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THAILAND: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS S



Subject: THAILAND: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS STILL A CAUSE FOR CONCERN 



AI INDEX: ASA 39/01/97 (Amnesty International)

THAILAND: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS STILL A CAUSE FOR CONCERN
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Five years after the violent suppression of pro-democracy campaigners in
Bangkok, the human
rights situation still gives cause for concern, Amnesty International said
today.

     Despite improvements in some important areas since the May 1992
crackdown -- which
culminated in at least 52 deaths -- the human rights organization remains
concerned at the level of
unlawful killings committed by the security forces, the treatment and
protection of refugees and the
imposition of the death penalty for a wide variety of offences.

     "The overall improvement in the human rights situation in the last
five years has not been
reflected in the conduct of some officers within the police forces,"
Amnesty International said. "The
level of unlawful killings and subsequent attempts to cover up these crimes
 is not being dealt with
by a government which seems worryingly complacent."

     The Thai authorities have permitted independent bodies to investigate
these killings, but have
not granted them sufficient powers to effectively carry out their work. The
 police are also obliged to
carry out investigations, but these are often subject to lengthy delays and
 officers are almost never
convicted of unlawful killings. As a result, the security forces appear to
operate with impunity and
are regarded as accountable to no-one.

     Amnesty International called on the Royal Thai government to ensure
that law enforcement
officers only use force and firearms as a last resort in self-defence and
that all cases of extrajudicial
execution are promptly and independently investigated.

     The organization also called on the government to establish a national
 human rights
commission, abolish the death penalty and to ensure that refugees are
properly protected and not
sent back to face danger in their home countries.

     Since November 1996, in a marked increase in police shootings of
criminal suspects, some 29
people have been reportedly shot dead. In some cases, police have shot dead
 suspects after they had
already surrendered, or when suspects have posed little or no threat to
them. It is widely believed
that the security forces operate a de facto shoot-to-kill policy.

       On 27 November 1996, police in Suphan Buri Province, central
Thailand, arrested six
suspected drug traffickers after they had surrendered without a struggle,
handcuffed them and took
them into a house where they had been hiding allegedly to find a weapons
cache. People outside the
building heard shots and when reporters entered the building the six
prisoners were dead. Their bodies were cremated quickly without any autopsy
 and a few days later the police
burned down the building, preventing investigators from examining evidence.

     On 4 January 1997, security guards shot three Cambodian children who
had crossed over the
border to collect scrap materials. The security officials interrogated the
three while they lay injured
on the ground and later returned to shoot them dead at point blank range.
To Amnesty
International's knowledge no investigation has been conducted into their
deaths.

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     Refugees from Myanmar, who the Thai authorities consider to be illegal
 immigrants, have also
been the victims of the government's failure to properly protect them.
Armed groups allied to the
Burmese government have crossed the border into Thailand on many occasions
and attacked
refugees.

     On 28 January 1997, a group of armed men burned two refugee camps in
Thailand to the
ground, killing one person and leaving up to 10,000 people without shelter
homeless. On 4 April,
80 armed men crossed the border in Tak Province, killing at least one
refugee and forcing others to
return to Myanmar.

     Amnesty International is calling on the Thai government to provide
adequate security and
protection for refugees and not to forcibly return any refugees to
situations where they may be at
risk of human rights violations. In early 1997, at least 4,000 Burmese
refugees were forcibly
returned, despite grave concern from the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees
(UNHCR) and other refugee organizations.

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     The organization also criticised the Thai government's continued use
of the death penalty. In
Thailand, the death sentences are mandatory for premeditated murder, murder
 of an official on
government business, regicide and the production or export of heroin. They
are discretionary for
robbery, rape, arson, insurrection and treason amongst other crimes.

     Information about the death penalty is difficult to obtain because
death sentences are often not
reported. However, at least seven death sentences are believed to have been
 imposed during 1996,
and a further five people sentenced to death in January 1997.

     The King usually commutes death sentences, but in January 1996,
Prommas Seamsai, who
was reportedly convicted of murdering a policeman, was shot dead by a
firing squad in Bangkwang
Maximum Security Prison. His execution was conducted in great secrecy and
there was no prior
public notification.

     "Human rights protection in Thailand has improved in the last five
years, but there is still work
to do," Amnesty International said. "It is time for the Royal Thai
government to tackle the serious
human rights problems that continue in the Kingdom."
 .../ENDS


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