Thai Army Must End Harassment of Human Rights Defenders

February 9, 2009

Early on February 8, Thai security forces searched the office of a Thai human rights organization called the Working Group on Justice for Peace (WGJP) in the southern province of Pattani.
Twenty members of the police and military woke two young volunteers and then spent three hours searching the office, including several computers.

The army officer who led the raid claims the search was simply part of a broader sweep in search of militants. However, there is reason to believe the WGJP was singled out. According to the Bangkok Post, two days earlier the military's Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 had issued a warning "that southern militants may take the opportunity to disguise themselves as rights activists." The warning came just weeks after the publication of several reports about human rights conditions in southern Thailand, including one released by the WGJP. The warning and raid may have been an attempt to stop human rights defenders from further reporting.

Thailand's three southernmost provinces, which have a large Muslim Malay population, have been the site of a separatist insurgency that has intensified since 2004. The WGJP is one of a small number of groups monitoring conditions on the ground. The chair of the WGJP is Angkhana Neelaphaijit, the wife of a lawyer who disappeared five years ago after filing a complaint alleging police had tortured his clients in the south. The group has become an effective advocate on the problem of enforced disappearances.

Please call on the civilian government and military officials in Bangkok and southern Thailand to:

• end public denunciations of human rights defenders
• cease any harassment of the Working Group on Justice for Peace and other groups active in southern Thailand.

Background

• Read report on Human Rights Defenders in Thailand

http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/06713-hrd-thailand-rep-web.pdf

Sample Letter

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva
C/o Royal Thai Embassy
1024 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Suite 401
Washington, DC 20007

CC

Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army Gen. Anupong Paochinda

Fourth Army Area Commander Lt. Gen. Pichet Wisaijorn

Dear Prime Minister Vejjajiva:

I was very concerned to hear about recent statements and actions of the Thai security forces targeting human rights defenders active in the southern provinces. According to the Bangkok Post, Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 issued a warning during a February 6 meeting "that southern militants may take the opportunity to disguise themselves as rights activists." We are not aware of any factual basis for the claim, and our experience in a number of countries shows that such unfounded accusations are often followed by human rights violations against activists.

In fact, just two days later the Pattani office of the Working on Justice for Peace was searched by 20 members of the police and military, who examined computers and took photographs. While the search was described as peaceful, I am concerned that it was an attempt to intimidate the group, which had recently released a report on human rights defenders. The report called attention to just such efforts to harass and intimidate human rights activists, and called on officials not to mischaracterize the work of defenders in their public comments.

This incident highlights a number of threats to human rights defenders in Thailand, including the long-term application of martial law and the emergency decree, and the broad authority granted to the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC). Human Rights First has previously warned that these measures are prone to abuse and might lead to human rights violations that only exacerbate conditions in the southern provinces.

As one of the few groups active in the south, the WGJP plays an important role in helping to channel grievances and improve respect for the rule of law. Both of these functions are essential to the peace-building efforts, and I urge you to view human rights defenders as partners in efforts to resolve the conflict. In addition, the rights of defenders to carry out their work are also protected by international agreements and by the Thai constitution.

The recent change of government presents Thailand with an opportunity to move forward with a rights-based approach to the conflict in the south. I hope that both civilian and military officials will repudiate comments broadly associating human rights defenders with militants, and ensure that no further human rights organizations are searched without clear evidence of a crime.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.