"It Was Like Suddenly My Son No Longer Existed" Enforced Disappearances in Thailand’s Southern Border Provinces
Human Rights Watch
2007, Human Rights Watch:
This report analyses the situation in Thailand’s southern border provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat. In this area has been in turmoil since separatist militants attacked the army’s Fourth Engineering battalion in Narathiwat on January 4, 2004. The militants, who did not claim responsibility for the attack or issue any demands, took a large cache of weapons, killed four Thai soldiers, and torched 20 schools in simultaneous arson attacks across the province. In the three years since that attack, violence by separatist groups and the government has dramatically escalated. In response, the Thai government has put Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat under special national security legislation and mobilized massive numbers of security and counterinsurgency forces into the south. These have had little positive impact on the security situation, but have alienated the local population. Then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra put pressure on the abusive and largely unaccountable Thai security forces with unrealistic targets and deadlines, and they resorted to extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and other human rights abuses to create an impression of successful operations.
Table of contents:
I. Summary
Key recommendations
Methodology
II. Insurgency in the South
A brief history of insurgency
A new and counterproductive approach by the Thaksin government
Recent escalation of the insurgency and government responses
Surging militancy
III. “Disappearances” in the Southern Border Provinces
Wae-harong Rohing and Ya Jae-doloh, Yala
Sagariya Ka-je and Ya [family name unknown], near Yala
Baruham Ma-ela and Abdulmaman Abdullakim, Narathiwat
Budiman Woe-ni and Ibrohim Gayo, Yala
Sata Labo, Narathiwat
Malati Mae-sae, Narathiwat (“disappearance” and killing)
Ibrohim Sae, Narathiwat
Musta-sidin Ma-ming and Wae-eso Maseng, Narathiwat
Muhammad-saimi Guna, Yala
Wae-sainung Wae-na-wae, Gu-amad Amiden, Abdulloh Salam, and Muhammad
Seren, Pattani
Ahama Wae-doloh, Yala
Wae-halem Kuwae-kama, Narathiwat
Pokri Bae-apiban, Yala
IV. International Legal Standards and Norms Relating to “Disappearances”
V. Thai Government’s Failed Response to the Problem of “Disappearances”
The Somchai Neelapaijit case
International criticism of “disappearances,” and prospects for redress under the
new government
VI. Recommendations
Acknowledgements
Source(s):
| Language | Format | Source |
|---|---|---|
| English | PDF document |  view/download |