Newsbrief: Protests Rise over Award as Thai Prime Minister Prepares for New Round of Drug War 10/8/04

Drug War Chronicle, recent top items

more...

recent blog posts "In the Trenches" activist feed

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!!!


https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/357/thaksin.shtml

Led by the human rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch, more than 50 organizations have called for Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to be stripped of the "International Forgiveness Award" granted in September by an Italian group, the Istituzione Perdonanza Celestiniana. The Italian group granted Thaksin the award in recognition of the Thai government's official position that drug users are "patients, not criminals."

But while Thaksin talks the talk, he doesn't walk the walk. Last year, Thaksin presided over a murderous four-month campaign to suppress drug use in Thailand, resulting in the killings of at least 2,275 drug suspects, according to human rights observers. While official ire was directed at drug traffickers, drug users have been among the victims. They have also reported beatings, arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention at the hands of Royal Thai Police, according to Human Rights Watch and local human rights organizations. Some have been forced to sign false confessions, while others have dropped out of treatment programs or gone into hiding out of fear of arrest of murder.

And last weekend, Thaksin was at it again, promising a new round in the anti-drug campaign that was supposed to make Thailand "drug free" by the end of last year. The next round would feature "brutal measures" against drug traffickers, the prime minister said Sunday. "Drug traffickers and dealers are heartless and wicked. All of them must be sent to meet the guardian of hell, so there will not be any drugs in the country."

"These latest developments mark a new low in Thai drug policy," said Brad Adams, executive director of the Human Rights Watch Asia Division. "Thaksin's approach to drug addiction merits disgust and condemnation, not forgiveness."

Thaksin has consistently resorted to violent rhetoric to stoke the war against drug users and traffickers. Just before last year's orgy of violence, Thaksin said, "Because drug traders are ruthless to our children, so being ruthless back to them is not a bad thing." Wan Muhamad Nor Matha, the interior minister at the time, said of drug traffickers, "They will be put behind bars or even vanish without a trace. Who cares? They are destroying our country." In August 2003, Thaksin ordered a "shoot to kill" policy against people suspected of smuggling methamphetamines into Thailand from neighboring Burma.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin sounds like a man who needs forgiveness, not a mean to be awarded a prize for forgiving drug users or dealers.

Read the letter of protest to the Istituzione Perdonanza Celestiniana and see the list of signatories at http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/04/thaila9441.htm online.

For more information on human rights in Thailand, visit http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=thaila online.

For more information on HIV/AIDS and human rights, visit http://www.hrw.org/doc/?t=hivaids&document_limit=0,2 online.

-- END --
Link to Drug War Facts
Please make a generous donation to support Drug War Chronicle in 2007!          

PERMISSION to reprint or redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and, where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we request notification for our records, including physical copies where material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202) 293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank you.

Articles of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Issue #357, 10/8/04 Editorial: A Tragedy in the Capital | Medical Marijuana Activists Besiege HHS, Demand Rescheduling | Drug Policy and the Presidential Election -- Introduction | The Election I: Bush and Kerry on Drugs: Past Records and Platform Planks | The Election II: Drug Reformers on Kerry and Bush, Nader and Badnarik | The Election III: DRCNet Interview: Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader | The Election IV: DRCNet Interview: Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate (repeat) | Newsbrief: Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Critical Federal Sentencing Cases | Newsbrief: Needle Exchange Bill Passes New Jersey Assembly | Newsbrief: Protests Rise over Award as Thai Prime Minister Prepares for New Round of Drug War | Newsbrief: Bolivia's Chapare Cocaleros Sign Historic Agreement with Government | Newsbrief: DEA Pulls Prescription Pain Medicine FAQs Without Explanation | Newsbrief: Hemp Crops in Western Australia Stymied By Licensing Requirements | Newsbrief: Atlanta Cops Use Forfeited Funds to Buy Bigger Guns | Newsbrief: No Asset Forfeiture for Misdemeanor Drug Charges, Tennessee Says | Newsbrief: Texas DA Says Doctors Must Turn In Drug-Using Pregnant Women | Newsbrief: Another Killer Cop Walks Free | Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories | This Week in History | Administrative Assistant: Part-Time Job Opportunity at DRCNet | The Reformer's Calendar

This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
Out from the Shadows HEA Drug Provision Drug War Chronicle Perry Fund DRCNet en Español Speakeasy Blogs About Us Home
Why Legalization? NJ Racial Profiling Archive Subscribe Donate DRCNet em Português Latest News Drug Library Search
special friends links: SSDP - Flex Your Rights - IAL - Drug War Facts

StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet)
1623 Connecticut Ave., NW, 3rd Floor, Washington DC 20009 Phone (202) 293-8340 Fax (202) 293-8344 [email protected]