Govt pledges at UN fall short
The government’s refusal to end all arbitrary detentions and military trials of civilians shows the regime remains unwilling to address human rights violations highlighted at a United Nations-backed review in Geneva, activists say.
The government has pledged much but done little to protect human rights since taking power in May 2014, they said. The outcome of Thailand’s second Universal Periodical Review (UPR) will be officially adopted today during the 33rd session of the UN Human Rights Council. During its second UPR, Thailand accepted 187 of the 249 recommendations it received from other UN member states.
Despite accepting 75% of the recommendations it received, the government failed to make commitments to implement key recommendations concerning the right to liberty, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to peaceful assembly and the right to a fair trial, according to the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights, known as FIDH, the Bangkok-based Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) and Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw).
“Considering the severe deterioration of Thailand’s human rights situation since the coup, the government’s refusal to address recommendations on key civil and political rights is extremely troubling,” said FIDH president Dimitris Christopoulos.
While conceding restrictions on these rights were “unnecessary limitations,” the Thai government stated there would only be a progressive lifting of such measures when the situation improves, the NGOs said.
“The government has failed to accept any of the five recommendations that called for an end to arbitrary detentions, the abusive practice of ‘attitude adjustment’ sessions, and the use of military facilities as detention centres for civilians,” they said. Thailand simply “noted” all 12 recommendations that called for an end to military trials of civilians, the groups said.
“Among the recommendations that failed to garner the government’s support, seven recommendations called for the repeal or amendment of Article 112 of the Criminal Code, known as lèse-majesté law, and ending limits on freedom of expression,” they added. An additional “noted” recommendation calls for the abolition of mandatory minimum jail sentences under Article 112.
“Instead of taking the UPR seriously, the government has used the process to try to justify ongoing human rights violations. The regime’s dismissal of crucial recommendations shows its disregard for Thailand’s human rights obligations,” said iLaw executive director Jon Ungpakorn.
On the death penalty, while pledging to commute death sentences and review the imposition of the death penalty for drugrelated offences, the government did not accept recommendations that called for the abolition of capital punishment or sought to make progress towards that goal.