FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2006
AHRC-OL-064-2006
An Open Letter to the interim prime minister of Thailand by the Asian Human Rights Commission
General Surayud Chulanont
Interim Prime Minister
Government House
Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Fax: +662 282 8631/ 280 1589/ 629 8213
Dear General Surayud
THAILAND: Serious questions about “blacklists” demand answers
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing in response to your instructions to authorities in the south of Thailand on November 8 to “tear up” blacklists of alleged insurgents there.
While welcoming this announcement, the AHRC wishes to raise some serious questions that arise from it.
The making of lists has been associated with many of the worst atrocities in modern history. Typically, both the lists themselves and the circumstances under which they are prepared are obscured by secrecy.?
In Thailand, during the 2004 “war on drugs” of the former administration, various types of lists were used to kill thousands of alleged drug dealers, entirely outside of ordinary criminal process. It has also been known for some time that security forces operating in the south have been using blacklists, a fact revealed by General Sonthi Boonyaratglin in April 2006. General Sonthi indicated that the lists had been misused to settle personal grudges, but did not give details of what he knew about the lists and their management.
The AHRC has documented cases of killing and abduction both during the nationwide “war on drugs” and the war on insurgents in the south of Thailand that we believe are connected to the use of such lists. It is on the basis of this work that we now ask you, with reference to the south, to answer the following questions:
1. Who made the lists? How many lists did they make?
2. Who ordered that they make the lists? Why did they order that they make the lists?
3. How were the lists distributed and used? How were they used to abduct and kill people?
4. How many names were on the lists? Whose names were they?
5. How many persons were abducted and killed because they were on a list? Who were they? Who abducted and killed them?
6. What investigations have there been of state officers who allegedly abducted and killed persons whose names were on the lists? How many investigations have there been? What were the outcomes of these investigations?
7. How will the public know that the lists have been torn up? How will the government know? What methods will be used to ensure that the order to tear up the lists is followed?
8. What measures will be put in place to ensure that new lists are not made? How will the public obtain assurances of this?
Like the deaths of some 84 persons in the 2004 Tak Bai incident, 78 of them in the custody of the Royal Thai Army, it is not enough to order something stopped (in that case, the prosecution of innocent persons), and to apologise for what has happened. Cessation of systemic abuse and apology are a good starting point, not an end point. Your obligations under both ordinary domestic and international law now extend to answering the above questions, and acting upon them. The AHRC is confident that you know the answers to these questions, and believes that you should make all details concerning the use of these lists public.
In this respect, the AHRC also notes your recent remarks on the rule of law and its importance for Thailand. You will understand that apology and cessation of wrongdoing does not in itself ensure the rule of law. Criminal wrongdoing must be followed by criminal prosecution, and redress for victims.
The AHRC also notes with concern that on October 18 the emergency decree over the southern provinces of Thailand was renewed for a further three months. This decree offers the highest level of systemic immunity for gross human rights abuses committed by state officers in Thailand. In the words of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, “The emergency decree makes it possible for soldiers and police officers get away with murder.” The AHRC again calls upon the Government of Thailand to revoke the decree, and with it, the martial law that has been in force across the entire country since September 19.
Finally, the AHRC also calls for the abovementioned UN expert to be allowed to visit at the nearest possible time, as well as members of the UN Working Group on enforced and involuntary disappearances, in order that the international community have a role in investigating and assessing the use of blacklists in the south of Thailand and answering the many important questions that remain concerning them.
Yours sincerely,
Basil Fernando
Executive Director
Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong
