Thailand on the wrong track with rights

Whatever drove Thailand to seek election to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), it wasn’t an unswerving commitment to human rights. The UNHRC’s Special Rapporteurs have taken it to task twice in the past ten years.

Most recently, Special Rapporteurs expressed concern that Bangkok would not hold to account security officials who killed 85 southern Thai Muslims in 2004 before a 20-year statute of limitations expired. And that is what transpired. The case folded when none of the accused were brought before the court. Police claimed they looked for them (three of whom were former senior police officers). But they obviously didn’t search hard enough: at least one of the accused turned up for work the next working day.

Twenty years ago, in what is widely known as the Tak Bai massacre, security forces shot dead seven protesters. They stacked some 1,300 others, hands tied behind their backs, five-deep in 25 trucks. During the five-hour drive to a military camp 140 kilometres away, 78 died from suffocation or organ failure. Seven others remain missing, reportedly forcibly disappeared. The prime minister at the time was Thaksin Shinawatra, father of current prime minister Paetongtarn. Although he doesn’t have an official political role, Thaksin is widely believed to control Paetongtarn’s Pheu Thai party.

Demands for justice from victims’ families and survivors have gone unanswered. A 2009 court ruling clearing security officials argued bizarrely they had been acting under an Emergency Decree drafted by the Thaksin government and brought into effect nine months after the massacre. The military had requested the inclusion of a clause in the decree to grant immunity from prosecution to enforcement officers for any action taken in the line of duty. It was this clause the court cited when absolving the military of responsibility.

Victims and their families had a glimmer of hope in August, when a court accepted a lawsuit against seven senior officers for their alleged roles in the massacre, and again in September, when eight others were charged.

However, expectations for justice were soon extinguished. The government took six weeks to raise the issue with the Council of State (the government’s legal advisor). And it was still seeking guidance, particularly on an emergency decree to extend the statute of limitations, the day before the statute lapsed.

Meanwhile, just days after being named in the August suit, ruling Pheu Thai Party MP General Pisal Wattanawongkiri sought leave to head overseas until 30 October, reportedly for medical treatment. A deputy lower house speaker — and fellow Pheu Thai MP —gave him the necessary official approval, guaranteeing Pisal escaped prosecution. Pisal was the highest profile accused, commanding the southern army region at the time of the massacre. He, like fellow accused Police Lieutenant General Wongkot Maneerin, is also an old pal of the de facto Pheu Thai Party boss, Thaksin.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn’s expression of regret came mere hours before the statute expired. And her reference to compensation paid to Tak Bai victims in 2013 by the then premier (her aunt Yingluck) was unlikely to have gone down well with victims’ families. Yingluck’s government had initially excluded them from payouts to other political violence victims that benefitted Thaksin supporters.

Further, Paetongtarn’s arguments why she did not extend the statute of limitations through an emergency decree — on the grounds it would contravene the Constitution — seem spurious. The government possibly could have avoided the prohibition on the law applying only to a particular case or person by covering all cases involving unlawful deaths. Likewise her claim it may have constituted unfair discrimination appears a stretch. The relevant section of the Constitution covers discrimination based on physical characteristics, beliefs, or social standing.

Other ministers’ statements also suggest the government won’t pursue justice with any vigour. Justice Minister Thawee Sodsong said, “If [offenders] see loopholes in the statute of limitations, they will try to flee. This is normal. … We don’t hold that against anyone.” Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said everyone should forgive and move on.

UNHRC Special Rapporteurs have also raised human rights concerns over the deportation of Uighurs in Thai detention to China, stating it amounted to refoulement and put them at risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Thailand had detained some 300 Uighurs, illegal immigrants from western China fleeing persecution. In 2015, it released 173 (mostly women and children) to Turkey. However, their male family members were amongst the 109 Thailand forcibly returned to China. The UN Refugee Agency called it “a flagrant violation of international law”.

Reportedly, it flowed from an agreement between Thai Prime Minister (and 2014 coup leader) Prayuth Chan-o-cha and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Prayuth wanted deeper economic, security, and diplomatic links with China, after his seizure of power strained ties with the United States and other Western countries.

The returnees’ fate is unknown. But it is unlikely to have been good: China asserted (without proof) that they were jihadists. And two Chinese dissidents Thailand refouled later that year — despite knowing they were registered refugees — were imprisoned for six and a half and three and a half years.

Thai authorities don’t want to upset China. But they know international outrage would ensue if they again submit to Beijing’s demands. So they do nothing. Denied access to the UN, and therefore recognition as refugees, Uighurs are dying in Thai detention, five in the past ten years, including a newborn baby and a three-year-old.

The above indicates that Thailand won’t soon address its own human rights concerns, and will do little of note during its three-year UNHRC term.

Worse, the government’s inaction over the Tak Bai massacre will inflame passions among ethnic Malays. The main insurgent group, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (National Revolutionary Front) has claimed the government is protecting the accused from facing justice. Local resentment could swell separatist ranks, and lead to an uptick in violence, which has been declining since 2013. A speedy political resolution to the decades-long insurgency now seems impossible.

Freedom for the detained Uighurs would seem to depend on strong and sustained representation from other ASEAN members, Muslim countries and the West. However, aside from Turkey and the United States, few seem interested in their plight.

Nevertheless, there are grounds for hope. Although Thailand’s conservative forces prevented a popular progressive party forming government in 2023, demographic trends suggest liberal voices will eventually triumph. This is a source of hope for a more rights-based foreign policy, and greater empathy with Thailand’s ethnic minorities, including in the south.

Change won’t happen overnight. But, perhaps, within a decade, a more compassionate Thailand will emerge.

Craig Keating is a former senior analyst with Australia’s Office of National Assessments (ONA). Prior to joining ONA, he held numerous positions with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).