Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/thailand.txt

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TITLE:  THAILAND HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995

                            THAILAND


Thailand is a democratically governed constitutional monarchy
with a history of frequent military coups and powerful
military-bureaucratic influence over political life.  The King
exerts strong informal influence on carefully selected issues.
In October the democratically elected administration of Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai completed its second year in office.

The security apparatus has wide-ranging legal powers, largely
derived from past militarily controlled administrations.
Military leaders still have an informal but influential role in
internal politics.  Since 1992 the military influence in
politics has been substantially reduced, however, and the
current military leadership has evidenced a growing acceptance
of permanent civilian rule.

The police have primary responsibility for internal security
and law enforcement.  However, some police officers continue to
commit serious human rights abuses without punishment.

Thailand, a newly industrializing country with a flourishing
free enterprise system, continued to enjoy remarkable economic
growth.  The political system generally provides strong
protection for individual economic interests, including
property rights.  Although the industrial and services sectors
are expanding rapidly, more than half the population is rural
and dependent on agriculture.  Despite the Government's efforts
to close the economic gap between urban and rural areas,
Thailand continues to suffer from a large and growing disparity
in income distribution.

Although the Government continued vocal advocacy of human
rights, serious human rights problems remained unaddressed.
Some police continued to resort to physical abuse of detainees
and sometimes summary executions in dealing with criminal
suspects.  The Government prosecuted few police officers
accused of abuse or extrajudicial killings.  Enforcement of a
broad range of laws and regulations by police also remained
noticeably lax.  In August the police department was rocked by
revelations of senior police officials' complicity in the
deaths of the wife and child of a key witness in a 5-year-old
case involving the theft of gems from a Saudi prince.

In general the Government continued to uphold freedom of
assembly and freedom of the press, although there were several
isolated incidents in which the Government attempted to limit
these rights.  Also, the Government moved slowly to fulfill its
policy of addressing the problem of trafficking in women,
children, and minorities for the purposes of prostitution.
Legal and societal discrimination against women, violence
against women and children, and child labor continued.

The number of protesters officially listed as "missing" after
the bloody 1992 military crackdown on prodemocracy
demonstrations dropped to 39.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

The Government, legal organizations, reputable nongovernmental
organizations (NGO's), and the press continued to report,
credibly, that some police officers summarily executed criminal
suspects, particularly in areas outside the capital.  Reliable
NGO's reported, based on court records, that in 1993, the
police killed 31 suspects while arresting them, while another
23 died in police custody.  It is difficult to gauge accurately
what percentage of these deaths could reasonably have been
avoided.  Complete statistics on the number of criminals and
suspects killed by police in 1994 were unavailable.

In August police officers allegedly murdered the wife and child
of a key witness in a 5-year-old case concerning jewelry and
gemstones stolen by a Thai employee of a Saudi prince.  High-
level police involvement is widely suspected in the gems case;
one midlevel and two senior police officers have been arrested
thus far, with more arrests likely.  While at year's end no
police officers had been convicted, many remained under active
investigation for their roles in the affair.

In January press reports revealed that since 1992 a group of
policemen robbed and murdered at least 15 Asian tourists.
Chinese and Japanese visitors in Bangkok were targeted for
kidnaping and extortion, and those killed were mutilated to
hamper identification and dumped in outlying provinces.  Seven
police officers who confessed to murder were arrested for their
involvement.  These cases had not come to trial by the end of
1994.

In May an American citizen died of head wounds sustained while
in police custody in Phuket.  Police authorities vigorously
investigated and determined that the wounds were self-inflicted.
However, forensic pathology reports conducted in the United
States 2 weeks after the incident raise questions about the
case that remain unanswered.  The FBI is assisting Thai
authorities in investigating the matter.

The courts rarely convict police officers involved in summary
execution cases, in part because witnesses are often
intimidated or bribed to withhold evidence.  The resulting
climate of impunity is the single largest factor militating
against any significant change in police behavior.  The law
allows personal suits against police officers for criminal
actions taken while making an arrest.  However, due to flaws in
the legal process and ingrained cultural attitudes, victims or
their families rarely file suits against the police.  During
the initial police inquiry, most police investigations
routinely determine that no wrongful action was taken on the
part of the police; judges generally follow the prosecutor's
recommendations.  If pursued by the family, the case is handled
by the same office, in some instances by the same prosecutor,
who has already ruled that no criminal action occurred.  There
is no information to determine how many cases are settled out
of court, but in cases in which suits are filed, the Government
often compensates the family of the deceased, and the suit is
dropped.

Two killings of political figures were reported in 1994.  The
mayor of Narathiwat, a provincial capital, was murdered in
January by two strangers who fled the scene on a motorcycle
without license plates.  In a separate incident, a provincial
council candidate who was a key figure leading villagers to
rally against two local officials was murdered, apparently for
political reasons.

     b.  Disappearance

There was one report of a disappearance in 1994.  In December
environmental activist Suchada Khamfubutra disappeared from her
home.  Because she had organized villagers in Lamphang province
to protest pollution from a Taiwanese-owned factory earlier in
the year, there initially was suspicion of foul play.  As more
information became available, NGO's and the police decided she
had more likely disappeared of her own volition because she was
unable to repay some debts.  Police were investigating her case
at year's end.

The governmental joint committee, which includes a prominent
university professor and other nonpolitical figures,
investigating the military's violent suppression of
prodemocracy demonstrations in 1992 reduced the number of
protesters believed missing from 48 to 39.  All those found
were unharmed but had feared persecution for their role in the
events.  Local investigations into the whereabouts of the
remaining 39 continue, though many family members and NGO's
suspect that most of them are dead.  An amnesty decree issued
during the last days of the Suchinda government in May 1992,
and reaffirmed by subsequent Governments, effectively protects
military leaders and protesters accused of criminal activities
during the May 1992 events from criminal prosecution.  NGO's
and relatives of the missing filed a civil suit against four of
the top military leaders involved in the violence.  In June the
civil court ruled that because of the amnesty decree the
military leaders could not be sued.  Lawyers for the families
plan to appeal on the grounds that the decree was
unconstitutional because it was not approved by the Cabinet.

A suspect in the 1989 murder of Saudi diplomats in Bangkok was
acquitted by the Supreme Court in May.  The judges determined
the evidence submitted by the three witnesses was unreliable.

Labor Congress of Thailand (LCT) President Thanong Po-an's 1991
disappearance remains unresolved.  On Labor Day (May 1), the
LCT again called on the Government to make a more serious
attempt to locate Thanong.  Most observers believe Thanong was
kidnaped and killed because of his criticism of the military
coup d'etat in February 1991.

     c.  Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

The Criminal Code forbids cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment or punishment, and in most cases police do not resort
to physical abuse or violence.  However, there continued to be
credible reports that police sometimes beat and tortured
prisoners and detainees.  Criminal suspects regularly complain
of police attempts to secure confessions or evidence through
the use of torture such as electric shocks.  Several times in
1994, senior police officials publicly acknowledged that
torture is occasionally carried out in police custody, with the
implicit backing of some senior police officers.  The
Government instituted a human rights instruction course to try
to address police brutality but made no visible efforts to
convict and appropriately punish those who commit these
abuses.  (See Section 5 regarding reports of instances of
police involvement in trafficking of women and children for the
purposes of prostitution.)

In general, access to prisoners is not restricted.  Conditions
in most prisons do not, in general, threaten the life or health
of inmates.  However, some prison guards resort to physical
abuse of both Thai and foreign prisoners in response to
disciplinary problems.  Solitary confinement and heavy leg
irons are sometimes used to punish difficult prisoners.

Medical care in prisons is inadequate.  For a total prison
population of 100,000, the Corrections Department employs only
14 doctors and 5 dentists.

Conditions at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Center (IDC),
which generally holds between 2,000 and 3,000 detained illegal
immigrants, are extremely poor.  Serious overcrowding, lack of
medical care, inability to exercise, and physical abuse are
recurrent problems.  Reliable international observers charge
that both authorities and detainees sexually abuse female
detainees.  Immigration detention facilities are not
administered by the Department of Corrections and are not
subject to many of the regulations found in the regular prison
system.  Nationals of countries that will not accept deportees
because of uncertainties over citizenship face an extended stay
in the IDC.  Some detainees are eventually released at the
Burmese border and typically reenter Thailand illegally.

While the law requires that prosecutors formally charge
criminal suspects in court within 91 days of their detainment,
some IDC detainees have been held for several years.

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

Except in cases of crimes in progress, the law generally
requires arrest warrants.  Arrested persons must be informed of
the likely charges against them immediately after arrest.
Police have the authority to extend the detention period to 7
days to complete an investigation.  After 7 days, the police
must present the case to the public prosecutor to determine if
the case should be pursued.  While detainees have a right to
have a lawyer present during questioning, they are often not
informed of this right.  Foreign prisoners are often forced to
sign confessions without knowing what is in them.

There is a functioning bail system, but judges have
considerable discretion in determining eligibility for bail.
The only legal basis for detention by the police without
specific charges for long periods (up to 480 days) is the
Anti-Communist Activities Act.  No one has been detained under
that Act's provisions since 1984.

Of the approximately 100,000 prison inmates in Thailand,
approximately 23,000 are pretrial detainees or those undergoing
appeals.  They are not segregated from the general prison
population.

Exile is neither practiced nor used as a means of political
control.

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

The Constitution provides for presumption of innocence, but in
practice defendants are frequently presumed guilty.  Access to
courts or administrative bodies to seek redress is provided for
and practiced.  The civilian judicial system has three levels
of courts:  courts of first instance, courts of appeal, and the
Supreme Court.  A separate military court hears criminal and
civil cases pertaining to military personnel as well as those
brought during periods of martial law.  A serious flaw in
providing due process rights is the lack of appeal from
decisions of a military court.  Islamic (Shari'a) courts
provide due process and hear only civil cases concerning
members of the Muslim minority.

There is no trial by jury.  Trials for misdemeanors are decided
by a single judge, and more serious cases require two or more
judges.  While most trials are public, the court may order a
trial closed.  This is most often done in cases touching on
national security or the royal family.  Career civil service
judges preside over the courts.  Judicial appointments and
structures are not subject to parliamentary review.  Although
generally regarded as independent, the judiciary has a
widespread reputation for venality.

The widely publicized lese majeste trial against prominent
social critic Sulak Siwarak that began in 1993 after his return
from self-exile is still under way in the criminal courts.  In
October the trial concluded in the lese majeste and secession
case of four Shiite Muslims, held in prison since their arrest
in Pottanim (Pattani province) in 1990.  Three were convicted
on lese majeste and other charges and sentenced to between 6
and 31 years in prison.  The fourth was convicted on other
criminal charges and sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Defendants tried in ordinary criminal courts enjoy a broad
range of legal rights, including access to a lawyer of their
choosing.  A government program provides free legal advice to
the poor, but indigent defendants are not automatically
provided with counsel at public expense.  Most free legal aid
comes from private groups, including the Thai Lawyers'
Association and the Thai Women Lawyers' Association.

Well-informed legal sources estimate that there are at most 10
political prisoners in Thailand.  Political affiliation and
questionable evidence may have influenced the ability of these
prisoners to receive a fair trial or fair punishment.  Muslim
groups claim 16 political prisoners are held on criminal
charges because of their political views.  In the past few
years the authorities used lese majeste laws in several
high-profile cases to intimidate political opponents.

Ex-Royal Thai Army Major General Manoon Roopkachorn, accused of
masterminding a 1982 plot to assassinate the Queen, the Prime
Minister, and the army commander, was cleared of all charges in
1994 and filed suit against the investigating officers for
falsifying evidence.  The other two defendants in the case were
also cleared.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

The law requires police to obtain a warrant prior to a search.
Warrants are issued by the police with prior Ministry of
Interior or provincial governor approval and are not subject to
judicial review.  There were some credible reports that
officers sometimes endorse warrants in advance and then allow
their noncommissioned subordinates to apply them as needed.
The Anti-Communist Activities Act allows officials engaged in
"Communist suppression operations" to conduct searches without
warrants, but these powers rarely have been invoked in recent
years and were not invoked in 1994.

Thai society is essentially open; membership in political
organizations is voluntary, and the unmonitored exchange of
ideas is generally permitted.  However, security services
monitor persons espousing leftist or controversial views,
including foreign visitors.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

The Constitution provides for, and citizens generally enjoy, a
substantial measure of freedom of speech.  However, the law
prohibits criticism of the royal family (lese majeste), threats
to national security, or speaking in a manner likely to incite
disturbances or insult Buddhism.

Newspapers and periodicals practice some self-censorship,
especially with regard to the monarchy and national security
issues.  However, strong media criticism of political parties,
personalities, and the Government is common and robust.
Journalists are generally free to comment on government
activities without fear of reprisal, although there were
credible reports of occasional harassment or bribing of
journalists by individual politicians.  Also, journalists are
reluctant to criticize the judiciary out of fear that they will
not be treated fairly by the judges during libel proceedings.

Radio and television stations are government licensed and
operated primarily by the Government and military.  Radio
stations are required by law to broadcast government-produced
newscasts four times daily.  A bill to abolish the order
requiring these broadcasts was passed by Parliament in October.

Although programmers are generally free to determine the
content and nature of television broadcasts, a government
internal censorship board commonly edits or "blacks out"
portions of programming deemed politically sensitive.  Self-
censorship is more prevalent in privately operated stations
because their licenses must be renewed every few years.

In May the military shut down an army-owned radio station
leased to a private news group for 3 days after the station ran
a commentary critical of the armed forces.  In another incident
in February, government-run media attempted to protect a
prominent Buddhist monk accused of sexual misconduct by
prohibiting interviews with another well-known Buddhist on his
views about the allegations and declined to air a video
documenting the monk's overseas travels.

Representatives of the film industry continued to criticize the
police-controlled film censorship board, which regularly
deletes all references in films to a number of topics deemed
politically controversial or considered pornographic.  The
police censorship board initially banned the film "Schindler's
List" because of a nude scene.  However, after a furor in the
press, the board reversed its decision.

Thai domestic publications continued to present a wide range of
political and social commentary.  Unless critical of the royal
family or the monarchy, foreign and domestic books normally are
not censored and circulate freely.  The 1941 Press Law empowers
the Police Director General to prohibit the import of printed
matter deemed dangerous to public order and morals.  The list
mainly consists of pornographic material, but it also still
includes books written by Communists.

In May the Cabinet rescinded a 1976 military order prohibiting
possession of printed materials that could cause divisions
among members of the public.

Academic and technical research is conducted freely.

     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The legal system recognizes the right of peaceful assembly, and
there were many examples of people exercising their right to
free and peaceful assembly unhindered by government
interference in 1994.  However, government officials sometimes
restrict this right.  In July the Government effectively
blocked foreign participation at an NGO conference about East
Timor and pressured potential host sites to refuse to host the
seminar.  After attorneys called into question the legality of
the Government's action, the conference was allowed to take
place.  However, government intimidation was effective in
preventing many, particularly overseas visitors, from
participating (see Section 4).

Private associations must register with the Government, but
permits are not required for private meetings or gatherings
unless held on public property.

     c.  Freedom of Religion

Freedom of religion is protected by law and generally respected
in practice.  The de facto state religion is Theravada
Buddhism, but other religions are not restricted.

Members of minority religious movements occasionally are
subjected to legal action.  For example, the trials of
dissident Buddhist leader Phra Potirak and his followers for
allegedly violating the law governing the Buddhist
ecclesiastical hierarchy and impersonating Buddhist monks or
nuns continued.  Phra Potirak and his followers remain free on
bail and continue their religious activities.

     d.  Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
         Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

The right of citizens to change their residence or workplace
was unabridged.  Travel was restricted in certain border areas
where foreign or vestigial domestic insurgent groups remain
active.  Longstanding restrictions on the travel and place of
residence of certain Chinese and Vietnamese aliens living in
Thailand remained in place.  In addition, some long-term
noncitizen residents of Thailand, including several hundred
thousand tribal people, must seek permission from local
authorities or the army for foreign or domestic travel.

In September the police summarily detained and deported to
Malaysia seven members of a Malaysian Muslim sect whose
passports were revoked by the Malaysian Government.  The
Malaysian Government subsequently jailed them for their
dissenting views on Islam.  (See the report on Malaysia.)

Several regulations intended and used to help reduce
trafficking in women and children for purposes of prostitution
could be used to infringe on the right of women and children to
travel freely.  One statute (rarely used), dating to the last
century, requires women to obtain their husband's permission
before traveling outside Thailand.  Also, female passport
applicants under age 36 must sit through a series of interviews
regarding their employment records and finances.  Passport
applications by single Thai women and children under the age of
14 must also be approved by the Department of Public Welfare.

The Government has not revoked citizenship for political
reasons.

Thailand continued to provide first asylum to Vietnamese and
Lao asylum seekers and to process them in accordance with the
Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA) agreed to in Geneva in
1989.  There were no reports of any pushbacks of Vietnamese or
Lao asylum seekers, and no credible reports of forced
repatriation.  The Government announced that all Lao camps are
to be closed by 1995 and continued to cooperate with the U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Laos in a trilateral
program to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of certain Lao
in Thailand.

Under Thai law, Burmese (and other non-Indochinese) asylum
seekers are considered illegal immigrants subject to
deportation, but Thailand continued to permit Burmese asylum
seekers to remain in camps along the Thai-Burma border and near
Bangkok.  While Burmese outside of camps were arrested
periodically and sent to areas not controlled by the Burmese
Government on the border, the Government did not deport any
Burmese recognized by the UNHCR as a "person of concern."

Residents of the "safe area" first asylum camp for Burmese
dissidents in Ratchaburi province had regular access to the
UNHCR, which concluded that conditions at the safe area meet
broadly accepted international standards for the protection and
welfare of asylum seekers.  The safe area is open to all
Burmese "persons of concern," whether or not they previously
registered with the Thai Government.  However, by year's end,
only about 170 of the 2,500 Burmese "persons of concern"
resided there.

About 73,000 ethnic minority Burmese and 1,500 Burmese students
and dissidents continued to reside in some 30 camps in Thailand
along the Thai-Burma border.  Thailand ordered the relocation
of several camps to Burma, but continued to permit voluntary
agencies and the UNHCR to provide food, medical, and sanitation
assistance along the border.

Thailand generally continued to accept new arrivals from
Cambodia fleeing the fighting, but several subsequent
repatriations occurred in which the safety of the returning
refugees or the voluntary nature of their decision to return
was in doubt.  After heavy fighting along the Cambodian border
in March, some 30,000 Cambodians fled into Thailand.  Military
officials provided assistance and moved the Cambodians back to
an area of Cambodia that was not experiencing fighting.
However, the military refused access to the group by
international observers prior to the repatriation.  In May
Thailand repatriated several dozen Burmese who had fled
fighting in Shan state, in some cases before it could be
ascertained that the fighting had ceased.  In July Burmese
forces entered an outlying section of an ethnic Mon camp
(located on Burmese soil), prompting several thousand Mon to
flee to a site inside Thailand.  Thai authorities, after
receiving assurances from Burmese forces that the incursion was
a mistake and would not be repeated, eventually forced the Mon
to return to their original site in September, despite protests
by the UNHCR and the international community.  Thailand also
instituted closer monitoring of the movements and activities of
Burmese asylum seekers and NGO's along the border.  In at least
one area of the Burmese border, access to camps in Thailand was
blocked on grounds that there was no longer any fighting in
that part of Burma.  New arrivals were required to set up camps
on the Burmese side of the border.