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UN official slams Thai emergency decree
A UN official said Tuesday a state of emergency imposed on three insurgency-wracked south Thailand provinces was a license for police and military to "get away with murder." Earlier Tuesday, Thailand's Cabinet approved a three-month extension of the state of emergency in the Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani. Emergency rule lets the government impose curfews, prohibit public gatherings, censor and ban publications, detain suspects without charge, confiscate property and tap telephones. It also affords officials legal immunity for acts, including killings, carried out under its provisions."The emergency decree makes it possible for soldiers and police officers get away with murder," said Philip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. He said this in a statement by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. Alston said parts of the decree violate international human rights law and ignore the right to life, and urged the government to repeal those parts. "Impunity for violence committed by the security forces has been an ongoing problem in Thailand, but the emergency decree has gone even further and makes impunity look like the official policy," Alston said in the statement. The state of emergency was first imposed in July last year and must be renewed every three months. "The state of emergency is still needed for the administration in the three southern provinces, so the Cabinet has approved the proposal to extend the decree of a state of emergency for another three months," Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai Wannasathit said. Human rights activists say the emergency rule has failed to contain growing violence in the area, and has worsened the situation by allowing violations of constitutional rights. The government's efforts to end the violence, focusing on tighter security, have met with little success, and some critics suggest more emphasis be given to economic development to win the support of southern Muslims. Many Muslims resent the central government and feel they are treated like second-class citizens in the predominantly Buddhist country. Posted by: ryuge 2006-07-19 |
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