Disappearance and torture in Thailand ‘must end now’
THE DEFINING and Penalising Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act will be an important legal tool to arrest the government’s bad practices and bring justice to a victim’s family, the National Human Rights Commission said yesterday.
On the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared today, the NHRC arranged an academic forum yesterday to discuss enforced disappearances and torture during official custody in the country.
It concluded that all kinds of enforced disappearance must end, including temporary detention that does not disclose the location and duration to the victims and their families.
Angkana Neelapaijit, wife of missing Muslim lawyer Somchai and a NHRC member, said enforced disappearance and torture were very serious problems in the country, as many officers still did not respect human rights. She said these wrongdoings must stop.
“Tomorrow is the International day for remembering the victims of forced disappearance.
“It is a critical time for us all to bring forced abduction and torture to an end, and the new Defining and Penalising Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Bill will be the essential tool to tackle these serious human rights violations,” she said.
Angkana highlighted the fact that this year the United Nations campaigned on this issue under the catchphrase “Every minute counts for the victims of enforced disappearance”.
The temporary abduction by officers was also counted as an enforced disappearance and this practice must stop as well.
Pokpong Srisanit, a law lecturer at Thammasat University, said the bill presented by the Justice Ministry will be a big step forward for the justice system in Thailand, as it contains new criteria for judging enforced disappearance cases according to international standards.
“One of the big, good changes in this bill is it will allow the central committee to receive and investigate enforced disappearance cases,” he said.
Most of the families of victims experienced difficulties in seeking justice through the contemporary justice system because officers often do not want to take up such cases.
This could be caused by pressure on the investigating officers, or they may want to help their fellow officers, who committed the crime.
“Therefore, letting the committee that includes representatives from the public sector to receive and investigate the cases will help resolve the problem of seeking justice from the officers,” he said.
Sarawut Pathumrat, a member of the Law Reform Commission, said the bill also included torture and brutal punishment, which violate human rights and dignity, as criminal offences.
“It’s a common practice that authorities detain suspects at a secret location and torture them during interrogation especially in deep South insurgency cases.
“This malpractice is usually sued by applying the Criminal Code for physical assault, which carries a low penalty,” he said.
“However, this new bill will judge this serious offence with a high penalty and if high-ranking officers acknowledge the crime of their men or order the action themselves, they will be punished according to this law too.”
Pokpong said this bill was strongly protested by officers because they saw the bill limiting their activities to sustain the stability of the country. However, the human rights of all citizens must be protected by the state in any situation and it was wrong at any time to murder, abduct or torture people, he said.
Angkana urged people to monitor this bill, as it can be amended during review by the Council of State and deliberation by the National Legislative Assembly.
BOX:
Estimated number of enforced disappearance victims in Thailand from 1991 to 2015:
31 people disappeared from Black May incident in 1992
33 people disappeared in relation with Southern insurgency
5 people disappeared from the conflict with the authorities
31 people disappeared from other reasons
Overall, at least 100 people were the victims of enforced disappearance.
Estimated number of enforced disappearance victims in Asia report from UN as of 2014:
Sri Lanka 5,676 people
The Philippine 2,300 people
Nepal 458 people
East Timor 428 people
India 353 people
Indonesia 162 people
Pakistan 99 people
China 30 people
North Korea 20 people
Source: National Human Rights Commission
