Martin Scheinin to present complaints received by the WGJP while raising the severity of the issue within the international community.
According to their latest report “Human Rights under Attack,” torture and physical abuse generally occur during the first three days of detention. Due to an order issued by the chief of the 4th army, families and lawyers are being denied access to the detainees during the first three days while they are being held at secret detention centers. Many families are not informed on the whereabouts of the detainees amounting to enforced disappearance. “This order essentially opens up avenues of abuse of power by security forces whose actions are further protected by draconian emergency and martial law regulations stripping them off civil and criminal liabilities,” said Angkhana Neelapaichit, chairperson of WGJP.
The report highlights that torture is common practice during interrogations in order to extract information or confessions. People reported having been beaten, held naked in refrigerated rooms, being forced to eat spoilt food, having received electric shocks, and most victims suffer from punctured ear drums. “Torture is robbing people of their dignity and instills fear in the Malay Muslim community,” said Angkhana Neelapaichit. “A population that has been systematically violated and traumatized by the escalating conflict is effectively silenced by this inhuman and degrading practice.”
Although torture has been a well-known practice in Southern Thailand and has been raised in public on numerous occasions, the government fails to acknowledge the fact that state agents are abusing their power but rather threatens those who speak out. Government agencies – particularly the Justice Ministry’s Department of Special Investigations tasked to investigate crimes committed by law enforcement officers, and the Southern Border Provinces Administration Center set up to address grievances by the local population – have failed to carry out investigations and no steps have been taken by the Royal Thai Police and Army to prosecute personnel responsible for human rights violations. This failure renders any attempts for reconciliation in the South futile as the local population’s mistrust of the authorities undermines cooperation and innocent civilians suffer attacks from state and non-state armed groups.
“The fact that lawyers in the three southern-most provinces have received 59 complaints of torture during detention in the last eight months is a welcome change in that people are willing to report their grievances despite the risks they face,” said Angkhana. “It is now of pertinence for the new government to show its sincerity in solving the conflict in the South by listening to the victims of abuses and addressing their grievances.”
WGJP urges the Thai government to take all necessary steps to stop the practice of torture in line with their obligations under the Convention Against Torture. The Thai government must conduct prompt, independent and impartial investigations into allegations of torture. Whatever their rank, all officials implicated in torture must be prosecuted, including those who know about the pattern of abuse. As preventive measures, all persons detained by law enforcement and security forces must be held at recognized places of detention and monitoring bodies such as the National Human Rights Commission must have unrestricted access to these places. The Thai authorities must immediately make the whereabouts of those detained known to family and allow access of legal counsel within 24 hours.
