Amnesty International Report 1998 - Thailand

(This report covers the period January-December 1997)

A new Constitution was adopted with strong human rights provisions. Three Cambodian children were killed by Thai border guards in disputed circumstances. Thirty-seven death sentences were passed and two people were executed. At least 6,000 refugees were forcibly repatriated to Myanmar. Burmese asylum-seekers continued to be arrested for "illegal immigration" and detained in harsh conditions.

In November Chuan Leekpai formed a new coalition government after General Chaowalit Yongchaiyudh resigned as Prime Minister in the midst of a serious economic crisis. In October the Parliament adopted a new Constitution, the first of Thailand's 16 constitutions to have been drafted with public participation. The Constitution included provisions for the formation of a national human rights commission and guaranteed the rights to freedom of association, movement, religion, and speech. The death penalty was retained, although torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment were prohibited. Criminal suspects could be detained without a court order for only 48 hours. The Constitution also aimed to eliminate vote-buying and other forms of corruption, to decentralize the government, and to strengthen the democratic process.

In February 20,000 ethnic Karen asylum-seekers fled from Myanmar into Thailand during a Burmese army offensive against the armed ethnic minority opposition group, the Karen National Union (knu). This brought the number of Karen refugees in Thai camps to over 100,000. At least 30,000 asylum-seekers from the Shan State in Myanmar fled into Thailand from massive forcible relocations and extrajudicial executions by the Burmese army. Unlike the Karen and Karenni groups, the Shan were not allowed by the authorities to establish camps on the Thai/Myanmar border (see Myanmar entry).

In January Burmese soldiers crossed into Thailand and attacked two Karenni refugee camps, killing two Karenni refugees and wounding nine others. Also in January the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Organization (dkbo), an armed ethnic minority group allied with the Burmese army, burned down two Karen refugee camps in Tak Province, leaving about 7,000 refugees homeless and killing one Thai civilian.

In January, three Cambodian children were shot dead by Thai security forces in Sa Kaew Province after they had been abducted by three Cambodian adults. Thai military sources claimed that the three adults had opened fire first, but other sources indicated that the children were shot dead when Thai border guards opened fire on the group, who were crossing the border into Cambodia.

In June the families of six suspected amphetamine traffickers who were shot dead by police in November 1996 (see Amnesty International Report 1997) filed lawsuits against the police department and nine police officers.

Thirty-seven death sentences were passed during the year and 158 people were believed to be under sentence of death. The death penalty was imposed for murder, rape and murder, and drug-trafficking. In November Boonchot Pongprom and Panom Thaweesuk, who had both been convicted of rape and murder in the early 1990s, were executed by firing-squad.

More than 6,000 refugees from the Karen, Mon, and Pa'O ethnic minority groups were forcibly sent back to Myanmar by Thai security forces during the year. In February and March more than 4,000 refugees who had recently fled to Thailand were forcibly returned by the Ninth Infantry Division of the First Army. In November the Fourth Infantry Regiment Task Force forcibly returned 1,100 Karen refugees who had recently fled from forced labour and relocations by the Burmese army. Troops entered the refugee settlement, fired mortars and shots in the air, and beat several refugees after dragging them out of their shelters. After a group of 400 Mon refugees were returned in June, they were subjected to forced portering and labour on army bases by the Burmese army. All of them had fled once again to Thailand by July. Thousands of Karen asylum-seekers were prevented by the Thai authorities from crossing into Thailand and remained at risk of human rights violations inside Myanmar. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees continued to be denied a permanent presence on the Thai/Myanmar border, although officials were able to conduct monitoring visits there.

Immigration officials and police continued to detain asylum-seekers and refugees from Myanmar and other countries in harsh conditions, including severe overcrowding and inadequate access to medical care. Detained asylum-seekers were not given an opportunity to challenge the legality of their detention as required by international standards

In October the police commissioner's office, which supervises immigration activities, admitted publicly that the Immigration Detention Centre (idc) in Bangkok was seriously overcrowded, with barely enough room for detainees to sit or sleep. There were also reports of severe overcrowding and insufficient sanitation and medical care at Mahachai Police Station, Samut Sakhon Province, where hundreds of Burmese nationals, some of whom were refugees, were detained for "illegal immigration".

In April a group of prisoners raped three young Lao women who had been arrested for "illegal immigration" and detained at a police station in Rayong province. The young women were kept in an adult police lock-up with men, in violation of international standards. Eight of the prisoners were brought to trial but the three police officers responsible, although transferred to another police station, were not known to have been prosecuted.

In January and February Amnesty International delegates visited Thailand and met government officials and parliamentarians. In February and throughout the year Amnesty International condemned the forcible return of asylum-seekers to Myanmar. In May the organization published Kingdom of Thailand: Human rights in transition and in September it published Kingdom of Thailand: Erosion of refugee rights.