Thailand
Kingdom of Thailand
Head of state: King Bhumibol Adulyadej
Head of government: Chuan Leekpai
Capital: Bangkok
Population: 60.6 million
Official language: Thai
Death penalty: retentionist
2000 treaty ratifications/signatures: Optional Protocol to the UN Women's Convention; Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
In January, 10 Myanmar nationals were shot dead by the
security forces after they had taken patients and staff of
Raatchaburi Hospital hostage. The same month, one Myanmar national
convicted of drugs trafficking was executed. At least one person
reportedly died as a result of torture by police. Poor prison
conditions, including severe overcrowding, continued to be
reported. More than 14,000 asylum-seekers from the Karen and
Karenni ethnic minorities in Myanmar entered refugee camps, whose
population increased to 115,000. More than 100,000 Shan
asylum-seekers from Myanmar continued to be denied access to camps
in Thailand. Several Myanmar nationals were forcibly returned to
Myanmar where they were at risk of human rights violations. The
Prime Minister dissolved parliament in November, and in
consultation with the Elections Commission, set the election date
for January 2001.
Hostage-taking and extrajudicial executions
In January, 10 heavily armed Myanmar nationals believed to be led
by the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, who in October 1999
seized the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, took hundreds of patients
and staff hostage at Raatchaburi Hospital. The group reportedly
demanded medical assistance for people in Kamaplaw, a settlement in
Myanmar near Thailand, which was controlled by God's Army, a
Karen armed opposition group. Kamaplaw had been attacked by the
Myanmar army and reportedly shelled by the 9th Division of the Thai
First Army. Security forces secured Raatchaburi Hospital less than
24 hours after its seizure, shooting dead all 10 men, although no
civilian casualties were reported. Some of the 10 were reportedly
extrajudicially executed after they had surrendered, but no
investigation was known to have been conducted. In October the
bodies of nine of the men, which remained unclaimed by relatives,
were cremated in Raatchaburi by the authorities. One body had
previously been claimed by a Muslim organization for burial.
Refugees and migrant workers
About 1,000 refugees from Myanmar were resettled to third countries
from Maneloy camp as part of the Thai authorities' ongoing
policy to ensure the resettlement of all Myanmar political
opposition activists. In February Myanmar national Saw Tin Oo was
forcibly returned by the Thai authorities to Myanmar, where he was
arrested, tried and sentenced to death by the Myanmar
authorities.
Migrant workers and asylum-seekers from Myanmar continued to be
arrested throughout the year, held in poor conditions in
Immigration Detention Centres and forcibly returned to the
Myanmar-Thai border. In February, in the aftermath of the January
hospital siege and in the run-up to an international UN meeting in
Bangkok, thousands of Myanmar nationals were arrested in Bangkok
alone. Migrant workers and asylum-seekers from countries which do
not border Thailand were arrested for ''illegal
immigration'' and were forced to remain in Immigration
Detention Centres for long periods.
In January about 1,000 Karen asylum-seekers fled to Thailand after
attacks by the Myanmar army on the Me Pia base of the Karen
National Union, the main Karen armed opposition group in Myanmar.
The asylum-seekers were forcibly returned to Myanmar by the First
Army's 9th Division. A few days later, after further attacks by
the Myanmar army resulting in civilian casualties, the same group
fled again, and were allowed to remain at Bo Wii, Raatchaburi
Province. The First Army's 9th Division initially blocked them
from entering refugee camps but they were moved to Don Yang refugee
camp in February.
In January, after the attack on Kamaplaw, more than 400 Karen
asylum-seekers fled to Thailand. Some 50 Karen male asylum-seekers
from this group ''disappeared'' after having been
arrested by the 9th Division, reportedly for national security
reasons. AI had no further information about their fate.
More than 100,000 Shan asylum-seekers who had fled human rights
violations in Myanmar continued to be denied access to refugee
camps and were treated by the Thai authorities as ''illegal
immigrants'', liable to arrest and deportation.
Political imprisonment
Sok Yoeun, a Cambodian refugee and prisoner of conscience in
Thailand, was arrested in December 1999 for ''illegal
immigration'' and detained throughout the year pending
possible extradition to Cambodia. The Cambodian government accused
him of involvement in a rocket attack on Prime Minister Hun
Sen's motorcade in September 1998, but there was no evidence
linking him to the attack.
Ramlek Nilnuan, an adviser to the non-governmental organization
Forum of the Poor, was arrested in July for trespassing in a
national park and remained held without trial. His arrest was
related to a land dispute between the Royal Forestry Department and
villagers in Kalasin Province, and he appeared to be a prisoner of
conscience.
Torture/ill-treatment
In February Chamlong Khamsunthorn died in police custody in
Ayuthaya Province, reportedly as a result of severe beatings and
electric shocks. No independent investigation was known to have
been conducted.
About 200,000 prisoners nationwide were reportedly held in prisons
with a capacity of 80,000. Women's facilities were particularly
crowded as increasing numbers of women have been arrested for
possession of small amounts of illegal drugs. Conditions in Klong
Prem in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok and in Chonburi, Phuket,
Songkhla, Surat Thani, and Chiang Mai Prisons were also especially
poor. Prisoners on death row were held in iron shackles
continuously. Conditions in Immigration Detention Centres, which
were supervised by the police, continued to be poor after mass
arrests of migrant workers, but in general improved.
Death penalty
A bill banning the death penalty for people under 18 was introduced
by the Attorney General's Office to the Cabinet in December in
order to bring Thailand's law into compliance with the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which
Thailand acceded to in 1997.
Hla Win, a Myanmar national convicted of drug trafficking, was
executed in January. Some 130 prisoners were under sentence of
death at Bangkwang Prison. At least 45 death sentences were passed
during 2000.
Legal developments
In May the government released a censored version of a Ministry of
Defence report about the military's violent suppression of
pro-democracy demonstrations in Bangkok in May 1992, in which at
least 52 people were killed. After protests from the relatives of
victims, the government released a largely uncensored version in
June, but calls by the relatives to bring those found responsible
to justice remained unanswered.
In October the newly-elected Senate elected nine of 11 National
Human Rights Commissioners stipulated in the 1997 Constitution. By
the end of the year the remaining two Commissioners had still not
been elected, making it impossible for the Commission to
convene.
AI country reports and visits
Statement
- Kingdom of Thailand: Justice denied eight years after Bangkok massacre (AI Index: ASA 39/002/2000)
Visit
AI delegates visited Thailand in February and March.
