To mark the fifth anniversary of the police abduction and forced disappearance in Bangkok of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit on 12 March 2004, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is distributing a series of three extracts from the newly-released English translation of a book by his wife, Angkhana, first published in Thai to mark the same date in 2008. The book, Reading between the lines recalls her husband’s efforts for justice during his own life, and her family’s struggle to uncover the truth and hold the perpetrators to account after his disappearance. It is rich in personal recollections as well as details about the case, including translations of many communications and court records. It is an important addition to the literature on forced disappearance in Asia, and especially, English-language material on forced disappearance in Thailand, of which there is very little. The 144-page book, which has been published by the Working Group on Justice for Peace, is available to download from the AHRC website at: http://material.ahrchk.net/docs/ReadingBetweenTheLines.pdf.
The third and final extract is from chapter 16, “Four years of being disappeared”.
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“In this book I want to tell Thai society what I have done in the past 4 years and how much has happened to me. Throughout the past 4 years I have made serious efforts to seek justice with the support and encouragement from all those who love justice and many human rights activists inside and outside the country. Even if it is hard to do anything, especially in the present circumstances, and even if it looks like I have done a lot, it has not been enough to force a situation where we can get what is fair.
My life has had disappointments, pain and difficulties, but never have I had to show as much mindfulness, patience and kindness as now.
Many times when I have faced refusal by people with power over the distribution of justice, I have felt that it was extremely difficult for little people to access the judicial process and the principles of law.
I always ask the question: how will the people be able to hold the judicial system accountable? According to the Thai Criminal Procedure Code, the granting of authority for investigators to be absolutely independent may conflict with the principles of accountability, especially when the accused are police officers who alone have complete authority over investigations.
The examination of the use of authority in accordance with the system of justice gives a right to the people to be able to criticize the work of government officials and the courts. Appeals for Thai society to respect the principles of law, the principles of jurisprudence and the system of justice must also improve the system of justice. This is needed to give people confidence that the system of justice can really be fair to people and enable people to live with dignity, honour and equal rights and freedoms. No one is too small to live with dignity and honour and to be respected as a person should.
Whoever one is, whatever differences in authority one has, whatever differences in status and political opinions one has, everyone should have a guarantee of equality of rights and freedoms of one’s life, physical security and possessions.
On the 4th anniversary of the disappearance of Khun Somchai Neelapaichit, I want to appeal to the Thai government to pay serious attention to the problem of disappearances, by disclosing the truth and bringing the perpetrators to justice, no matter whether they are agents of the state or ordinary people, and to create real equality before the law.
Enforced disappearance must not be merely a personal tragedy, but the state must recognize that this is a problem of a society that is unstable and is a challenge to confidence in the system of justice.
Thai society must remember everything that has happened to prevent it from happening again. Even if it is pain that must be remembered, that pain is important in the struggle for what is just.
I wish to take this opportunity to appeal to the Thai government to demonstrate its sincerity in solving this problem by signing the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance of the UN as a guarantee of the protection of the rights and freedoms of all Thai, even if the system of justice cannot bring back to life those who have been disappeared.
But the system of justice must be responsible for returning justice to those people and not shirk this responsibility.
Finally, however the case of the disappearance of Khun Somchai is resolved, I still believe that what happened will bring about a reform of the Thai system of justice to solve the problems of injustice that have continued to occur over a long period, and will be able to establish firm legal principles in Thai society.
What we have learned will be solid enough the face the truth and will keep up with forms of violations of human rights that appear in Thai society. The system of justice must not be allowed to remain silent while people are ill-treated by those who get away with it.
I have written this book in order to tell myself, my family, my fellow members of society that is not at all easy for little people to access justice, especially when their problems are with state officials. It may seem that I have done a lot, but it has not been enough to get what we need.
Many times I have had to ask myself if it is worth exchanging everything we have in life for justice, which in the end we may never have the chance to find.
I had the intention, when my youngest son entered university, to relax. I wanted to do many things which I have not had the opportunity to do, such as take the time to read and write books, or to travel. Many times I have felt it wasn’t me doing all these things. But in the circumstances where I find myself today, I have to tell myself that sometimes we cannot chose what we have to do, so I have tried to do everything as well as I could.
The encouragement for me to do what I am doing today is the love, goodwill and spirit of friendship and fellowship from people in society, the concern of good friends and the strength, sacrifice, tolerance and nonviolence of all my children. These are the things that nurtured my heart to be strong and steadfast.
I believe that the path of struggle that appears in this book will be an example for all injured persons and all who have not received justice to learn from, and is an approach to seeking justice for myself, for our family and for society.
For myself, whatever the outcome of the case of the enforced disappearance of Khun Somchai, I firmly believe that one day, everything that has been noted will be made public and people will in the end be the ones who decide.
But for myself, I can only say that I have really done my best.
