UN asked to monitor Thai govt violations

General News - Tuesday December 11, 2007

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY / SECRETARY-GENERAL'S VISIT

UN asked to monitor Thai govt violations

The Thai Human Rights Organisation Network yesterday petitioned visiting United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, asking the UN to monitor human rights violations by the military-installed government and its attempt to push through the Internal Security Bill.



Since the Sept 19 coup last year the government had tried to limit human rights in various ways. This included curfews still in place in 26 provinces.

The letter was handed to Mr Ban as he attended Human Rights Day activities at the UN Building on Ratchadamnoen Nok avenue.

''These invasions of human rights do not respect the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Thailand is a member,'' the letter said.

The group, led by Metha Matkhao of the Campaign Committee for Human Rights, asked Mr Ban to ''force and encourage the Thai government to respect the international human rights community and to watch over the military government bringing in authoritarian laws''. This was a reference to the Internal Security Bill, which the group said will allow the military and the government to legally abuse the basic rights of people.

They asked the UN to support the government's investigation into the disappearance of activist lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, which has been underway for many years with little progress.

Rights groups released an annual report, 10 Progresses and 10 Setbacks of Human Rights Protection in Thailand.

Compulsory licensing to bypass Aids and heart drug patents was listed as one progressive move in the country.

Other signs of improvement included the ruling by the Ranong, Chumphon and Surat Thani courts freeing people with suspected links to the southern insurgency from military-run vocational training courses; the Songkhla court's acquittal of people protesting against the Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline; the new law promoting and developing the quality of living of handicapped people and the law against domestic violence; the inclusion of kidney-failure under the universal healthcare scheme; and the independent investigation into the extrajudicial killing of more than 2,500 people during the Thaksin Shinawatra government's war on drugs.

However, state agencies had committed various forms of human rights violations, according to the report.

Setbacks included the National Legislative Assembly's hasty approval of legislation that could affect people's rights including the Internal Security and Community Forest and Water Resources bills.

Others were the Internal Security Operation Command's ban on the use of ethnic languages on community radio in the North; the murder of consumer rights defender Raweewan Setarat; restrictions on public gatherings of more than five alien workers, registration of their mobile phones and a 10pm curfew.

By : Bangkok Post