Violence continued in the Muslim-majority southern provinces. Unidentified Muslim armed groups bombed, beheaded or shot Muslim and Buddhist civilians and members of the security forces. The authorities arbitrarily detained people and failed to investigate human rights abuses. Human rights defenders in the south were subjected to surveillance, harassment and anonymous death threats. Those in other regions also faced abuses. Torture and ill-treatment continued to be reported. Some 1,000 people remained under sentence of death. No executions were known to have taken place. Migrant workers continued to be denied basic labour rights.

Background

In February Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's party, Thai Rak Thai, won a majority of parliamentary seats and formed a one-party government.

The violence in the south continued; more than 1,100 people died between January 2004 and the end of 2005. In July a new Emergency Decree empowered the Prime Minister to declare a state of emergency. Also in July the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern about the new Emergency Decree; about persistent allegations of extrajudicial killings and ill-treatment by the police and army, particularly in the south during 2004; and about reports of the widespread use of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by law enforcement officials.

Legal developments

The Prime Minister used the new Emergency Decree, enacted by the Cabinet on 15 July, one day after a major attack by insurgents on Yala town, to declare a state of emergency in Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani provinces. It replaced the 1914 Martial Law Act previously in force there and was renewed in October for a further three months. The Emergency Decree's provisions include: detention without charge or trial for up to 30 days; the use of unofficial detention centres; press censorship; and legal immunity from prosecution for law enforcement officers.

Violence in the south

Violence in Songkla, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat provinces in the far south continued, characterized by bombings, beheadings and "drive-by" shootings of Muslim and Buddhist civilians and members of the security forces. The armed groups responsible did not identify themselves and did not publicly state their demands, nor did they indicate any willingness to negotiate with the government. However, from August onwards, anonymous leaflets were found threatening anyone who opened their businesses on Fridays. Anonymous notes were also found at the scene of several attacks by armed groups which stated that the killings were in revenge for the security forces' arresting and killing "innocent people". The victims of the violence included members of the security forces and militias, civilian government officials, Buddhist and Muslim civilians, and members of Muslim armed groups.

The authorities' response to the violence was marked by arbitrary detentions and lack of investigations into human rights abuses. In February the government established the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), chaired by former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun, to help resolve the violence. In April the NRC made public two reports by government-appointed commissions investigating the security forces' violent suppression of a demonstration in Tak Bai in October 2004 and the military siege of Krue Se Mosque in April 2004. In October the NRC said that the government verged on "administrative bankruptcy" in the south because of its inability to protect people.

Human rights violations

  • Several Muslim political detainees were held continuously in heavy shackles in Yala Prison. An unknown number of detainees were held at the Yala Police Training Centre under the provisions of the Emergency Decree; they were not permitted full access to legal counsel or to their families.
  • Reports emerged in August in Narathiwat Province that the authorities had established a blacklist of people thought to be members of or sympathetic to armed opposition groups. Scores of young Muslim men were coerced into reporting to the provincial government to clear their names; some were required to attend a residential camp in what amounted to arbitrary detention. None were known to have been charged with any offence.

The government failed to conduct proper investigations into political killings and abductions and it remained unclear who was responsible for the violence.

  • In June Riduan Waemano, a Muslim student, and two of his friends were shot dead while praying in a house in Pattani Province. No forensic investigation was known to have been carried out and no one was brought to justice.

Abuses by armed opposition groups

Armed opposition groups killed Buddhist villagers, Muslim members of government-sponsored volunteer militias, Buddhist monks and civilian local government employees. Between January 2004 and September 2005, 60 teachers, principals, and employees of the school system were shot dead by unidentified armed groups.

  • In April Ma Rike Samae and his uncle Mat Samae, both Muslim volunteer militia members, were shot dead while they patrolled their village in Narathiwat province at night.
  • In October armed insurgents attacked a Buddhist temple in Pattani Province, beheading a Buddhist monk and killing two boys.

Impunity

Almost 200 people were killed or died from ill-treatment during the violent suppression of attacks by armed groups in April 2004 and a demonstration in Tak Bai in October 2004. No members of the security forces responsible were brought to justice.

The trial of five police officers accused of an assault on and theft from Muslim lawyer and human rights defender Somchai Neelapaijit in 2004 continued throughout 2005; his whereabouts remained unknown.

Human rights defenders

In the south, human rights defenders, including students, lawyers and academics, were subjected to surveillance, harassment, and anonymous death threats. Those in other regions also faced abuses.

  • In June Phra Supoj Suvacano, a Buddhist monk at a forest temple in Fang District, Chiang Mai Province, was hacked to death. He had been working to protect an area belonging to a Buddhist foundation from influential local land developers attempting to encroach on the land. The Ministry of Justice Department of Special Investigations conducted an investigation but no one was brought to justice for his murder.

Refugees and migrant workers

Refugees from Myanmar continued to arrive in Thailand, fleeing forced labour, relocation, extortion, and arrest. Almost 143,000 Karen and Karenni refugees remained in camps along the Thai-Myanmar border; refugees from the Shan ethnic minority continued to be denied access to refugee camps. More than 2,400 refugees were resettled to third countries during 2005.

A total of 705,293 migrant workers, 539,416 of them from Myanmar, registered for work permits while an unknown number of migrants remained in the country illegally. In July and August migrants from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia were registered, entitling them to the same labour rights as Thai workers, including a legal minimum wage and safe working conditions. In practice, working and living conditions for migrant workers, most of whom did not receive the legal minimum wage, were poor. Migrant workers in garment factories in Tak Province received little more than half the legal minimum wage.

  • In September, more than 200 legally registered migrant workers from Myanmar were arrested and deported to Myanmar after protesting to the Ministry of Labour about long working hours and payment below the legal minimum wage in a fishing net factory in Khon Kaen Province.

Death penalty

Some 1,000 people remained under sentence of death, many of them held continuously in heavy metal shackles. The government told the UN Human Rights Committee that shackling was necessary because there was not enough space to hold all the death row prisoners in solitary confinement.

AI country visits

AI delegates visited Thailand in September/October to investigate the violence in the south.

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