Robinson defends Jilani visit


	Robinson defends Jilani visit Bangkok Post 10 June2003 Supara Janchitfah - Chiang Mai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's harsh words against Hina Jilani, United Nations' special representative on human rights defenders, was regrettable, said the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. It is regrettable when a senior member of the government criticised somebody whose task was to help Thailand re-inforce the standard of human rights,'' said Mary Robinson, who headed the UN human rights office from 1997 until last year. Ms Jilani criticised human rights protection in Thailand at the conclusion of her 9-day visit last month in which she said state-sponsored harassment and intimidation had created ``a climate of fear'' among human rights groups in Thailand. Mr Thaksin rebuked her findings, saying she was biased and listened only to rights activists. Mrs Robinson said Ms Jilani's remark was intended not as an attack against the country but to help improve the situation. Thailand as a UN member has an obligation to meet human rights standards, she said. Mrs Robinson, now executive director of Ethical Globalization Initiative, was in this northern province to deliver a keynote address to the conference of the international network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) yesterday. Some 350 human rights activists worldwide attended the conference. They included representatives from the UN, Ford Foundation, and many grassroots organisations from Asia, Africa and Latin America. **************************** NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT Bangkok Post 10 June 2003 Special unit set up to fight encroachers Troops to help deal with dark influence A special unit has been set up to crack down on people encroaching on public land and destroying natural resources and the environment. The unit was set up by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Praphat Panyachartrak on June 5. The 16-member unit, chaired by Pol Lt-Gen Chat Kuldilok, is made up of senior officials from the Forestry nd National Parks departments and the four army regions. Mr Praphat said the unit wants to prevent encroachment on forest reserves and public land. It can demand documents from agencies and summon officials for questioning. It could also ask for troops to be deployed to persuade influential figures to stop breaking the law. Mr Praphat said the unit had been told to file a progress report every 15 days. Major violations would be reported directly to the minister. Meanwhile, 43 rai on Koh Chang in Trat and more than 500 rai of public space near the island have been taken by encroachers. Somchai Piansathaporn, director-general of the National Parks Department, said 26 people were arrested for encroaching on the island land and four others for encroaching on the other space near the island. ***************************** THAI-MALAYSIAN GAS PIPELINE PROTEST BANGKOK POST 12 June 2003 Use of force unreasonable, inquiry finds Kultida Samabuddhi The use of force by police to disperse unarmed people demonstrating against the Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline in Songkhla in December was disproportionate and unjust, the National Human Rights Commission said. Its conclusion was contained in a final report released yesterday on the attack on protesters in Hat Yai district. The commission took six months to prepare the report. While pipeline opponents eat their meal and performed the Muslim ritual of Lamad, police deployed in front of the barricades gave a signal to disperse the assembly. The officers used their shields and batons, resulting in injuries to both sides,'' said commission chairman Saneh Chamrik. The NHRC on Tuesday sent the report to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the Office of the Ombudsman. Prof Saneh said the government should compensate protesters within 30 days for their injuries and damaged property. The government should also clearly identify the respective roles of the officers involved and sanction them,'' said Prof Saneh, and urged pipeline opponents to file charges against the government with the Administrative Court. Under the chairmanship of Pradit Charoenthaithawee, the inquiry panel questioned six protesters, four journalists present at the clash site, and three government officials, including Mr Thaksin's former deputy secretary Watcharaphan Chantarakajorn, who acted as go-between for the government and the protesters. Eight high-ranking government officers refused to testify. These included Interior Minister Wan Muhammad Nor Matha, police chief Pol Gen Sant Sarutanond and his deputy Pol Gen Thawatchai Pailee. Mr Pradit said the officials' failure to cooperate was disappointing. Under the National Human Rights Commission Act, someone who refused to testify could be jailed or fined. I would not be surprised if Mr Thaksin disregards the report and recommendations,'' said Mr Pradit. ` He is likely to go ahead with the pipeline despite strong protests from villagers and academics because he does not want to lose face with the Malaysian prime minister. And as we all know, our prime minister listens to no one, except himself.'' Pipeline opponents last week released a note from the Songkhla provincial police chief to the governor outlining measures to quell the demonstration and to clear protesters from the protest ground at Lan Hoy Siab, about 2km from the gas separation plant site. The note said ``decisive measures'' would be used and a force of up to 300 men sent to provide security in case a riot occurred. The Nation ********************************* HAT YAI DEMONSTRATION : Rights body slams govt 'brutality' Published on Jun 12, 2003 The National Human Rights Commission yesterday issued a damning report accusing the government of using unjustified force to break up a peaceful demonstration in Songkhla against the construction of the Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline in December. The commission also called for the government to pay for damages caused by the brutal crackdown and the subsequent abuse of detainees' rights, although it did not specify how the payments should be made. Commission chairman Saneh Chamarik said the government had committed a number of human rights violations against opponents of the pipeline project. On December 20, protest organisers led a march to Hat Yai district under the supervision of police and government representative Watcharaphan Chantarakachorn, Saneh said. After arriving in Hat Yai, protesters gathered for dinner and a Muslim prayer at a designated area while Watcharaphan was arranging for a protest site, he said. Midway through dinner, anti-riot forces moved to disperse the protesters and detained 12 organisers, who were denied legal counsel and kept in isolation, he said. The commission found that the government had used force to deny the marchers their right to a peaceful assembly and that it had violated the charter's provisions guaranteeing community rights over the utilisation of natural resources, he said. Police failed to announce charges while detaining protest organisers, denied them visitation rights and blocked their access to legal representation, he added. Among the key recommendations, the commission's report said the government should form an independent panel to investigate the brutal crackdown in order to prevent a repeat of such incidents. Commission member Pradit Charoenthaithawee suggested the government launch a public relations campaign aimed at the residents affected by the project before proceeding any further. Pradit's colleague, Sunee Chaiyaros, said the issue might be resolved if local residents were able to participate in a review. ********************************* Special Report TRIBAL PREJUDICE The Nation Published on Jun 11, 2003 After suffering decades of official discrimination at the hands of the government, ethnic Lisu villagers in Northern Thailand speak out against the 'uniformed robbers' who have made them the major victims of the Thaksin administration's war on drugs It was six o' clock in the morning, and most residents of the Lisu village at Huay Khieng Sang in Phrao district were still asleep. Only housewives who had arisen early to make breakfast were around. On the morning of April 26, Ameema Saelor was cooking outside her house when the police arrived. "The police pushed me into the house and asked if I lived here. I said yes," Ameema remembers. "I woke up my husband, Sam." The couple was ordered to sit still while one policeman watched them. The other three officers searched the upstairs of the house, accompanied by Ameema's daughter. "My daughter said the police had told her to open the wooden trunk where we kept Bt26,500 and three bank books. They took them all, despite our plea," said Ameema. Her husband, Sam, said: "I heard the police say on their walkie-talkie that there was no med [amphetamine tablets]." But when the police returned downstairs, said Armeema, "one of them flashed the torchlight into the clothes cabinet. He searched in his jacket pocket, his hand tightly closed as if he was holding something inside." "Then he opened his hand over the cabinet. He said he had found amphetamines there," she said. "My daughter countered that she had seen the policeman take the pills out of his own jacket," Ameema said. "The policeman only said that we had to go to the police station if we wanted to fight the case." "I swear that I had no pill. But the police took me to the police station anyway," Sam said. The police charged him with possession of seven pills and said he would get a lighter penalty if he confessed. "I said I couldn't confess as the pills were not mine," Sam said. Ameema said she was very worried about her husband. Lisu women, she said, don't know court procedures and don't have enough money to bail out their family members held on drug charges. They can't put up their land as collateral to secure the bail as they have no title deeds. Sam's neighbour, Wichai Samtan, faced the same fate. Wichai, 48, said the police had asked him to confirm that his house was his home and asked to look inside. They found nothing in their first search. When other villagers came to watch the searchers, police chased them away. "I asked to witness the search, but the police allowed only my son [to accompany them]," said Wichai. "A policeman used his rifle to block the door. "After searching for 20 minutes, the police came out with a rifle and a box of ammunition. They didn't believe me when I told them that I had a licence for the rifle," said Wichai. He said the police again searched the bedroom. "Then one policeman reached into the left pocket of his jacket. When he took his hand out, he put one amphetamine pill on the wooden trunk. I shouted: 'The police have planted a drug!' and they grabbed my arms," said Wichai. He said the police handcuffed him and his son and took them to the Long Kord subdistrict police station. He said that while they were there the police had told them that they had found one amphetamine pill, but later, when they went to court, the amount had been changed to seven pills. Stories similar to these and cases where the victims have been summarily executed are received daily at the Chiang Mai-based Inter-Mountain People Education and Culture in Thailand Association (Impect), and the Assembly of the Indigenous and Tribal People of Thailand. These organisations aim to promote and protect the human rights of hilltribes, whose lack of citizenship and often knowledge of the Thai language make them vulnerable to abuse by authorities. The numbers of hilltribe people executed by police or disappearing without reason rose dramatically after the government declared its war on drugs, said Orn-anong Saenyakul, a Lisu working at Impect. In an effort to meet the government's anti-drug goals over the past three months, police are particularly targeting hilltribe people, whether they are involved in drug trafficking or not, she said. In one case, a Lisu drug-peddler was turned in by a "friend", who tipped off the police about his activities. The police killed him in his own house - then left with his valuables. The incident raised questions about who actually were the criminals. "How do you differentiate between robbers wearing uniforms and other robbers?" asked Orn-anong. Nasae Yapa, a headwoman of Kong Pak Ping village in Chiang Dao district, knows first hand about treatment of hilltribe people by narcotics officers. Nasae has been in jail since last December when she was imprisoned on charges of obstructing officers in their work. Later she was further charged with harming officers and helping suspected drug traffickers to escape. She was denied bail despite the fact that many villagers testified that Nasae had no weapons and had simply been trying to observe soldiers as they searched a villager's house. The war-on-drugs crackdown has cost the lives and assets of many people, particularly hilltribe people. But some residents are profiting handsomely from the situation. They are flourishing by lending their assets to those who need collateral to secure bail - at a price. It is not difficult to find these people. Many of them are women who usually are to be found loitering outside the provincial court. They can be recognised by their wealth of gold necklaces, bracelets and rings. These women charge between Bt3,000 and Bt10,000 to lend their assets as security for bail. On the day The Nation visited the Chiang Mai provincial court, one woman asset-lender was negotiating with a client, a woman needing assets in order to bail out her husband, who was being held on drug-possession charges. The deal was being negotiated right by a sign on the court's notice board that declared the activity unlawful. Mukdawan Sakboon The Nation CHIANG MAI ********************************* Family remembers awful day of police 'justice' The Nation, Published on Jun 11, 2003 Above the entrance to the Srimee family's home hangs a sacred charm the Lisu people believe will ward off devils. But it did not protect the Srimees from the evil that overtook them on the afternoon of April 25. That was the day when Biasue Srimee, the head of the family, left the house at around one o'clock. He never returned. An hour later, the telephone rang and Jirat, the second of Biasue's six sons picked it up. No one talked at the other end and he hung up. A minute later, the phone rang again; still no talking. But this time, he could hear something. "I heard a voice in the distance," recalled Jirat. "It was as if someone was being beaten and was crying for help." Jirat thought one of his younger brothers was playing a trick and he ignored the call. Later, Jirat and his oldest brother, Jiwacheng, went out to the family's rice field. As they came near the field, they saw what at first looked like a gang fight. As they came closer, they could see that it was a group of about 10 policemen cornering a man. At first, the two brothers could not see that the man was their father. "We saw him kneel down. He was handcuffed. The police pointed the gun at his head," Jiwacheng recalled. Then the police turned \|their attention to the brothers. "They forced us to undress and kicked us to make us lie down, then searched all over our bodies. All they found was four one-baht coins," said Jirat. "They asked what we were doing and accused us of being there to deliver drugs," said Jiwacheng. "Some of the police, when learning that we are Lisu, said we were not Thais," said Jiwacheng, who was born in Chiang Mai. The police asked the name of Jirat and Jiwacheng's father and took them to the Hang Dong district police station, 22 kilometres away. Their house is in the Suthep sub-district and they were arrested in the jurisdiction of the Muang district police station. "I was asked to confess to the charge of possessing 20 pills that were found in the left pocket of my T-shirt," said Jirat. "How could I confess since the police had already searched us and found no drugs." Jirat denies that he has ever seen or touched ya ba, or amphetamines. Jiwacheng was charged with possession of 30 amphetamine tablets, which police said they found in the right-hand pocket of his pants. He also protested the charge. "I challenged the police that if they still have some self-respect, they will remember the fact that we were innocent," he said. The two brothers were locked up that night. The next day, on Saturday, April 26, the police took urine samples from the brothers to test for drugs. They have been told that the results are still not available. That day, other groups of police searched the Srimee house. "They came in a pickup truck. I, my younger brother and my mother were forced to sit outside the house while the police searched our home," said Nakharin, the third son of the family. "I was scared to death," he added. He said he didn't ask the police to show him a warrant. Later, the village head woman told Nakharin to go and look at an unidentified body that had been found shot near the village. She feared the dead man might be his father. "At first I said that it could not be. " "However, she suggested that I check it out at the Suan Dok hospital," Nakharin said. The hospital officials denied receiving any corpse by the name of Biasue. "We were told that the only person found dead in Hang Dong was a man named Mr Thao, who was sent to the hospital on Friday. We asked to see the body anyway," Nakharin said. And when they saw the body, the family knew that the dead man was indeed Biasue. "My husband was shot in five places: the forehead, the upper part of the right arm, the right calf, the left chest, and at the bottom of the breastbone," said Biasue's wife, Aluma, 42. "He was also stabbed in the back. The wound was about two-inches deep." Nakharin was so shocked at learning about his father's brutal death, his body was trembling all over as he rode his motorcycle home, said his mother. The family is still in disbelief about the tragedy. "According to what we have seen, my father was giving himself up to police," Jiwacheng said. "He was handcuffed, he could not fight. Why did the police still have to kill him?" Mukdawan Sakboon The Nation CHIANG MAI **************************************** Bangkok Post 29 May2003 Govt `fails to protect activists' Inquiries into deaths make little progress Onnucha Hutasingh Human rights groups and activists have demanded justice in the case of a conservationist murdered in Khon Kaen, saying the government is failing to ensure safety for leaders of environmental protests. Campaign for Popular Democracy secretary-general Suriyasai Katasila said Samnao Srisongkham was the 14th activist to lose his life since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came to power. In his capacity as chairman of the Phong river conservation group, Samnao led a protest against the release of wastewater by Phoenix Pulp and Paper factory. He was shot dead on Sunday. ``Among 14 cases involving the murders of local activists, only one has progressed. However, even in this case, police have only arrested the suspected gunman, not the mastermind,'' Mr Suriyasai said. ``We are worried that Mr Samnao may not be the last activist to lose his life under this government,'' he said. Mr Suriyasai said the deaths of many activists and protest leaders under Mr Thaksin's administration reflected a failure of the government's war on organised crime. Such policies presented legal loopholes that allowed corrupt officials and crime bosses to kill environmentalists opposed to state and private projects, he said. Mr Suriyasai criticised the government for denying any violations of human rights in the country, saying Samnao's death was proof they did exist. Rights activist Sarawut Pathumrat urged the government to show sincerity by ordering the Crime Suppression Division and the Justice Ministry's special investigation unit to bring Samnao's murderer to face charges. A local investigation would not ensure justice as many of the officers involved were connected to crime bosses, he said. Khon Kaen police earlier claimed Samnao had been murdered after a row with other activists over a 30,000-baht donation. One of Samnao's former colleagues, Lerdsak Khamkhongsak, believed the activist was murdered because of his vocal opposition to a plan by Phoenix Pulp and Paper factory to buy vast swathes of local land to house a waste-treatment plant. Mr Lerdsak said the firm was looking to buy up to 20,000 rai of farmland for its so-called Green Project, in line with Industry Ministry regulations. The factory would face closure if construction of the facilities could not go ahead, he said. Representatives of the Phong river conservation group would lodge a petition tomorrow with Mr Thaksin demanding the investigation into Samnao's death be handled by Crime Suppression police.

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