Human Rights NGOs To Thai Government: Do Not Repeat History!

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Human Rights NGOs to Thai government: Do not repeat history!
By The Nation
2011-02-22

Local and international human rights groups are on Tuesday warned about possible widespread abuses of vulnerable people if the authorities go through with a plan to round up suspected drug users through out the country.

International Harm Reduction Association and Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG) were reacting to a recent announcement by the Ministry of the Interior about a plan to force thousands of people suspected of using drugs into detention centres and keep their names on official registries for future monitoring.

The plan is particularly worrying in light of the government's "War on Drug" in 2003 that claimed about 2,500 lives. The three-month campaign that also saw thousands of people placed in detention with virtually legal protection.

The then government insisted that the killings were carried by crime syndicates on drug users and dealers for fear that they would be implicated. Although few believe the then official line, little has been done to bring to light as to what actually had happened during that three-month controversial campaign. Evidences and testimonies documented in various reports implicated the authorities for these extra-judiciary killings.

In a letter to the Thai government, the organisations wrote, "These plans for mass detention and forced treatment raise considerable human rights concerns, especially given Thailand's history of nationwide punitive and ineffective anti-drug campaigns…there is no way for the Government to implement a campaign to forcibly 'treat' tens of thousands of people who use drugs without widespread human rights abuses taking place."

"This crackdown flies in the face of Thailand's 2002 policy, which states that people who use drugs should be treated as patients, not criminals. There is nothing therapeutic about rounding up thousands of drug users and forcing them into military boot camps that fail to provide appropriate services and support," said Paisan Suwannawong, TTAG's Executive Director and co-founder of the Thai Drug Users' Network (TDN).

Under the current proposals, to be implemented during the course of this week, 'occasional' users will be detained for 7 days; 'continuous' users for 14 days; and those showing early signs of drug dependence will be interned for 45 days, according to a statement released by the groups.

"There are many reasons to be worried," said Rick Lines, Executive Director of the International Harm Reduction Association. "Due process guarantees have been thrown out the window. What is the legal basis for mass detention?"

"What is more, many who do not need any form of drug dependence treatment will be herded into detention centres. Where is the clinical assessment?" continued Lines.

It is expected that temporary detention centres will be established for the campaign.

"We are profoundly concerned that these centres may be run by public security forces such as the police or paramilitary civil-defence organisations," said Karyn Kaplan, TTAG's Policy Director. "It is dangerous and extremely disheartening given recent progress made in the country on injecting drug use and HIV. This can only serve to undermine those efforts in the long term. The immediate concern, however is for the safety and wellbeing of those targeted."

The organisations urged the government to focus its resources and attention on the implementation of the national harm reduction strategy, adopted in late 2010, in particular the development of evidence based and effective models of drug dependence treatment.