Human Rights Defenders 'ignored'

[Flashermac]

Although more people are emerging to defend human rights in Thailand, they are still ignored or stigmatised for fighting against the culture of official impunity, say activists.

 

Yaena Salaemah, who coordinates activities on behalf of relatives of those who died in the Tak Bai massacre, said she was still under surveillance by the military.

 

A court inquest in 2009 ruled that 78 people died while in the custody of the authorities following a protest in October 2004 in Tak Bai in Narathiwat. Most suffocated after being piled into trucks in stifling heat for transport to a military camp. No charges have ever been filed against security officials involved in the deaths, though the government did offer reparations to family members of the victims last year.

 

Ms Yaena said that a week ago, a group of soldiers searched her house in Narathiwat province, a move seen by other supporters of Tak Bai relatives as intimidation.

 

Korn-uma Pongnoi, the wife of the slain environmentalist Charoen Wat-Aksorn, said she faced a few lawsuits even before her husband was killed in June 2004 when the communities of Bo Nok and Hin Krut were fighting against power plants in their neighbourhood.

 

Ms Korn-uma expressed disappointment over the cumbersome and lengthy judicial processes in the case of her husband's murder.

 

"Obstacles and hurdles are enormous as one strives to monitor and question the relevant agencies to follow up human rights-related cases," Ms Korn-uma said at a seminar in Bangkok on Friday.

 

She has been waiting for a Supreme Court ruling after the Appeal Court allowed one of the masterminds of the murder to go free after one of the gunmen who identified him died in prison in suspicious circumstances.

 

Pikul Promchan, a representative of the Kalasin Relatives' Network against Extrajudiciary Killing, said those who became human rights defenders had to face physical and psychological threats by both uniformed and plainclothes authorities.

 

Ms Pikul said relatives of those who lost their loved ones due to drug-related extrajudicial killings were dismayed as the quest for justice have become a lone struggle and life had become intimidating.

 

In August last year, the court convicted five police officers of the murder of her 17-year-old nephew in July 2004 in Kalasin.

 

But the defendants, three of whom were sentenced to death, have not only got bail but have been promoted, said Ms Pikul.

 

"The formal judiciary mechanisms and law enforcers are not a source of hope and help for human rights defenders. Civil society and the media need to support and keep an eye on our destiny," she said.

 

Piyarat Chongthep, secretary of the Anti-SOTUS Youth Group of Thailand, said his network had exposed inhumane hazing activities committed by senior students against new students.

 

SOTUS stands for Seniority, Order, Tradition, Unity and Spirit, but detractors say the system simply reinforces a culture of bullying in universities.

 

The network has faced verbal threats, intimidation and harassment by educators and senior students, said Mr Piyarat, a fourth-year electrical engineering student. Its members come from the universities of Chiang Mai, Maha Sarakham, Kasetsart, Ubon Ratchatani, Burapha, King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, Prince of Songkla University Pattani, and Mahidol University.

 

The public seminar was organised by Prachatai, Thai Netizen, Frontline Defenders, and Protect International.

 

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/371872/rights-campaigners-face-harassment