ISSN 1472-4863. Published by i-Base.
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Within days of his appointment earlier this month, Thailand’s Interior Minister, Chalerm Yubamrung, reinstated a war on drugs. Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG) is concerned that those responsible for past human rights violations committed in the name of drug control have not been held accountable, nor have steps been taken to ensure oversight, professionalism, and accountability in drug suppression efforts. Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently provided unpublished data from the previous government’s investigation into the 2003 war on drugs, which found that 2,819 people were killed in 2,559 murder cases between February and April in 2003. Of those killed, more than half had no relation to drug dealing or had no apparent reason for their deaths. No concrete action has been taken to redress these wrongs, or to prevent their occurrence in the future.
The government’s rash drug war announcement has not been accompanied by appropriate mechanisms in place to guard against history repeating itself. Apart from prosecuting perpetrators of past drug war-related crimes, the Thai government must immediately hold public consultations to discuss the impact, including human, social, political, and health costs, of the Thai drug war approach, and develop policies and laws that uphold human rights, not undermine them. Wholesale repression of the type experienced in 2003 will again result in thousands of inappropriate arrests, deaths, and the disruption of HIV prevention and other services.
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej must urgently renounce the drug war and all human rights violations that have taken place in its context. Drug suppression efforts need to take place with full respect for due process of law and human rights standards. In addition, Prime Minister Samak should encourage his government to work with civil society organisations including people who use drugs to develop a humane approach to the country’s drug problem, for example through the promulgation of a national harm reduction policy supporting comprehensive harm reduction services integrated into existing health and social policies and programs and the immediate cessation of military-style compulsory drug “treatment.”
Continued rates of HIV infection among drug users in Thailand, and reports of abuses by law enforcement, demonstrate how much is at stake. Rather than being subjected to indiscriminate suppression, people who use drugs must be supported to be actively and meaningfully involved in leading harm reduction work in Thailand.
Efforts to force tens of thousands into prison or drug treatment are ineffective and immoral.
Recommendations from two previous Human Rights Watch (and TTAG) reports still go unheeded. Please review these recommendations, and send letters to the Prime Minister and Interior Minister demanding that they SAY NO TO A THAI DRUG WAR and urgently hold past police officers guilty of abuse and criminal offenses accountable.
Demand that people who use drugs are treated as human beings by the government and receive appropriate, effective health and harm reduction services that meet them where they are at, and prevent government actors from committing human rights violations, in the name of drug demand and supply reduction and national security.
Harm Reduction Saves Lives! NO MORE THAI DRUG WAR!
Address your letters and faxes to:
His Excellency Samak Sundaravej,
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand,
Government House,
Pitsanulok Road,
Bangkok
10300
THAILAND.
FAX: +66-2-282-5131
Chalerm Yubamrung,
Minister of the Interior,
Ministry of the Interior,
Asdang Road,
Bangkok,
10200
THAILAND.
FAX: +66-2-222-8866
Source: Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG) Press Release ˆ
February 14, 2008
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