Dear Friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that members of the Southern Peasants Federation of Thailand (SPFT) continue to face death threats in Surat Thani Province. Despite a legal judgment in favour of the Agricultural Land Reform Office five months ago, one that ordered the Jiew Kang Jue Pattana Co. Ltd., a palm oil company owned by a local politician, to vacate the land it is illegally occupying, no action has been taken. Furthermore, there remains little progress in the police investigation into Chai Bunthonglek’s murder case. Bunthonglek was shot dead on 11 February 2015 in his home by two unidentified gunmen and represents the fourth SPFT member to be murdered in recent times. AHRC has learned that other SPFT Members, especially leading Members, are also in line to be killed.
CASE NARRATIVE:
A series of recent incidents highlight the continuing pressure being exerted on Members of the SPFT by powerful forces so that they desist from their work, securing community and land rights in Thailand.
On 17 March 2015, Channel TV11 journalists, accompanied by the local Army Division, visited a community residing close to the Perm Sap Community. Members of this community falsely claimed they belonged to the Perm Sap Community. The broadcast of this visit contained no interviews with any Perm Sap Community members and showed photographs of people that do not reside in the Perm Sap Community. One of the pictures broadcast is that of Mr. Pianrat Bunrit, who is a leader of the SPFT. The SPFT, however, has not been given any national TV coverage since this Channel TV11 report. So SPFT has not been able to respond to the claims made by Channel TV11 journalists and Army officers in the broadcast.
Next, on Wednesday, 25 March 2015, at 4 p.m., two SPFT members were travelling out of Khlong Sai Pattana Community, Chaiburi District, Surat Thani Province. Two cars, one in front of them and one behind them, stopped the SPFT members’ car. An unidentified man stepped out of the front car and approached the SPFT members’ car to look inside. The man then turned to address his colleagues in the two cars, saying, “It isn’t the person we are looking for.” The two cars moved out of the way and the SPFT members were free to pursue their journey. SPFT Members believe that their car was stopped because this SPFT Members’ car is very similar in colour (greenish) and shape (two door pick-up 4×4) to Mr. Pratheep Rakhanthong’s car. Mr. Pratheep is a member of the SPFT Management Committee and resident in the Khlong Sai Pattana Community. According to the SPFT, the prominent Khlong Sai Community members are under most risk because of their leadership role in the organization, in particular Mr. Pratheep Rakhanthong, Mr. Supot Kansong, and Mr. Theeranet Chaisuwan.
Furthermore, AHRC has recently learned from the SPFT that the Provincial Army plans to call for a meeting regarding the dispute between Perm Sap Community and Thai Boonthong Co. on Wednesday 1 April 2015. However, SPFT’s position remains that matters regarding land disputes in Surat Thani’s agricultural land reform areas should be discussed and addressed by the Committee to Address Problems Raised by the People Movement For a Just Society (P-move), no. 1/2015.
This Committee was set up on 23 January 2015 by Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister, and it is officially tasked with settling land disputes and distributing community land titles to people living in agricultural land reform areas in Surat Thani.
The Khlong Sai Community has also noted the early release of a local criminal, who was convicted for drugs and weapons-related crimes. This person is an influential local mafia who is in cooperation with the company broker who has been selling disputed land, and he was seen accompanying the Army to the Khlong Sai Patanna Village on a few occasions.
SPFT members, and especially leaders under explicit death threats, are living under constant fear. The lack of effective investigation into attacks faced by members of SPFT and the prevailing impunity in the country only enables further attacks on community-based human rights defenders.
This situation of constant intimidation makes it near to impossible for community based human rights defenders – SPFT leaders – to pursue their work of advocating community rights and securing community land title deeds. The killing of human rights defenders can often be avoided if state authorities were to take proper notice and investigate the threats and acts of intimidation they face.
REQUESTED ACTION:
Please write a letter to the following government authorities to urge them to investigate the case and prosecute the perpetrators. Please also be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteurs on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders and on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression calling for their interventions into this matter.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear …………,
THAILAND: Death threats and impunity against the Southern Peasants Federation of Thailand
Name of Victims: Members of Southern Peasants Federation of Thailand
Names of Alleged Perpetrators: Unknown Persons
Date of Incident: March 2015 to Present
Place of Incident: Khlong Sai Pattana Community, Chaiburi District, Surat Thani Province
I am unhappy to hear that members of the Southern Peasants Federation of Thailand (SPFT) continue to face death threats in Surat Thani Province. Despite a legal judgment in favour of the Agricultural Land Reform Office five months ago, one that ordered the Jiew Kang Jue Pattana Co. Ltd., a palm oil company owned by a local politician, to vacate the land it is illegally occupying, no action has been taken. Furthermore, there remains little progress in the police investigation into Chai Bunthonglek’s murder case. Bunthonglek was shot dead on 11 February 2015 in his home by two unidentified gunmen and represents the fourth SPFT member to be murdered in recent times.
I have now learned that other SPFT Members, especially leading Members, are also in line to be killed. A series of recent incidents highlight the continuing pressure being exerted on Members of the SPFT by powerful forces so that they desist from their work, securing community and land rights in Thailand.
On 17 March 2015, Channel TV11 journalists, accompanied by the local Army Division, visited a community residing close to the Perm Sap Community. Members of this community falsely claimed they belonged to the Perm Sap Community. The broadcast of this visit contained no interviews with any Perm Sap Community members and showed photographs of people that do not reside in the Perm Sap Community. One of the pictures broadcast is that of Mr. Pianrat Bunrit, who is a leader of the SPFT. The SPFT, however, has not been given any national TV coverage since this Channel TV11 report. So SPFT has not been able to respond to the claims made by Channel TV11 journalists and Army officers in the broadcast.
Next, on Wednesday, 25 March 2015, at 4 p.m., two SPFT members were travelling out of Khlong Sai Pattana Community, Chaiburi District, Surat Thani Province. Two cars, one in front of them and one behind them, stopped the SPFT members’ car. An unidentified man stepped out of the front car and approached the SPFT members’ car to look inside. The man then turned to address his colleagues in the two cars, saying, “It isn’t the person we are looking for.” The two cars moved out of the way and the SPFT members were free to pursue their journey. SPFT Members believe that their car was stopped because this SPFT Members’ car is very similar in colour (greenish) and shape (two door pick-up 4×4) to Mr. Pratheep Rakhanthong’s car. Mr. Pratheep is a member of the SPFT Management Committee and resident in the Khlong Sai Pattana Community. According to the SPFT, the prominent Khlong Sai Community members are under most risk because of their leadership role in the organization, in particular Mr. Pratheep Rakhanthong, Mr. Supot Kansong, and Mr. Theeranet Chaisuwan.
Furthermore, I have learned that the Provincial Army plans to call for a meeting regarding the dispute between Perm Sap Community and Thai Boonthong Co. on Wednesday 1 April 2015. However, should not land disputes in Surat Thani’s agricultural land reform areas be discussed and addressed by the Committee to Address Problems Raised by the People Movement For a Just Society (P-move), no. 1/2015.
This Committee was set up on 23 January 2015 by Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister, and it is officially tasked with settling land disputes and distributing community land titles to people living in agricultural land reform areas in Surat Thani.
The Khlong Sai Community has also noted the early release of a local criminal, who was convicted for drugs and weapons-related crimes. This person is an influential local mafia who is in cooperation with the company broker who has been selling disputed land, and he was seen accompanying the Army to the Khlong Sai Patanna Village on a few occasions.
It is most unfortunate that SPFT members, and especially leaders under explicit death threats, are living under constant fear. The lack of effective investigation into attacks faced by members of SPFT and the prevailing impunity in Thailand only seems to enable further attacks on community-based rights defenders.
This situation of constant intimidation might makes it impossible for community based human rights defenders – such as SPFT leaders – to pursue their work of advocating community rights and securing community land title deeds. The killing of human rights defenders can often be avoided if state authorities were to take proper notice and investigate the threats and acts of intimidation they face.
I call on human rights actors in Thailand to urge the Thai authorities to:
1. Persuade the Krabi Provincial Court to immediately release an order for the Legal Execution Department to implement the decision in the judgment against the Jiew Kang Jue Pattana Co. Ltd., in a dispute with Khlong Sai Pattana Community. This action requires the company to return the land to the governmental Agricultural Land Reform Office (ARLO), who is the rightful owner of the land, according to the 11 November 2014 Supreme Court judgment. The ARLO should urgently redistribute land based on collective ownership, managed by the community.
2. Demand that the Ministry of Justice, Rights and Liberty Department, extends its protection mandate to provide immediate and sufficient protection to community-based human rights defenders. The Rights and Liberty Department should take all measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Mr. Pratheep Rakhanthong, Mr. Supot Kansong, and Mr. Theeranet Chaisuwan, and Mr. Pianrat, and all SPFT members, their families, as well as other community activists.
3. Insist that the Committee to Address Problems Raised by the People Movement For a Just Society (P-move), no. 1/2015, at the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister, actively addresses the needs of the people living in agricultural land reform areas in Surat Thani. Such actions should include coordinating with all concerned actors to suspend any activities that may cause further conflict, or may disrupt the livelihoods of SPFT members, and halting all efforts to evict the people.
4. Reiterate to the Thai government its obligation to ensure a conducive and protective legal environment for human rights defenders to promptly and effectively investigate all threats and attacks against them, and to hold both state and non-state perpetrators accountable.
Yours Sincerely,
…………………………..
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. General Prayuth Chan-ocha
Prime Minister
Head of the National Council for Peace and Order
Royal Thai Army Commander-in-Chief
Rachadamnoen Nok Road
Bang Khun Phrom
Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
E-mail: prforeign@gmail.com
2. Dr. Amara Pongsapich
Chair, National Human Rights Commission
The Government Complex Commemorating His Majesty the King’s 80th Birthday Anniversary 5th December
B.E.2550 (2007), Building B 120 Moo 3
Chaengwattana Road
Thoongsonghong, Laksi Bangkok 10210
THAILAND
E-mail: amara@nhrc.or.th
3. Dr. Niran Pitakwatchara,M.D.
National Human Rights Commissioner
The Government Complex Commemorating His Majesty the King’s 80th Birthday Anniversary 5th December, B.E.2550 (2007), Building B 120 Moo 3
Chaengwattana Road
Thoongsonghong, Laksi Bangkok 10210
THAILAND
Email: niran@nhrc.or.th
4. General Tanasak Patimapragorn
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Sri Ayudhya Road, Bangkok 10400
THAILAND
Tel: +66 2 203-5000
+66 2 203-5000
Fax : +66 2 643-5320, 643-5314
Email: minister@mfa.go.th
5. Mr. Chatmueng Chatputi
Suratthani Provincial Governor
Surat Thani City Hall Mueang
Surat Thani 84000
THAILAND
6. Maj-Gen Prakarn Cholayuth
Commander of the Fourth Army Region
The fourth Army Headquarter, Muang,
Nakhonsrithmmarat
THAILAND
Tel: +66 75 383418+66 75 383418 Extension-40054
Email: pr4army@gmail.com
7. Maj Gen Kueakun Innachak
Surat Thani Army Chief
Surat Thani
THAILAND
Tel: +66 7720 4491+66 7720 4491 (Office) +66 08 7270-5804+66 08 7270-5804 (Mobile)
Fax: +66 7720 4491
8. Col. Naras Savestanaa
Director General
Rights and Liberties Protection Department
120 Moo 3 Rajaburi Direkriddhi Building
The Government Complex Commemorating His Majesty the King´s 80th Birthday Anniversary 5th Changwattana Road Tung Song Hong Laksi
Bangkok 10210
THAILAND
Tel: +66 2 1412707+66 2 1412707
Fax: +66 2 1439660
Email: savestanan@yahoo.com
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
