PM and red shirts take their battle to the United Nations

THE RED shirts and the prime minister both reached out yesterday to the United Nations in an apparent bid to make their case over the government decision to shut down anti-fraud centres watching over the upcoming referendum

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday called up UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to clarify the government’s decision to shut down the centres.

The centres set up by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) were banned over the weekend, prompting the UDD to file a petition over alleged human rights infringement with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Bangkok.

“I told him [Ban] that there are still such movements and explained the incident in detail,’’ Prayut said, adding that he would dispatch representatives to meet the UN chief in person. 

He said the UN chief raised concerns over freedom of speech but the PM has assured him that people across the country could express their views about the charter draft.

“I told him the problem is that some political parties do not cooperate. I asked him, ‘Was it right that some parties took part in the process then later said they disagreed?’ He did not answer but listened,’’ Prayut said.

OHCHR spokesman Jeremy Laurence told The Nation the organisation did not provide any suggestions to the red shirts to approach the UN headquarters over the referendum-monitoring issue.

However, red-shirt leader Weng Tojirakarn said the OHCHR had recommended that the UDD approach the UN headquarters and the European Union to request they monitor the referendum.

Laurence explained that the OHCHR had merely “pointed out” whom the UDD could approach since the OHCHR did not have a mandate to conduct activities regarding referendum monitoring. “We carry out our normal jobs such as human-rights issues,” he said.

Key UDD figures, namely Weng, Thida Thavornseth, Nattawut Saikua and its chairman Jatuporn Prompan, yesterday attended the scheduled discussion with the OHCHR’s representative over an alleged human-rights infringement regarding the junta’s suppression of dissenting voices over August’s referendum.

The latest confrontation between the red shirts and the authorities came on Sunday, when police and military officers across the country stopped the opening of the UDD’s anti-fraud centres. The UDD said they had opened 24 centres nationwide, while 30 were closed by force and the operators of another 22 centres were threatened by the authorities.

The key UDD figures revealed after the OHCHR meeting that they would file a petition directly with Ban, asking the UN to oversee the referendum process and would inform the UN of the Kingdom’s human-rights situation.

Jatuporn said the date the petition would be filed should be decided in a few days.

The key figures said they also spoke to the OHCHR about the launch of a TV show by the Election Commission (EC) to disseminate the content of the charter draft to the public.

Nattawut said the show could display bias towards voting in favour of the charter as the information it detailed would come only from the EC, the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) and groups that supported the referendum.

The UDD said it would keep the OHCHR updated on alleged rights infringements

“I don’t want the international community to interfere with domestic affairs,” Nattawut said. “I only think that the plebiscite [process] can’t go on if people don’t have freedom [to express views on it].”

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said he had insisted from the beginning that he would not allow the UDD to open the centres. If it wishes to pursue opening the centres, it should approach the EC so proper arrangements can be made, he said, adding that Jatuporn may have misunderstood the PM’s statement and thought the UDD could open the centres.

“The PM spoke in terms of legality but I made it clear that it is not possible [to set up the centres],” he said.

CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan, meanwhile, warned the UDD not to stage any movement to try and block the dissemination of the charter’s content because that would be against the law.