By DPA
Bangkok : Human rights have deteriorated sharply in Thailand under both civilian and military administrations, but the campaign for the Dec 23 national election has not included a single mention of the issue, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.
Death squads have killed thousands of Thais as part of a controversial anti-drug operation under former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and in ongoing attempts to quiet a Muslim insurgency in the deep south of the country, it noted in a statement.
No political party has sought to make human rights a campaign issue but all have focused on promises of prosperity of an electorate, mostly still impressed by the populist policies of the exiled former leader.
If Thaksin appeared to seek popularity by using death squads against alleged low-level traffickers, the current military junta has sought to perpetuate its powers with a new security act designed, in effect, to permit a continued military veto over civilian rule, the New York-based agency said.
“It’s not a matter of human rights taking a back seat in the Thai elections, they are simply not even present,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This pivotal election makes it more critical than ever for Thai political parties to put forward an agenda for ending abuses and impunity,” he added.
Several human rights defenders have been murdered or have disappeared in the new millennium without a single successful prosecution, the organization said.
“Clear evidence” of official involvement in murderous abuses in the southern conflict that has cost more than 3,000 lives in three years allows insurgents to claim justification for their own violent attacks, it said.
Some parties have talked of the need for political reforms but none of them attempted to stem the continuing slide in basic rights, nor have they opposed the new internal security act that “would make elections meaningless,” said Adams.
The military junta that ousted Thaksin in September 2006 appears to be trying to perpetuate its power by, among other things, drafting a law that would give a military agency powers to override a civilian administration and restrict fundamental rights at any time.
“In practice, this law would enable the military to dictate government policy easily and silently, and would also shield from prosecution those who violate human rights under its provisions,” the statement said.
Adams said in the current climate of overlooking basic human rights, coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin made Thailand the first country to defend the Myanmar military’s brutal crushing of anti-military protests in September.