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Ayah di Tangkap (My father was arrested)

Justice Path for Detainees’ families in the context of Counter-Insurgency,

Southern Thailand

Ayah di Tangkap

My father was arrested

ISBN 978-974-235-054-3

By Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF)

111 Soi Sitthichon Samsennok Huaykwang Bangkok Thailand 10310

Telephone. (+66) 02-693-4939, 02-693-4831 Fax. (+66) 02-275-3954

www.crcf.or.th

email: [email protected]

Editorial Team

Somchai Homlaor

Pornpen Khongkachonkiet

Sarinthorn Ratcharoenkhachorn

Translated by Pipop Udomittipong

Photo courtesy of

Pornpen Khongkachonkiet

Thawatchai Pattanaporn

Yada Hatthathammanoon

Published by Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF)

First English publication: Aug 2009

First Thai publication: May 2009

Contents Introduction 6 Somchai Homlaor, Chairperson, Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF)

The stories they’ll never forget 13 Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Director, Facilitating Access to Justice and Legal Protection Project, Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF)

Justice Path for detainees’s families 20 in the context of Counter-insurgency Sarinthorn Ratcharoenkhachorn and Pornpen Khongkachonkiet

My life has changed 67 Anchana Himmeena

Does social justice really exist? 72 Patimoh Pao-I Taedaoh and Suhainee Longsa, We Peace Group

“Ayah di Tangkap” (My father was arrested) 78 Problems of children in the Southern border provinces that need to be addressed Muhammad Anwar Hayiteh, Bungaraya Group

Anyone would care for and love their homes 82 Volunteer House for Children and Youth

Access to Justice: People’s fund 91 Introduction and How to donate

Introduction

Founded in 2002, the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) aims to uphold the rule of law and human rights related to the cultural,

economics, society and civil rights. In 2007 CrCF launched a project called, ‘Facilitating Access to Justice and Legal Protection Project’ in the three Southern border provinces and four districts in Songkhla to promote understanding and awareness on the importance of upholding the rule of law. Under the project CrCF staff, together with local organizations such as the Muslim Attorney Center (MAC), Volunteer Home for Children and Youth, Young Muslim Association of Thailand (YMAT), We Peace, and other independent groups have conducted regular visits to detention centers to meet with the persons detained under charges relating to security. The visits have been made possible by cooperation from the Department of Corrections and the detainees’ families. Attempts have been made to explore the impact of the detention on the families of those held in custody in the three Southern border provinces and four districts in Songkhla and necessary assistance has been given to them.

According to our survey, there are over 400 persons who have been held in custody under charges relating to security. CrCF and its network partners visited the families of 218 such detainees. Based on information from these family visits and complaints received by MAC from the relatives of the detainees, it was found that there are 278 children under the age of 18 years who have been directly affected by the detention of their family members. Among them, 134 children are under preschool age, 85 children are in the age of 7-12 years, 55 children in the age of 13-18 years. Some of them have no access to education in either state supported secular schools or religious schools. Women in the families often suffer from acute mental, social and economic pressures; they warrant immediate help. It is often the breadwinner that is arrested and income thus stops accordingly.

It is the intention of the report to illustrate the problems and needs so that better assistance can be given to the children and women to access their rights. These families have to bear the brunt of the counter-insurgency policies of the state, yet they have been largely ignored and have not received remedies or compensation from the state. This is caused by the social attitude against Malayu Muslim who prejudice to be involved in seperation movement widely held among state official.

The root causes are the lacking of understanding, language barriers and cultural sensitivity that leads to discrimination against the families of the detainees. Thus, CrCF and its alliance organisation have been pushing pushing state agencies to come up with policies promoting livelihood, education scholarships, legal aid, and to provide detainees the opportunity to get temporarily released as provided by law. We have been supporting activities by private agencies such as the children and youth camps for the detainees’ families, educational scholarships from private donors, family visits and to reintegrate them to society if they have been isolated or been excluded. CrCF aims to minimize the conflicts and and tries to bridge understanding between society and the detainees’ families for the sake of justice and to enhance mutual understanding between people and the state. It shall pave the way for reconciliation and genuine collaboration to enhance stability, creativity and social development in the long run.

Somchai Homlaor, Chairperson, Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF)

Thanks to: All detainees and their relatives who have been giving information and cooperation during the survey Prison Commander of Pattani Provincial Prison Prison Commander of Yala Central Prison Prison Commander of Narathiwat Provincial Prison Prison Commander of Songkhla Central Prison Muslim Attorney Center (MAC) (www.macmuslim.com) Volunteer House for Children and Youth We Peace (www.wevoicepeace.org) Young Muslim Association of Thailand (YMAT) (www.ymat.org) Bungaraya Group (www.bungarayanews.com)

This English publication is released in Aug 2009. It was translated from the Thai version first released in May 2009.

Ayah di Tangkap (My father was arrested) �

PATTANI

YALA NARATHIWATMA L A Y S I A

Background of the conflict: history and contemporary

In 1906, the independent Patani was incorporated into the Thai state. Resistance against the dependency has been present ever since, involving more or less violence. Generally, however, relative peaceful coexistence was possible. This changed when then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra

came to power in 2001: his policies regarding the issue greatly differed from preceding governments. By using hard-line and violent tactics it was tried to quickly suppress the insurgency. Authority was also transferred to the central government thereby taking away control from local institutions and participation from local people. This resulted in increasing grievances and a strong upsurge in violence since 2004. The last five years have been characterized by daily attacks on security forces, state officials and civilians. Bombs, shootings, beheadings and arsons have been used; over 3000 people have died and over 6000 have been injured.

Militarization

Over time, many thousands of security forces have been deployed in the region. Currently about 66,000 army, police and civilian

armed forces are stationed in the provinces which mean that the militarization has gotten a big influence in daily life: road blocks, army bases in public buildings like schools, temples, public land and the presence of soldiers carrying machine guns in the streets. Also civilians have increasingly armed themselves to find way of protection. The conflict and use of violence have become very visible: also for this little girl.

Photo by Tuwaedaniya Meringing

Education: Targeting of teachers and school burning

The local education system has also become a sensitive topic. Community-based religious and Muslim schools like ‘pondoks’ are normal in the South. The Thai state has however tried to transform the local school system to the general Thai, because it is feared that the schools are centers for separatist ideology. In the eyes of the Muslims, this is as seen as a way to assimilate the Malay Muslim culture. The pressure on education gets even worse because of the targeting of teachers and schools by the insurgents. In 4 years time (between January 2004 and July 2008) 80 teachers were killed, 84 injured and 296 schools were burnt down.


Suffering of Buddhists

While the conflict is often considered from the perspective of the Malay Muslim population in the South, the Buddhists are suffering greatly as well. Especially in

the earlier years but nowadays still, Buddhist civilians are targets of the insurgency. Many have died, including Buddhist monks. The Thai state has however not been able to protect them; their safety is in danger too.


Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) 13

The stories they’ll never forget

By Pornpen Khongkachonkiet Facilitating Access to Justice and Legal Protection Project,

Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) First published in The Nation, 26 September 2008

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/worldhotnews/read.php?newsid=30084458

“Ismael”, not his real name, is one of 40 detainees being held for offences against national security in Songkhla Central Prison. On our visit to the detention centre, he recounted his experiences since his arrest. First there was the initial confinement at a Pattani police station where he went through various forms of torture. Besides the normal punching and kicking, his captors also used electric shocks. He recalled grasping for breath as authorities took their sweet time removing the black plastic bag that they had put on his head moments earlier.

Ayah di Tangkap (My father was arrested) 14

It was clear why the black plastic bag was used. The thought of bag was used. Perhaps the thought of looking into a victim’s eyes as he gasps for his last breath is too much for any human being, even a Thai security official.

After a few days at the station, Ismael was sent to the Army-run Ingkhayutha-Borihan Camp in Pattani Province where the wounds on his body were left to heal on their own. No medical assistance was provided.

He recounted the nights and days spent in a cold narrow humid room, with no light and no water in the detention center in Ingkhayutha-Borihan Army Camp. There was no proper place to pray. Sleep deprivation became an instrument of his captors, who never failed to wake him up sometime between 1am-2am for interrogation.

A week had gone by at this Army hellhole before Ismael’s family was informed. They immediately visited him. He was charged with offences related to violating national security.

Even today, he has difficulty breathing, and the sound of a door slamming shut with a loud bang brings his interrogation to mind.

He said the experience was “Tak lu pa”, which means “never to be forgotten” in the local Malay dialect.

Ismael was one of the first batches of suspects to be taken in when security forces started carrying out their counter-insurgency operations in 2004, which have since come under severe criticism by national and international rights and civic groups.

Today, the operations continue in and allegations concerning the torture of suspects persist.


As of September 2008, there are 423 “security detainees” held on various charges related to national security. Most of them are still sitting in their jail cells waiting for the first hearings of their trials. Ismael was arrested on September 7, 2004, and his legal proceedings have yet to come to an end.

He has been charged with the attempted murders of a police officer and a civilian, as well as for being a member of a “secret association”.

Most security detainees are either denied access to lawyers, despite the law requiring otherwise, or do not know how to seek legal assistance.

It is virtually impossible to secure bail; locking up the suspects is part of a preventive strategy on the part of authorities.

Too often, these men are paraded in front of television cameras by authorities as part of a public-relations effort to show that they are winning this war against the alleged “criminals”, “insurgents”, or whatever names and labels come to mind. Because of such tactics, as well as the authorities’ disregard for due process, many detainees have lost faith in the country’s justice system or have gone on the run because they are convinced that they won’t get a fair trial.

Their families, on the other hand, undergo a different set of hardships. Most of the detainees have large families with several young children. This characteristic is common among Malay Muslims in the southernmost provinces. And with the breadwinner of the family behind bars, the burden of earning an income inevitably falls on the wife. Prison visits can also be very costly, up to Bt 500 per trip, depending on how many people are involved and how far away from the facility the family lives.


The psychological impact that the arrests and violence have on children is quite serious. While visiting a family of a detainee in a remote village in Yala province, the seven-year-old child of the prisoner on seeing us turned violent and started shouting, “Don’t take my mother away, my father is already not here”.

The mother said that the child has been sleeping with a toy gun ever since his father was arrested. It was as if he were trying to protect his remaining family.

We learned that many other children have become unnaturally quiet and have withdrawn into a shell. Many children have had to leave school once they complete the free schooling provided by the state since their families don’t have the resources to pay the fees required to continue with their education.

We also got to know that families face exclusion in their villages once a family member gets arrested on suspicion of being an insurgent. Other people in the village are afraid of associating with such families, as they fear that they may also be suspected of being guilty by association.

These issues become all the more serious when one considers the fact that many people who are arrested are actually innocent.

The latest statistics released from the Police Forward Command in Yala Province shows that between 2004 and August 2008, Police submitted their investigation files to the prosecutor with respect to 4147 cases in relation to national security offences.

In 87 per cent of the cases, the prosecutor decided to close the investigation. An accused person might spend 121 days in detention - seven days under Martial Law, 30 days under the


Emergency Decree in police or Army custody and 84 days under the Criminal Procedure Code - before a decision on whether a charge can be imposed on him or not is made. If the charge is imposed, he might have to wait for another year before the first court hearing on his case is held. The court handed down verdicts on 125 cases. The accused in 85 (68 per cent) of these cases were found guilty, while in 40 cases (32 per cent) they were acquitted.

Ayah di Tangkap (My father was arrested) 1�

In 2007, 40 men were arrested at a mosque in Narathiwat’s Yi-ngor district, and 36 of them were subsequently released after a few weeks of detention. Considering the “never to be forgotten” impact of the detention on the persons and considering that the detainees never receive any help to overcome such trauma, one wonders what kind of emotional support they will be able to provide to their families once they are released from detention.

Consider the statistics. A primary survey of 25 security detainees in Narathiwat prison in June 2008 by the Access to Justice and Legal Assistance Project revealed a total of 59 children (of security detainees) who were under 18 years of age. In September 2008, there are 184 security detainees in Narathiwat prison. The state has no scheme or program to provide any kind of help to the families of the security detainees.

We hear about peace talks with southern insurgents - but a healthy, peaceful society cannot be constructed by souls. Support and rehabilitation schemes have to be extended not only to victims of violence in the South but also to families of security detainees.


Justice Path for Detainees’ families

In the context of Counter-Insurgency in the Southern Border Provinces

Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Sarinthorn Ratcharoenkhachorn

Background

CrCF has launched the Facilitating Access to Justice and Legal Protection Project to promote understanding and awareness on the importance of upholding the rule of law in penitentiary centers in the Southern border provinces. Basic information has been gathered by regular visits to those held in custody for security charges. Activities under the project have been implemented together with local organizations including the Muslim Attorney Center (MAC), Volunteer Home for Children and Youth, Young Muslim Association of Thailand (YMAT), We Peace, and other independent groups. The visits have been made to explore the impact on the families of those held in custody in the Southern border provinces and to give them moral support and necessary assistance.

Based on the survey, this report has been made to portray difficulties the security detainees have to endure and impacts on their families. Many of the families had been dependent on the income earned by the detainees. Normally in the southern Malay


Muslim society, the men are not only the breadwinners, they are often also the decision maker for female members of the family. Now, those who remain in the families are wives, who are not employed, elderly parents and children at preschool and school going ages.

An increase in the number of suspects and those who have turned themselves in to the authorities as widely reported by the media, may give the impression that the situation has become somewhat better. Also many disillusioned villagers have surrendered and collaborated with the state. But there are those who have become suspects in security cases, invited for interrogation and later detained, but they have never returned home. It means their families have to find ways to survive alone and have to endure mental grievances find as well as social and economic difficulties. In terms of number, one detainee generally has two (where the detainee is caretaker of his parents) up to ten dependents (his parents, wife and children, some families have seven children). So on average, the detention of one person affects about 4-5 other people. An increase in the number of detainees therefore


increases the number of others who have to suffer as well. The increase in the number of detainees has thus also resulted in an increased number of relatives suffering from the consequences of the arrests.

Internal Security Cases

In this report, security cases mean cases prosecuted under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) on murder or attempted murder of a state official, murder or attempted murder of an individual. The charges are usually pressed together with charges related to terrorism such as training or give training on terrorism, such as assembling forces or weapons, training on terrorism, being part plans for sabotage, being a member of a secret society, having in possession firearms and ammunitions, assembling heavy weapons, being complicit in planting bombs, obstructing operations of state official, etc. At present, the Department of Corrections has identified and separated statistical data concerning those security detainees for the sake of management and keeping order in the prisons. It is mutually understood among officials from the three major operations forces, civilian forces, police and Army, that security cases related to unrest in the Southern border provinces are to be distinguished from other criminal cases.

Amidst the current situation in the three Southern border provinces and four districts in Songkhla, one question has been repeatedly asked; Where is Justice? ‘Improving justice’ is also one of the recommendations made by the National Reconciliation Committee (NRC) in June 2006, i.e., to uphold confidence in the justice process and to enhance the administration of justice process and others.


This report intends to illustrate steps in the justice process in the southern Thailand in the context of Counter-insurgency. The study on access to justice and legal protection is based on the documentation by the CrCF between September 2008 and January 2009. The report intends to reflect the voice of those who suffer. It is not the intention of the report to point out where these people can seek justice from. Most importantly, it is an attempt to ask how these families can be given assistance without any prejudices against them. It should help to mitigate the effects that are multiplying, particularly among the children who are not aware of what justice is, but are yearning for warmth and care, or the more grown-up children who are recognizing the injustices. All these people are bearing the burdens of actions that they have had nothing to do with. It is of great concern what the innocent minds are absorbing.

Right to fair justice process

The right to justice process is a human right. It intends to provide for and protect three groups. First, it requires that the alleged offenders, defendants and persons held in custody are protected and treated in a way that does not violate their human dignity as required by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) and international laws or standards on human rights. The second group includes personnel in the justice process including the officials conducting arrests, inquiry officials, public prosecutors, judges, corrections officials and lawyers. The last group is those who are affected by the offence and those who are impacted by the operation of personnel in the justice process including witnesses, alleged offenders, and defendants.


Pretrial period

As stated, this report intends to shed light on procedures in the Thai justice system. Prior to that, we would like to draw the attention to some basic statistics concerning the number of detainees and affected families.

Based on the survey, it has been found that there are over 400 persons held in custody in the provincial prisons of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla; a number that has been increasing in the last years as shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Number of persons held in custody in prisons in the Southern border provinces

Provincial prison

April 2007

April 2008

Sept 2008

July/Aug** 2009

Narathiwat 55 172 184 202

Yala 50 114 130 143

Pattani 39 85 74 83

Central Prison in Songkhla

50 50* 40 120

Total 194 421 428 548

* Based on estimates since the actual data of April 2008 could not be obtained from the Provincial Prison of Songkhla

** Based on information from the prisons when CrCF conducted

activities in the prisons in July/Aug 2009

CrCF and its alliance organizations have made visits to 218 members of the families of the over 400 detainees in the Southern border provinces. The information presented in the report is drawn from the visits to the detainees’ families and complaints made by the relatives of the detainees to MAC.


Muslim Attorney Center (MAC)

MAC was formed in 2004 by a group of Muslim lawyers to provide legal aid to those facing security charges and those who are not treated with fairness and/or are poor. They also help to raise awareness on human rights and laws, coordinate with human rights organizations within and outside the country, and recruit volunteer human rights lawyers to give legal aid on security cases. The organization tries to help those affected by security cases to have easier access to justice. The villagers learn to protect their rights and their community’s rights. MAC focuses on the Southern border provinces including Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla.

Initially led by Mr. Somchai Neelapaijit under the name of “Muslim Lawyer Club”. Since 2004 lawyers under MAC provided free legal counseling to defendants in security cases. The first case taken by MAC was the case of Dr. Waermahadi Waedao and others who were accused of being part of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist movement. In 2004 Mr. Somchai Neelapaijit disappeared. The number of security cases in the Southern border provinces has increased dramatically. Until now, they have received more than 920 complaints and more than 400 cases pending in the court under MAC legal aid program in July 2009.

Given MAC’s contribution to help people who have been unfairly treated as a result of the unrest in the Southern border provinces, the Office of National Human Rights Commission has decided to grant them the 2008 Outstanding Human Rights


Organization Award. In the same year, the Southern Paralegal Advocacy Network (SPAN) affiliated with MAC was given the 2008 SVN Award on Outstanding Youth by the Social Venture Network Asia Thailand (SVN Asia Thailand). Their aim to form a network of Muslim youth to work as paralegal staff for MAC was highly evaluated.

Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF)

Registered under the Ministry of Culture in Thailand in 2002, CrCF aims to (1) promote the respect of rights and upholding of practice with regard to cultural, economic, social and political rights; (2) promote understanding and cultural exchange to highlight the interdependence of economic, political and cultural development; (3) promote study, research, and training on culture; and (4) carry out charitable activities. Our existing projects include a project to address problems of people who have civil registration and personal status problems, a project to uphold human rights and the rule of law in Thailand, a project to facilitate access to justice and legal protection, a project to study racial discrimination in Thailand, a project to train NGO activists, a project to recruit volunteer lawyers and a project to study the Thai justice process and power corruption.

The statistics are arranged based on the domicile of the detainees’ families (not identified by the province where the prison is located). Most detainees have children to look after. Other detainees are married with no children, or are unmarried. Yet, they often still have their parents to look after. The number of children under the care of the detainees who are younger than 18 years is 279.


Table 2 No. of detainees in the survey and no. of children under their care who are younger than 18 years, by province

Province No. of detainees in the survey

No. of children up to 18 years who live under the care of the detainees*

Songkhla 22 34

Pattani 34 44

Narathiwat 92 102

Yala 70 99

Total 218 279 *Including 18 year old children


Child Rights

Every human being below the age of eighteen years is protected by the Convention on the Rights of the Child; an international agreement which has been developed in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations. The Convention recognizes the inherent dignity, and equal and inalienable rights of all children by recalling that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance in a family environment based on the child’s ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background. Thailand accepted the Convention on 12 February 1992 and the Convention has come into force on 26 April 1992.

According to Article 3(2), Thailand, as a state party, is obliged to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her. To this end, Thailand has to take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures.

Analyzing the data of 279 children in this survey by their age, we found that there are as many as 134 children who are younger than seven years old. Many of the persons held in custody were arrested while their wives were pregnant. Some children were born without getting to see their father’s faces. Only later they get to see their fathers in the prisons. An innocent child who likes to talk may always ask his or her mother “where is my dad?”.

There are 85 children who are growing up and are in school. In the age of curiosity and socialization, many of them have been teased by their classmates that they were “children of the


bandits”. This kind of teasing causes a lot of pain to the children. Also, many of the children witnessed the moment when their fathers were arrested. They saw everything. Since then the behavior of many children has changed; they have become less cheerful, look more timid and solemn and are more often absent from class. Some of them who become teenagers get confused about their future since it is no longer certain that they can continue their education. They might have to drop out since the family does not have sufficient income to pay for education anymore or they need the child to contribute to income generation. For these children it is a big concern which path they will take in the future.

Table 3 No. of children of detainees

Province

Newbo

rn to

pr

esch

ool a

ge

(0-6

yea

rs)

Prim

ary sc

hool

age (7

-12

year

s)

Seco

ndar

y sc

hool a

ge

(13-

18 yea

rs)

N/A Total

Songkhla 19 9 5 1 34

Pattani 24 12 8 0 44

Narathiwat 50 28 23 1 102

Yala 41 36 19 3 99 Total 134 85 55 5 279

Note: The segregation is done based on their class rather than age since they start to get enrolled in school at different ages. Some children get enrolled in Grade One at five years of age while others who are already six years old may just be in Kindergarten Two. Such arrangement is made to facilitate attempts to provide support for their education.


According to the information, it could be said that children of all age ranges are affected. At the age where they cannot get the complete grasp of the situation, concerned adults should help them to understand and get rehabilitation and mental healing. But also at other ages, children need support to deal with the situation.

In addition to presenting the quantitative aspect of the problem showing the number children that have to bear the brunt, the practical and social aspect of the problem needs attention. We would like to feature the sufferings the families of detainees have to endure through their testimonies, letters and writings by the detainees themselves or by their relatives who need help. Furthermore a background related to justice in the Southern border provinces based on our literary research is addressed. Comparatively, the justice process is like a stream, and we want to show from the source to where the stream empties itself as to how the people are impacted in each stage of the process.

The source: The arrest, the invitation–where the impact is first felt

Like a stream, we have to trace to the source of the justice process where the police play a very important role. Their involvement starts from receiving the notification, carrying out preliminary investigation, arresting the persons and then transferring the duties to the public prosecutors and judges. But in a special area like the Southern border provinces, there are also other actors who get involved at the source including Army officials and others who can be called state officials.


Given the uniqueness of the area and the situation, two special laws are applicable at the source level including the Martial Law and the Emergency Decree on Government Administration in State of Emergency. The laws can be invoked to make search, cordon and arrest operations possible. A person can be detained for 7 days in relation to the Martial Law and another 30 days under the Emergency Decree for the purpose of interrogation. The special laws fail to specify the procedure concerning the cordon and search operations or holding persons in custody. This has led to numerous cases in which problems appeared. No matter what circumstances it involves, the law enforcement officials in charge of the source of the justice process should at all costs avoid using methods similar to the following:

“...while (the doctor was) preparing himself to get to work at the hospital in early morning just like everyday, a group of 7-8 young men riding on two pickup trucks ran toward him and grasped “Dr. Wae” into their vehicles and drove him to a safe


house. En route, Dr. Wae’s head was put on with a black bag and he was forced to sign his name and he was subject to torture…”1

The incidence happened with Dr. Waermahadi Waedao in June 2003. After his arrest, several other people were arrested including the owner of a religious school. Consequently, the school was searched and students who were older than fifteen years were forced to give fingerprints. The incidence was quite frightening for many students. The feeling was vented out through the words sprayed on the school’s wall that read “where is justice?”2

Constitutional principles against torture

In the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B.E. 2550 (2007), Section 32 in CHAPTER III “Rights and Liberty of Thai People” states that;

“A person shall enjoy the right and liberty in his or her life and person.

A torture, brutal act, or punishment by cruel or inhumane means shall not be permitted; provided, however, that punishment by death penalty as provided by law shall not be deemed the punishment by cruel or inhumane means under this paragraph.

1 “Exposing a famous case: Illegal busting of Dr. Wae”, Khom Chud Luek, 21 January 2009 http://www.komchadluek.net/2009/01/21/x_sat_q010_ 328908.php?news_id=328908

2 Jutharat Uaamnuay (2005). Implementation of justice process in the three Southern border provinces: Problems and solutions, Bangkok, Duantula Publishing House, p.77


The arrest and detention shall not be made without Court order, Court writ or other causes as prescribed by law.

The search of person or act affecting the rights and liberty under paragraph one shall not be made except by the necessities as prescribed by law.

In the case of the act affecting the right and liberty under paragraph one, an affected person, a public prosecutor, or another person acting on behalf of the affected person has the right to seek court action to stop or withdraw such action including to determine proper measure or remedy for the accrued damage.”

Nevertheless, torture still takes place, mostly at the inquiry level with an intention to force the suspect to confess the charges. The problem has been ignored by the government and there has been no effective measure to deal with it. In most cases, things will settle down after it has been exposed for a while. Therefore, the threatening and cruel treatment of alleged offenders to force them to confess to the charges still takes place at the inquiry level, the source of the Thai justice process.

Common forms of inflicting pains on either the body or mind include beating, electric shocks, suspending the person, deprivation of breathing by covering the head with black plastic bag, exposure to excessive light, noise, heat or cold, sexual aggression such as rape or other forms of sexual assault, interrogating the alleged offenders while denying them food and water, or prolonged interrogation to force them to confess, forced administration of harmful drugs in detention or psychiatric institutions, prolonged denial of rest, sleep, food, water, sufficient hygiene, medical assistance, total isolation and sensory


deprivation, detention in constant uncertainty in terms of space and time, threats to torture or kill relatives; total abandonment; and mock executions.

“Around 15.00 h, while he (my husband) was repairing the house, a lot of Army officials surrounded us. They fired two warning shots into the sky causing my son to cry out loud. They tied my husband’s hands up and pushed him onto a vehicle without telling where he would be taken to. I managed to find him at the Ingkhayuth Borihan Camp; it took me fives days”3 The image and story became vividly clear from the words of the wife. All the frustration, confusion and fear made her emotional. She further let us know that her mother in her 60’s had witnessed the incidence as well. Already suffering from a heart problem, the subsequent searches carried out by the Army after the arrest terrified her mother.

The operation “cordon and search” to take into custody those suspected for assembling forces and weapons sometimes takes place at night time causing panic to the detainees and their relatives as well as neighbors. It for example created fear for the five year old child who was completely shocked seeing his father taken away while they were having dinner. After his father had been taken away and his house had been searched several times, the child asked his mom “…let’s move our house, we’d better go live in the sky...”4

3 As told by the detainee’s wife during our visit to her home in Sabayoi district, Songkhla, 18 December 2008

4 The case took place in Tambon Lampaya, Maung district, Yala, according to the Muslim Attorney Center (MAC)


The stories reflect that just from the start, many ramifications can be expected. The unexpected loss of the family pillars, the arising panic, and the fears and suspicion that got built up and a lack of security in life have prompted a number of families of the detainees to find other ways to survive and to start asking questions about “justice”.

Special laws applicable in the Southern border provinces

There are several special laws made applicable to Southern border provinces namely Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces and four districts in Songkhla including Na Thawi, Chana, Thepha and Saba Yoi. The three special laws include 1) Martial Law Act B.E. 2457 (1914) (declared effective from 5 January 2004-19 July 2005 and 19 September 2006 - present); 2) Emergency Decree on Government Administration in States of Emergency B.E. 2548 (2005) (declared effective from 19 July 2005 – present, renewed every three months) just for the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat; and 3) National Security Act B.E. 2550 (2007) (as of February 2009, the law has not been declared effective in the South). and in future, the National Security Act B.E. 2550 (2007) is stated to be enforced there. These special laws set out regulations and guidelines and provide powers to stated officials different from the procedure and principle prescribed in the Criminal Procedure Code. It has therefore created confusion among the population to which the laws are applied since state officials may choose to enforce any of them or may just invoke concurrently different laws. For


example, to hold in custody those suspected to have committed an offence, the officials may invoke Martial Law for detention up to seven days. The detainees can be hold for another 30 days maximum under the Emergency Decree. In addition, in some cases, the officials simply invoke the regulation prohibiting visits within the first three days, or more after the arrest, the action is violatedCriminal Procedure Code.

The long stream: in the middle of the course– the extensive ramification

After the arrest, the next step in the Thai justice system should be the court trial which involves a number of actors including judges, public prosecutors, lawyers, defendants, plaintiffs and witnesses. According to the law, the inquiry official may hold in custody the suspect up to a period of time before passing the person on to the Court. During 2004-2009, the two special laws (Martial law and Emergency Decree) applicable in the Southern border provinces provided for detention up to 37 days during the pre-charged and pre-trial period. The place of temporary detention can be a building in an Army barrack or a secret place, but cannot be at the normal police station. According to the special laws applicable in the Southern border provinces, the suspects can be held in custody at either the Ingkhayuth Borihan Camp or the Forward Royal Thai Police Operations Center in Yala.

But in reality, after the arrest, there have been cases that the detainees have been held in custody at various different places including nearby military outposts. Due to the reality not by law, after the arrest The relatives have to go to different places apart from the Army outposts and police stations in order to search for


the detainees since they are often not informed about this by the officials. It can take many days before the relatives succeed in locating the detainees.

Holding the suspects in custody

Under Martial Law, the Army official is authorized to carry out operation cordon and search and hold the persons in custody at the taskforce near the spot where the cordon and search took place, for up to seven days. In some cases, they are held in custody longer than the lawful limit provided by Martial Law. Later, invoking the Emergency Decree on Government Administration in States of Emergency B.E. 2548 (2005), the authority can transfer the person and hold him in custody for another 30 days during which the extension has to be sought from the Court every seven days. At present, the Court seems to proceed more strictly when a motion for the extension is submitted to them.

It is not necessary for the official to bring the detainee to Court, as a result, the Court is unable to inquire the person directly. The relatives and other people also fail to submit a motion to ask the Court to review the lawfulness of the detention, even though such a right does exist, because they fear the officials. As a result, by just asking a few questions to the police officials, the Court can easily grant the extension.

After the 30 day detention under the Emergency Decree (on top of the seven day preceding detention under Martial Law, altogether 37 days), the detainees/invitees have to be released when it has appeared that there is insufficient evidence for prosecution.


Common issues in which officials fail to identify themselves, fail to indicate the reasons for the arrest and detention, fail to make known the place of detention, and disallow visits, should be treated as a breach to the rule of law under the domestic Thai laws and Thailand’s obligations to international conventions on human rights.

Most families facing arrest, have to stand the loss of a major part of the family income. The detainees were mostly family breadwinners and had been taking care of the whole family. The impacts are twofold. One, psychologically; the detainees have to try to come to terms with the predicament which put them in jail being away from their family and being concerned about their wives, children or their parents they had been taking care of. In normal criminal procedure, once the suspects are officially pressed with charges, they retain the rights to apply for temporary release. But for these detainees, their rights to bail have often been denied.

“May I ask for justice, please? I have been forced to speak and sign my name…I want any concerned organization to help my family looking after them and helping them in anyway...” (A father of a twenty day old child)

“...My wife has to close down the shop due to the losses. She wants money to make it possible to visit me, her husband, in the prison. She tries to find some job, but is not able to since our child is still too young…how can they survive? Think for yourself. And my father has been ill for months, and no one is there to look after him...” (A father of two children)


“...My family faces great difficulties. My wife has to work by herself and does not earn enough to raise the children since I, being the breadwinner, have been in here (jail) for more than two years. And both my father and mother in law are disabled...” (A father of seven children)

The testimonies above are an excerpt from words expressed by the suspects who have been held in custody in the prison. Some voice their frustration with the justice process. Most of the persons who have been deprived of liberty are breadwinners for their families. Thus, they feel concerned about their wives and children. Those who are not married feel concerned about their parents who are mostly old and some are ill. The voices are often heard by staff from CrCF who regularly organizes visits to the prisons.

Another impact on the detainee’s family is mental grievances. First, they have to try to come to terms with the incidence and then adapt their livelihood. The wives in several such families have to look for jobs and some have to work harder. Some have to learn to drive a motorcycle to take their children to school instead of the fathers. Apart from having to bear with the child rearing expenses alone, they have to spare extra money to cover travel expenses to visit their loved ones in the prison. The impacts on the families of the detainees shall be described by the words we have heard during our visit to the families in the three Southern border provinces and four districts in Songkhla Provinces in December 2008.


Story One “Why didn’t dad return home?”

It was the question a two year old girl asked her father through telephone and the glass when she was taken to visit her father in prison.

It has been almost one year that Sah (not her real name) has had to raise the two children by herself. She and her husband, an alleged offender, had been earning their lives through rubber tapping. Their eldest son studies in an elementary school and the daughter is still too young to attend school. Her husband has been pressed with the charge of being involved in a criminal association and has been denied bail. EVen though she did not understand the offence, she kept coming to visit her husband. The experience her husband shared with her made her suffer even more. In tears, she told us his story: “My husband’s feet and hands were tied up and they pour on his back dozens of red ants”. The listener could not utter a word but kept looking while she was wiping off tears.

“He has been arrested over a year ago and I start to think he will not be released” said the woman while the tears still wet her face. Her husband along with several others has been implicated in a charge concerning criminal association, and many witnesses have to be examined in the court hearing. The next hearing is scheduled for early 2010 (the last visit she made to her husband was in late 2008). And that explains why she believes her husband will not be released.

Nowadays, she still works as a rubber tapper to earn income to raise her children and her old mother who suffers from a heart problem. After the arrest of her husband, the Army officials visited


her at home many times. And during the visit, her mother would fall ill because of her fear and her personal ailment. Her six year old boy is increasingly reluctant to go to school as his friends called him a son of a bandit. It pains him much. He confides to his mom “I want to punch my friends”. Is a seed of violence being nurtured in the heart of this young child? But on the day we met him, he still beams his bright smile to strangers who come to visit his mom. We can simply pray that he would grow up to be a good person.

She continues to visit her husband. Sah takes her children along to see their father. An innocent minded two year old girl thus asked her father why he has not returned home. Her father could simply

Photo by Thawatchai Pattanaporn


say he could not. That did not suffice to make her understand. Despite that she told her dad “please take care of your health and be patient”. In tears, her father could simply acknowledge the word from his little daughter....

Story Two A father of seven children

Nur Ainee (not her real name), the eldest daughter who is now twenty nine years old greets visitors with a smile along with the fourth daughter and the two year old brother as well as her mother.

According to our information, her father in his 50’s worked as a Toh Imam or a religious teacher and a rubber tapper. He is now an alleged offender for security charges. When her father was arrested, her mother was pregnant with the seventh son, who is now two years old. That means her father has been deprived of liberty and her family has lost the family pillar since two years.

Nur Ainee is married with two children. She told us that her children could not understand why their grandfather has not returned home. They kept asking her where he was and why he has not been home. They could not just “miss” their grandfather. Her other siblings understand what happened except the two year old boy. Her next younger sister has completed the equivalent of Grade 12 (from a religious school) and has become a Tadika teacher (Islamic kindergarten teacher), despite her wanting to study further similar to another sister we met. Having completed high school, she has no chance to further her study since there is not enough money for her to continue education.


Nur Hafisah (not her real name) is the fourth daughter of the family. After the arrest of her father, she has shown signs of depression. She hardly smiles and is reluctant to speak. Like other children, she wants to continue to undergraduate level, but her father was arrested when she was completing a high school education. As her family has lost the income and she was given special quota to attend the Rajabhat University, she was trying to apply for loans from the Student Loans Fund. The window of opportunity to further her education seemed there for her, but she did not even have the money to cover her travel to apply for the loans and other expenses such as the application form charge, application fee, etc. She could cover none of the expenses. It was because her family has lost the breadwinner and as a result her future education had to be disrupted.

Other brothers and sisters are at school ages. The eldest sister still hopes that her brothers and sisters shall have a chance to further their education, particularly Nur Hafisah who wants to study further and has been doing well in her study. When asking what she wants to study, she said she wanted to become an English teacher. Nowadays, she could manage to wear some thin smile on her face. Maybe it is because it has been several years already and her grief has somewhat been relieved.

When there is a chance, the children and wife visit the father and husband in prison. It cannot be very often since every visit costs them a lot of money. Before saying goodbye to them that day, we asked the eldest daughter what she thinks about the arrest of her father. She smiled with tears, shook her head and said “it’s not fair”.


Story Three The mother’s youngest child

In her 60’s, “Maa” (a Malay word for mom) lives with her four children as her husband has passed away. Before the son got arrested, she said her family was happy. All her children are married, but still live in the same neighborhood. Each family can survive from tapping rubber and that suffices to make Maa happy.

But in 2005, Maa’s house was searched by the Army officials. The search took place several more times after that. Her youngest son started to fear he would be arrested and accused. In the middle of 2008, the fear became reality; he was arrested and pressed with charges related to the planting of bombs in the market.

Maa said she has calmed herself down a bit by now. She enjoys robust health and does not get ill. The remaining three children still send her money to cover her expenses. When her youngest son was first arrested, she could hardly eat and sleep. Despite being cared for by the other children, she kept missing him. Nowadays, she still raises the two children belonging to her youngest son. She told us that the two year old nephew kept telling his mother he wants his father back. Even though she has calmed herself down, having to tell the story of her son makes her miss him even more and makes her cry. We had to stop the recounting of a sad story that really tormented the older lady there.

Social divisions

Because of the increased intensity of the conflict, the Buddhist and Muslim population live more and more

apart from each other. Where relations were consisted of mutual trust, fellowship and acceptance of one another’s cultural differences, nowadays this is turning to distrust, caution and some times even hatred. The population in the three provinces in the south is consisting of approximately 1.4 million Muslim (80%) and 350,000 Buddhist (20%).


Socio-economic inequality

The Southern provinces of Thailand are considerably poor. However, this is not a cause to the conflict; the border provinces are not a mere exception in the country as several Eastern provinces have to deal with the same level of poverty. Horizontal inequality however is a problem. Compared to the Buddhist population, the Malay Muslim are less wealthy than the Buddhist population in the South. They face a disadvantaged position in opportunities for education and employment. The Malay Muslims are also very under-represented in local governance systems.


Third parties

While the main conflict is between the Thai state and the insurgents, it is believed that third parties make use of the

unrest to pursue their own interests. Illicit trade, personal disputes and reprisals, and other crime account for part of the violence. These people benefit from the current situation and might not want resolution of the conflict at all. The use and trade of drugs is big issue in the Southern border provinces. However, while the army and the government argue that the insurgency movements often recruit drugs users because they are a simple target, several studies have pointed out that instead it are especially the good, reliable and religious people that are being recruited.


Government policies

Since the upsurge, the State government has had great difficulty in addressing the conflict. The elusiveness of the movements makes it very difficult for the army to carefully target insurgents. Despite the difficulties, past and present strategies to suppress the insurgents affect many innocent people and that creates new problems.



Story Four The pains of a son

“I visit him often” said another mother whose son has become an alleged offender. Even though she has other two children, it does not make her feel warm just like when her eldest son was in the family.

She recalled that her twenty seven year old son was helping her to tap rubber and worked as a teacher assistant at both the Pondok and Tadika schools. A good child, he was married with one son who now just turned five years old. Before the arrest, he was subject to search many times. He attempted to run away out of fear. But he could not make it and was accused of shooting a police informant. She barely has any hope that he will be released since there have been more charges pressed against him later.

“After he was arrested for the shooting case, several more charges have been pressed against him. All those cases happened while he was lingering in jail.” Listening to the story made both the listeners and story teller confused with what happened. The sorrow was even multiplied when his son’s wife asked for a divorce. When she visited her son, he just vented out his pains to her. She could just console him and managed to accept that her daughter in law was still young. My daughter in law should have a better future rather than waiting for husband who is in jail. her son. It is not certain after all when he can return home.

Nowadays, as a grandmother, she helps to raise the five year old boy who is often subject to bullying by friends at the school as a result of his father being arrested. As in her mother’s cum grandmother’s roles, she does not expect much help. She only prays that her son can return home.


Story Five Wife and six young children

Upon hearing the chance to visit a family of an alleged offender which six young children from the age of seven months to eleven years, I could not help but imagine about the family in which the mother was always disturbed by the grumpy and crying children since she has to look after them just by herself.

We saw almost ten children playing in the lawn when we went to visit the family. We were about to meet the wife of an alleged offender. She laid down a mattress on the veranda to welcome us and pointed her finger to the children who ran around there. She let us know who were her children, from the age of eleven, nine, eight, five, and three years and the youngest one, who was just seven months and sleeping on her lap. The chaotic image as projected did not happen, since all the children were so busy playing with other children from around there. Upon seeing visitors, out of curiosity, they came to gather around us and listen to what the adults had to say.

Before the arrest, her husband was a construction worker. She was a housewife and helped to raise the children, four of whom were in school. After the arrest, she had no idea what to do. Losing the income and having no job, the children had to stop going to school on certain days as she had no money to give to them. And her children came home just to tell her how they were teased at school. Asking how he has been teased, the little boy did not answer, but kept smiling shyly. The eldest daughter answered in Malay which could be summarized that they would just keep quiet upon the teasing. They did not respond, but were aware of the tears that were rolling down.


As a wife cum mother who has to live her life alone and raise her six children, she could not think of a thing she needed. She knew it was because she had no income so her children could not go to school. Asking her now what she wants the most, it should be that the father can return home and live with his children. She said this with tears rolling down her face.

Story Six A child with no father

A little two month old baby was sleeping soundly in the cradle while the visitors were discussing loud. We were waiting for the wife of an alleged offender in another case in the house.

She arrived and said sorry. She said she was picking some mushroom in the orchard. Some sticky rice dessert wrapped in triangle shape prepared for the past Hari Raya day was brought to greet us.

While talking with us, she had to rock the cradle along. She recounted that her husband was a rubber tapper while she was working as an employee in a private business. While she was on maternity leave, her husband was arrested. She thus had to quit her job to raise her children alone.

She manages to run the family fine given the support by relatives. She earns income from tapping rubber and growing food in the land belonging to her relatives. However, without her husband, she no longer feels safe and warm. She finds what happened was quite unfair since her husband had done nothing wrong. While speaking, she used the rim of her scarf to wipe her tears. Asking about the hope that her husband will return home, we could see


some glittering of hope in her eyes. She said “I believe…I believe the Court will let him go” and then started to cry.

Story Seven Missing an only son

The only son and the one hope in the parents’ life has been held in custody for almost a year now. In the small elevated house live the two parents of the twenty six year old son.

According to the father, during the arrest, he saw his son was shot in his stomach. The wound was so big and his son’s intestines fell outside. He was hospitalized while being detained. Even now, the intestines still lurk outside and could not be fitted back in yet. But as far as he knew his son’s health was fine. He missed his son very much and wanted to visit and look after him. But he could not go since he had no money and had to look after his wife.


Despite his strong health, he is not able to work or visit the son he is worried about since he has to look after his wife who suffers from half-paralysis and is unable to walk or could barely help herself. The mother’s concern for her son is not less than the father’s. From having a son to look after her, to tap rubber and earn income for the family, now, she has no son and has to live a difficult life. She really feels concerned about her son and wants to visit him, but her physical condition does not allow her to do so.

Luckily, both of them are surrounded by kind neighbors who help to look after them. Most of the villagers understand the situation and harbor no prejudice against the arrested son and do not believe that a gratuitous son like him can become a terrorist.

These are just some examples that already move people. There are many other untold stories and many of them are just almost identical stories since all the families of the detainees have to suffer very similar pains and sufferings.

The period of waiting for the court trial can be a very lengthy part of the justice process. The waiting has to take place in custody since all of the alleged offenders in security cases have been denied bail. Meanwhile, the Court is overwhelmed with many cases to handle, and there are just too few public prosecutors and defendant lawyers. There are also a lot of witnesses to examine, but many of them cannot show up to testify at successive times. This simply prolongs the process, which means a dim hope for the family reunion.


Basic rights of prisoners, long-term detention while waiting for the court decision and the rights to temporary release

Thailand is obliged to observe the presumed innocence principle; an international basic right of detainees waiting for trial. They should be regarded as innocent persons unless the Court decides otherwise. It is therefore inappropriate to deprive the persons of liberty pending the decision of the Court. The persons can be held in custody only to facilitate the performing of duties as required by laws. Without using compulsory measures to hold the accused in custody, it may not be possible for the state to carry out their duties properly. But at present, it happens that the inquiry officials, public prosecutors, the Court, and Department of Corrections invoke their power to hold the persons in custody without respecting human dignity and are acting in breach of applicable laws. They often claim they have to do that for the sake of rapid and conveniences in the investigation so that the alleged offenders cannot run away. (An excerpt from the research on “The Rights of Detainees Pending the Trial” by Chirawuth Lipiphan and Assoc Prof. Thani Woraphat, Kasembandit University)

Though the arrest and detention of accused persons in security cases is carried out by law and has been done so after the preliminary investigation of the police officials, prosecutors and the Court. Even though they have legal counsels, both the one they choose, or the one chosen by the Court, there is still a lack of justice during this preliminary process and some practices are deemed to be in breach of the rule of law. The irregularity


is reflected by the fact that the Court dismisses about 30% of prosecuted cases. It means a number of prosecutions have been done based on a lack of strong evidence and many innocent people have to bear the brunt from such a justice process. It could also happen from a lack of understanding in criminal procedure among many of the alleged offenders.

The implementation of the justice process in the past four or five years shows a lack of readiness to cope with both the quantity and characteristics of the arising security cases. As a result, a number of people have been detained awaiting their trial. Access to legal aid is by and large insufficient and ineffective and there has been extreme delay in the process at the public prosecutor and the Court levels. Many accused have been put in prison for one year or one and a half years pending the court trial and most of them are denied the right to bail themselves. Meanwhile, their relatives and families who already face poverty have to live a more difficult life while the family breadwinners are languishing in jail. Some have to stay in jail for several years before the Court decision is made. As a result,


many accused are inclined to have increased antagonism towards those in the justice process including the Army, the police, the public prosecutors, the Court, and the Department of Corrections. They are also hurt by the deprivation of their liberty, being separated form their families, friends, and people outside, their bitterness, anger, and hatred which always haunts them while waiting to prove their innocence in the Court.

It is hard to gauge people’s attitude toward the justice process during this time since it varies to the direct experience each of them has encountered and the length of time they have been kept to wait. Initially, those in justice process including the lawyers and judges may help the families of the detainees to hold on to the belief in the justice process. But as time passes by, their confidence has dwindled and for those whose relatives have been detained for over one year, they often feel hopeless about the chance for the detainees to get released.

The question remains, how shall other family members survive? Will many children of the detainees be able to further their education? Will the families be able to raise enough to cover the expenses incurred while the children are growing up fast? Who can guarantee that the teenagers in these families shall not hold on to negative attitudes and this may make the situation get even worse.

The downstream: At the prison–hopes and wait

Prisons are the end of the justice tunnel where convicted persons are deprived of liberty and have to wait, particularly those who have received capital punishment. After the decision is made by


the Court, the corrections officials and wardens play an important role. We have to point out that some of the detainees are in fact innocent people who wait for justice. According to a survey carried out among detainees countrywide by the Department of Corrections on the project to provide legal aid by the Ministry of Justice, it was found that 7,206 detainees out of approximately 200,000 detainees insisted that they had not committed the offence. After reviewing relevant documents, it was found that 561 of them were pronounced innocent. And about five of them have so far been recruited to access the case review of the Ministry of Justice.5

For prisons in the three Southern border provinces, there is an increase in the number of security detainees, but the total number is still a fraction of all the detainees. But the treatment to the security detainees can be quite a sensitive issue compared to other cases because the treatment is subject to some exception according to their local culture. Security detainees are often put on shackles, though the Commander of the Pattani Provincial Prison has promised to use the shackling as little as possible Prison authorities elsewhere including in Narathiwat, Yala and Songkhla also face problems in carrying out their duties. Nevertheless there have been some positive signs as now skill training has been provided for the prisoners so that after serving their terms, they can change themselves and have an occupation.6

5 “Seven thousand detainees claiming being unfairly imprisoned” Khaosod, 4 September 2007

6 “Pry open the prison’s gate: Demystify the detention of security alleged offenders” Isara News, 22 December 2005


From asking relatives who visit the security detainees in the prison, we have found most of the detainees who are Muslim have been treated properly according to their religious belief, i.e. getting the change to pray and have properly prepared food. Yet, going back home and reuniting with their families seems to be the most desirable goal for the detainees and the families.

Along the banks of the stream: Some remarks

To grasp the whole picture of the stream of the justice system in this special area, we need to observe the “children” who stand closely by the stream. They are watching the flow of the stream where their fathers are swimming round and round and try to find ways not to get drown.

From having both parents, now they survive with just their mothers. All affected children do not have enough power to bring home their fathers as they want to. Even without this problem, they already have to live in an uncertain environment. Apart from being confronted with violence at times, many are also confronted with the uncertainty when going to school: will their schools be opened or closed? Nevertheless, they could rest assured that at home they were given warm protection by both parents. But as the situation has taken away one of their parents, how would they cope with the predicament?

According to a survey regarding the life of affected children by UNICEF Thailand, not many children directly reflect the feelings concerning the experience from the arrest. But one eleven year old girl shows her feeling from having no friends that “I have no friends. No one cares for me. I am a criminal. My dad was busted.” Such a direct statement can be uttered by other children


as well. It shows a lack of justice they feel though they might not be able to distinguish between fairness and justice. It is difficult to imagine how many such statements shall be made by the children of the detainees’ families if such a survey is carried out among them. From the visits to families of the detainees by various organizations and individuals, we often hear the stories of the children being teased as a result of the arrest of their fathers.

It is important to understand that no one can tell when the detention shall end. There seems to be no answer as to when the fathers shall return home, or will they after all? Meanwhile, the children have to live in the environment where violence is not inclined to cease. They grow up and learn about things around them without their fathers. But where will they head to? Can the mothers help to guide them the way while attempting to make ends meet? Will there be any process to help prevent the negative attitude of the children, to reduce the anger they may have and to enable them to grow up with quality of life?

Conclusion

Our survey involving more than half of the people held in custody for security related charges, shows how the arrest of one person may elicit extensive ramifications. The sufferings the families have to endure are similar since all of them face the loss of their family pillars. These sufferings are shortly summarized below.

7 For more detail please see Unicef Thailand (2008). The Time of Fear: The research on perception of children toward the life in the Southern border provinces of Thailand


1. Mental suffering

Though a lack of income is the number one problem, we would like to start with mental suffering first. Even though invisible on the outside, it gets accumulated inside, in the hearts of the detainees, their families, and particularly their children.

- Worries: Many wives have this feeling and have to cope with it by crying out. Before, they were entirely dependent on their husbands and pledged to look after their homes and their children well. Some had no jobs and no income. After an arrest takes place, they have to gather strength to cope with the predicament. They have to look for jobs to generate income and to feed their children. Apart from their concern for the children, they also feel concerned for their husbands who have been held in custody.

- Frustration: Either as a wife or a mother, they can not understand why their husbands or sons have been


arrested and why the justice process takes so long and when their relatives will get released. With their faith in their loved ones and confidence that they are good persons, this frustration comes naturally.

- The children’s anger: As said, a number of children have been mentally agitated by being teased by their friends at school. Being accused as children of bandits, they hold up the arising anger and grudges. Some boys came back to tell their moms that they wanted to punch their friends who said those thing. Meanwhile, the girls would prefer to keep quiet, though they confess that they direly want to cry.

2. Economic and social suffering

- Hard work: Many wives have to start taking up hard work they have never done before. Some have to take extra jobs just to earn enough income since they now have to raise the income alone. They have to look after their children without help from the children’s fathers. Having no other skills, many wives end up working as rubber tappers. Such an occupation earns them little money. Issues concerning income are thus most pressing and compel them to work so hard.

- Sickness of the older family use members: In many of these families, the detainees use to look after the disabled, sick and older persons who suffer from chronic diseases. From getting consistent treatment, now they do not even have enough money to travel to hospital.


- Money for applying for the hospital educational scholarships: The issue is not just about having no educational support, they do not even have money to apply for the support (as in Story Two). Many families are facing the same situation.

- Social stigma: Many communities in which the families of the detainees live have the understanding and sympathy and do not treat them as bad persons, but this is not always the case. In several instances when we stopped to ask for direction to the houses of the detainees, we often heard people saying why would we waste the time to visit the bandits’ houses?

The sufferings as explained above show how life is difficult for the families of detainees. And ultimately, the help they need goes beyond just responding to these immediate scarcities, but for their families to reunite again and the return of justice.

It is recognized that some of the detainees are guilty. However, the pre-charged and pre-trial process is unjust and takes too long considering the ‘being innocent unless proven guilty’-principle. Many detainees may be held or convicted while innocent. The families suffer whether or not the detainee is innocent.


Recommendations

At the government policy

In order to ensure healthiness of the families of the detainees awaiting the trial, to guarantee that all children have access to the education at their choices, to pave, and to pave the way for peace building and reconciliation and to end the cycle of violence which may result from the pressure of the deprivation of freedom among those alleged offenders in security cases, it should be set as a priority policy that;

1. Educational support is given to all children of the alleged offenders in security cases including seed fund and long-term operational fund as well as the monitoring and evaluation of the disbursement of the funds

2. Livelihood funds are given to support families of the alleged offenders in security cases in order to maintain a healthy family of those held in custody while awaiting the trial

At the practical level among the state and civil society organizations

1. Activities should be provided to heal the family members of the detainees, particularly, children under the age of eighteen years through the combination of psychological support and religious teaching and other socio-psychological rehabilitation processes for the children


2. Activities to change the attitude of the children and to instill positive attitudes to prevent any negative feelings that might exacerbate the situation

3. Activities to change attitude of local law enforcement officials with an emphasis on the issues concerning rights, rule of law, and the perception that the persons arrested are just suspects, and not yet offenders, in order to ensure justice from the source

For the justice process

1. The judiciary to review security cases must be composed of senior judges and there should be more judges specifically assigned to handle security cases so that the trials can proceed promptly and the duration of detention can be minimized

2. Empowerment and support should be given to alleged offenders in security cases including funding to enable them to hire private lawyers, support from the Lawyers Council of Thailand in order to ensure the continuing and efficient flow of the justice process.


My life has changed Anchana Himmeena

Sarinthorn Ratcharoenkhachorn

Introduction: This article is written by an elder sister of the wife of a security suspect in Sabayoi district, Songkhla. Her brother in law was hold since Aug 2008 till today. It is an interesting reflection. Handwritten in three A4 pages, this article was abridged to fit the space here and some editing has been applied. But all the words that reflect her genuine feelings are kept intact and the publishing of her article has been made with her prior consent.

Note: The Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) has got to visit and meet the wife of the suspect. During the two visits, despite having tears in the eyes, she showed her strong determination. But before she has become this strong, she had been ravaged by all the suffering she had to endure. Her elder sister is a major support that helps her in terms of the legal and mental aspects and makes it possible for her to continue her life until now.

The unrest in the three Southern border provinces and four districts in Songkhla has been escalating and has become more diverse. Along with that, people’s mentality has changed as well.

When I first heard about the school arsons, bomb planting, shooting and throat slashing in the three Southern border provinces including Pattani, Yala and Natathiwat, I had no idea that such incidences could one day happen in Sabayoi district (in Songkhla province). Eventually, it did occur. The shooting and school arsons took place here, and the worst of them was the


bombing of the municipality market. I am really confused as to who were responsible for all these mayhems. How could they do it? Will the perpetrators be arrested and face justice? There have been fatal shootouts that affect both Thai Buddhists and Muslims. Alas, the cruel incidence directly affected me and just caught me off guard. My brother in law who worked as a car washer disappeared on 18 May 2008 after driving a car to return to a police official who was his regular client. After searching around, my sister found he was arrested on warrant stemming from a murder offence. The offence was related to the unrest as well. The only evidence in this case is the “hearsay” confessed by the persons who were subject to torture. I have learned that initially, the investigation was carried out based on the assumption that the case resulted from personal vendetta. Later, after the change of the investigation team, the case has been investigated as on insurgency ground. After this mishap, our lives have completely changed. We got to meet many strangers and face many bizarre events and have to adapt our lives to them. Most importantly, our mentality has changed.


Right after the arrest, the Court scheduled the first hearing of the case around late May to August 2008. It was such a tormenting time and no one in my family was able to come to terms with what had happened so unexpectedly. I live with mother and sister in Sabayoi district, while many of my relatives live elsewhere. Everyone of us was so depressed and sad and avoided getting to see people. We were so angry with the police, state officials, and the retarded justice process. We were so upset with the husband of the murder victim (in this murder case) who failed to speak the truth. Why didn’t the victim’s family take time to investigate who was the real murderer and why it happened? Why did they have to implicate so many innocent people? My mother said she no longer wanted to live since she could not understand why so many decent people who earn their lives honestly have been implicated. Everyone thought we were stupid and were tricked. They thought we were ignorant to the fact that the new family member (my brother in law) was in fact part of the insurgency groups. Everyone assumed he was wrong since they heard it on the news. They believed that what the police said was 100% true. We could not understand, since the police are aware that he has not committed the offence, why have they decided to arrest and prosecute him getting him hooked up with the long and retarded justice process? The witness testimony examination in the court alone could take two years even though the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC) has a policy to have the trial done in six months.

Almost five months past, we (I and my sister) have found it useless to just live with the grievances. We have to acknowledge the reality and fight against it. The saying that time heals our mind is most correct. After getting ourselves healed, we step out to face


the changing feelings of people around us. Some of them think we are part of the insurgency movements, some look at us with suspicious eyes, some are not sure, and about 30% of them think we are innocent. Even our relatives feel reluctant to get involved with us fearing state officials. They fear that they might be implicated in this security case as well. To put it simple, that a person in your family has to face the insurgency accusation is enough to convince people that the other family members are part of the movements as well. Such an attitude has extensive consequences, particularly the mental impact. The accused and their families can pitifully be subject to social isolation, and in the future, it is possible that these people may decide to “take side”.

It usually takes more than two years for a criminal case to process, and many last from three to five years before the cases are dismissed by the Court. It may take ten years until the Supreme Court makes a decision to convict the person. Reasons for the delayed procedure including the postponement of prosecution witness examination including high ranking state officials. During the time, many of them might have been transferred elsewhere. And most alleged offenders are denied the request to get temporarily released. And since it involves high penalty, the bail is set over one million baht. How can a villager who earns just 100-200 baht a day manage to acquire this large amount of money? After the arrest of the breadwinners or the sons, the other family members have to work so hard to continue their lives and raise enough income to cover the travel expense for visiting the detainees, as well as to provide their children with proper education.


There have often been reports that during the unrest, a number of agencies offer the help and support for the affected people including state officials, general population including Thai Buddhists and Muslims. As time passes by, there has been another group of affected people including the Muslims who have been (sweepingly) accused of being the perpetrators. But in fact most of the accused (who are Muslims) are innocent people. And for families of those accused insurgents, they stand to be affected. Despite that they shall not be entitled to any support though eventually the Court decides to dismiss the cases. The officials can just recommend them to seek compensation for the aggrieved parties or defendants in a criminal case and many of them have applied for the compensation. For Muslims, they view the experience as a test set out by God for them. But the compensation they receive can never be worth the time they have to spend behind the bars. In there, many of them have been tortured and several families have lost their relatives during the detention either because of the death under official custody or divorce. And it shall not make up for the time lost.

All these problems would not have happened, if state officials in all sectors were genuinely concerned to solve the problems and carry out their work properly and based on justice. They should treat Muslims equally as other Thai people. Only then, the fairy tale’s wish, “alas everyone lives happily ever after” shall be materialized.


Does social justice really exist?

Patimoh Pao-I Taedaoh Suhainee Longsa We Peace Group

Since around late 2006, the image of demonstrations that include women and children has been increasingly portrayed. Most of the protests involve the demand for state officials to release persons who have been held in custody for security cases. It was followed by the demand for either police or Army bases to be removed from local area. Though in each demonstration, there were less than 100 participating women and children, but since they are the mothers, the wives or the children who give and care for lives, their manifested demand for justice becomes an interesting phenomenon. The question is, have the demonstrations led to any change at the policy level? Though having claimed to carry out duties in good faith and nonviolently, the massive number of security officials who have made the arrest may still perform their duties with violence. Their practices have led to discrimination and infringement on basic rights. And their operations have distracted attempts to fairly review the roles of the affected persons who have been by and large implicated as perpetrators and accomplices in abetting the violence.


The term “Southern unrest victims” may remind people of those who have been shot death and injured during the insurgencies. But here, the term “victims” should also encompass those families which have been affected by the unrest when their family members are held in custody under Emergency Decree. They are part of the victims of violence and have been unjustly treated by people in society. They are often indiscriminately looked at as being complicit to the arising violence. People simply don’t listen to these families. The state takes for granted the efforts to address immediate suffering of these families including educational support, livelihood support, or even the protection of the remaining family members. They have come up with no clear policies to assist these people.


From visiting families of those who have been held in custody as a result of the unrest in the Southern border provinces, we have heard stories that reflect the internal grievances and the need for help.

Yah (not her real name) from a family of a detainee in Kabang district, Yala, had this to share with us;

“My husband was a religious teacher. One day, the officials came to my house and took my husband to the police station. The next day, while no one was at home, the officials raided our house to search for evidence, but could find nothing. They accused my husband of being part of the insurgency movement, and involved with many incidents that happened in local area. Now, my husband is detained at the Provincial Prison of Yala and I have to pay tens of thousand baht to hire a legal counsel”.

“I have five children. When the father was arrested, our youngest child was just four months old. Nowadays, I have to sell things to raise money for my children. My eldest daughter is studying at Dhamma Wittaya School and the one next to her is my thirteen years old boy. As I could hardly earn enough income, most of my children will have to drop out from school soon.”

“I feel very hopeless and helpless now. My children are the only thing that keeps me going”. Yah believes her husband is innocent and really wants people to help him.

“When we get to see him again, our youngest daughter might not recognize the face of her own father”.

The demand for justice and the criminal proceedings often take a long time, but the sufferings they have to endure need to be


addressed promptly. The remaining family members have to bear with consequences, particularly children. And here is one of the young voices we observe;

Nasu-an (not her real name), a little girl from Tambon Bajao, Bannang Sata district, Yala, had this to say;

“They accused that my father was a bandit. I turned eleven years old the day my dad was arrested. He is a good person and liked to take me to play in the rubber plantation. He was taken away by Army officials clad in black uniforms and he has been accused of murdering state officials. I have no idea how a bandit looks like. Some of my friends call me a daughter of bandit, but I really have no idea what has caused my father to be arrested. I only know somebody who did not like my father went to report this information to the Army.”

“My mom took me and my younger sibling who had not learned to walk yet to visit my father. It cost mom a lot of money for each travel including the vehicle rent and buying things for my father. I really sympathize with my mother who had to work so hard tapping the rubber to have money to raise us. My father asks me to look after my mother, my family and my younger sibling and not to worry about him. In the jail, he said he has time to be with God”.

Another family has to struggle hard after the son was arrested and now held in custody at the Central Prison of Yala.

Song (not her real name) told us that she has five children including two girls and three boys who are still in school. The eldest son has been arrested by the officials and since her


husband has passed away a long time ago, she has to look after the other four children by herself. Before the arrest, her son was the family’s breadwinner. “But now, it is very hard for me since my son has been in jail and we have no clue how the proceedings will turn out. We can ask no one. Sometimes, my children have to be absent from school since I have no money and no one can help to send them to school and pick them up. The distance from our house to the school is about three kilometers”.

It grieved her even more that her children refused to go to school as at school they were teased for having a jailed brother. She told us that in the beginning, she went to visit her son once a week taking along all the children. Later, she hardly went there. Sometimes, she misses her son so much and wants to take her life since no one is there to help her.

The last story belongs to Na (not her real name) and her family. Half-paralyzed, she cannot help herself. She has just one son, and the three of them, mother, father and son, lived just by themselves. One day, her son told her he was going to the market. In the evening, her neighbors ran to tell he was hospitalized. She and her husband rushed to see their son and found that he got injured from clashing with the officials. His condition was serious with his intestines lurking outside. She could not express the pain she felt that day. The experience even made her health worse. The officials told her husband that their son was part of the insurgency movement and had to be held in custody in the prison. But they would allow him to be bailed out for forty thousands baht. But how can a poor person like her raise such an amount of money?


“Since my son was arrested, our family has to suffer. On certain days, we do not even have rice to cook. We have to rely on food donated by our kind neighbors. I feel particularly concerned about when the doctor will fit back in the intestines. I fear my son will not be able to have normal digestion system again”. Nowadays, she and her husband keep waiting day after day for their son to be cleared from the charges.

When the We Peace Group visited these families, all of them were very happy and told us we do not need to bring anything for them. Just visiting them and giving them moral support already made them feel very grateful.


“Ayah di Tangkap”

My father was arrested: Problems of children in the Southern border provinces

that need to be addressed

Muhammad Anwar Hayiteh Bungaraya Group

Unrest in the Southern border provinces affects many groups of people. When any violence happens, it gives rise to the loss of life and properties and the pain, the hatred and the grudges that get incurred among ordinary human beings. The violence and its implication befalls all groups of human beings of all ages and genders, be they fathers, mothers, children, husbands, wives, relatives or neighbors.

A number of agencies and organizations have visited the communities and helped many people who have been affected by


unrest in the Southern border provinces including children and women. Many of them have lost their fathers, or their beloved husbands. But while those who have lost their beloved family members in the incidents have been provided with help from either the state or private sectors, we have been neglecting or forgetting another group of people who have been affected as well, though their beloved ones are still alive, but they have been deprived of their liberty.

These people are alleged offenders in security cases in the three Southern border provinces and four districts in Songkhla who have been held in custody and prosecuted. The problems that happen with their families are not at all different from those who have lost their fathers, or wives who have lost their husbands.

As the wives have to take all the responsibilities alone, it really tires them out. It is really difficult for one person to have to earn money for the survival of the whole family and for the children’s education.

A wife who has lost her husband as he was taken away by the state officials told us;

“On that day, both the Army and police officials cordoned off the village mosque and held in custody more than forty villagers who were praying in there. A few weeks later, they were released. Then they came back to arrest my husband and several of my relatives” said Lah (not her real name), a villagers from Yi-ngo district, Narathiwat.

Nowadays, like many spouses of the detainees, it is Lah alone to shoulder all the responsibilities. The day we visited her, there were also three other affected families which saw their husbands and

Ayah di Tangkap (My father was arrested) �0

fathers arrested from the same incident at Kalah’s house. Kalah’s family has to bear the heaviest brunt since there are six children to raise including the eldest one at seventeen years old and the youngest one at two years old. Lah has to work as rubber tapper and the rubbers trees are quite old and do not yield that much latex anymore. She has to start off before dawn and has to rush back to prepare food for her children to take to school.

“Now I have a problem finding money to cover food expenses. We eat what we have. If we have little we just eat whatever is available. If we have excess we save it for the following day” said Kalah about her financial problem.

Zah’s family (not her real name) is another family which sees the husband and father getting arrested. They have just two children and the problems they face are similar to others. Nee (not her real name) is studying in Grade Six. Asking about her future education, she replied;

“I have to first see if it is possible for my mom to work alone. If not I will quit and help her to work. But actually, I really want to further my education. But I know the problems my mom has to face. She has to go out tapping the rubber and rush back to prepare food for me and other children. And Ayah (father) is now in the Narathiwat Prison. After taking us to school, she has to visit my father at the prison. I really feel pity for her” said Nee about her feeling and needs.

The other two families on the house shared the suffering they have to face after the families’ breadwinners, their husbands, have been taken away.

Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) �1

“We really have no idea about the laws and the procedures. We want people to explain to us about the charges our husbands have to face. What are those charges? I know they are about security, but what kind of security is it? What are the court procedures? It is good enough that we have received assistance from the Muslim Attorney Center (MAC). We don’t have to pay the lawyer fee. We couldn’t afford it to hire our own legal counsels” said a wife of a detainee.

Most common among the concerns for the mothers is their children’s education and their future. A number of state and private agencies have failed to realize that the problems are directly attributable to the unrest. Some agencies believe that helping the families in need is tantamount to supporting the perpetrators’ families. But according to the presumed innocence principle, every alleged offender and defendant has to be treated as an innocent person unless it is proven otherwise. Despite that, none of the groups wants to help them. As a result, there have been a growing number of people who grow hatred and anger toward the state. And there will be more social problems as a result of the lack of access to education, increasing illiteracy, even though the government wants to reduce the number of illiterate children.

There are 428 alleged offenders related to security charges. It means that 428 families in the Southern border provinces and Songkhla have to suffer.

Every individual, agency and organization in society has to rethink the situation and demystify all the prejudices. It’s time for collaboration for indiscriminate help for the sake of a peaceful society and for the future of the nation.


Anyone would care for and love their homes

By Volunteer Home for Children and Youth

Anyone would care for and love their home

Anyone would care for and love their family

Their homeland, the houses they have built up by themselves

They have such profound love for all those things

Our homes are being invaded and attacked

The sufferings are gushing toward us

They take away our fathers

Pointing the gun on his head, they handcuffed him

They said my father had killed people

Tears rolled down my mother’s cheeks

It pained as much as our heart being cut with a knife

I could just look on as my father was taken away

My younger sibling cried for our dad

We keep waiting and wondering where they took our father to

For nights, mom had to lie

She claimed our dad had gone to work somewhere far away


The crying baby got quiet calmed? down by mom, in sorrow she said

Your dad is working for money to build our house

He will soon come back, be patient

As I look up, my mom was forcing her tears back

From days to nights

Time passes just too slowly

Looking out, I see no sign that my father will come back

My mom gets skinny because of the sorrow she bears

My younger sibling cried out loud

I want neither new clothes nor a new house

It’s fine if we don’t have money to buy sweets

It’s fine if we get no food to eat, please bring back my father

My younger sister asked perhaps dad worked so hard and forgot us

He forgot his children who he adored much

Why he had to lie to us and never returned

As the tears dripped down, the hearts got broken

Like a boat that tragically lost its tiller

Mom has to work alone for the family

The obstacles are insurmountable

The time passes so slowly and that terrifies me


With much grief, I went to visit my dad

My beloved father became apparently vulnerable

All the wounds he suffered hurt us much

Why would anyone hurt my dad

It took them so long to acquire the evidences

Still none of them proved his guilt

He was acquitted as the evidences were not credible

My dad returned home making us all beam

My younger sibling was happy and smiled

The return of our dad lighted things up

Hugging him, nurturing us, made me feel warm

Promise me, you shall never go anywhere far again

I watched as my dad sat by the pole

The sorrow and the pain on his face

What worries you, dad

Why can you not beam a smile?


If I have to go this time, I will never return

Please, my daughter, please follow my instruction

Please, for dad, help to protect

Your brother and your mom so that they don’t get hurt

As my father asked, I felt mounting pressure

The sweeping suffering made me sad

The burden looked so challenging

I cried out, where could I garner the strength?

The gunshots rocked the front lawn

It took away my father, forever

My wounded heart and the running tears on my cheeks

And my younger brother cried, who took away our dad?

No answer, I attempted to console him

Please tell me, am I entitled to know

Who have been harmed by my father?

What wrongdoing he has done, please give me an answer

Insurgency: recruitment, unknown organization/movement.

Several insurgency movements have been active in the Southern border provinces since 1947. Currently, the most active is perceived to be the BRN-coordinate. However, an important obstacle in any resolution initiative is the lack of knowledge of the insurgency movements. Not only is it still largely debated what the organizational structures and practices are, movement use violence but do not claim attacks or clearly vent their goals and aims. Propaganda is widely used by the insurgency movements to gain support from local people. Propaganda against the state displays the state’s violations of human rights and suppression of the local people. The movements furthermore actively recruit men with arguments based on ethnicity, religion, culture and history.


Human rights violations:

There are number human rights incidents like Krue-Se and Takbai in 2004 and recent unjust or violent events help the insurgents in setting up people against the state. The state mechanisms could not address the issue of impunity. The culture of impunity in Thai society is underlined in the conflict in the south. Victims of such human rights violations are still calling for justice that has not yet delivered.


What local people want:

While the insurgents are often in the news, they do not represent the local population. In contrast,

most people do not support their aims, nor their use of violence. One should thus not mistake all people in the southern border provinces to be an insurgent; they suffer from the insurgency. However, people do want change; they want acceptance of their culture and local identity, promotion of justice and local participation through better governance.


Culture and identity

80% if the population in the southern border provinces is Malay Muslim; their lifestyle differs strongly from the 95% of Buddhists in Thailand. The Malay Muslims have a strong identity characterized by a different religion, history and language. They are proud of who they are and do not want to give up their identity. However, the Thai state has however tried to assimilate the Southern people and confirm them to Thai standards. Behavioural actions of state officials and security forces driven by cultural insensitivity and an overall lack of understanding have insulted many local people


Further readings:

Report of The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC): “Overcoming Violence Through the Power of Reconciliation” http://thailand.ahrchk.net/docs/nrc_report_ en.pdf

“Rule by the gun; Armed civilians and firearms proliferation in Southern Thailand”. Nonviolence International. http://www.iansa.org/campaigns_events/WoA2009/documents/rule_by_the_gunNV09.pdf

Deep South Watch. http://www.deepsouthwatch.org/english

International Crisis Group (2009, June 22). Recruiting militants in Southern Thailand. Asia Report N? 170. http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=6170


Access to Justice: People’s Fund (AJPF)

Rationale

Unrest in the Southern border provinces of Thailand has impacted a wide range of people. Many of them who have been killed or disappeared were breadwinners of the families. A large number of local peoples got arrested related to national security offences, have no access to justice including the rights to bail. Many spend a few years in detention before there is a verdict on their case. Their families have to make both ends meet and survive in the midst of hardships and a lack of security of life and properties. Despite their efforts to seek remedies the justice system as provided for by the Constitution, their human rights are not been guaranteed. Access to justice has been obstructed by the overwhelming expenses that are involved – expenses that are beyond their capacity to bear.

Though a number of human rights organizations are providing legal aid to people without any charge or fee, still, there are obstacles as to their attempts to bring a case to the court.

For a civil suit against the state, each complainant is required to place a court fee varying to the amount of remedies he or she seeks. Thus, some of them have decided to lower the amount of compensation sought in order to make it possible to raise enough funds to place as a court fee.


Though it is theoretically possible for a poor person to bring a case to the court by applying for exemption of court fees, in reality, a number of poor and affected persons have to borrow money from others to pay for the court fee and other related expenses including travel expenses. As a result, many have been denied access to justice; otherwise they have to be willing to have increasing debts. As of July/August 2009, more than 540 people have been pressed with charges related to national security and detained in various prisons in the Southern border provinces. Many of them shall be eventually released when their alleged guilt is proven unfounded, but before then, they will be incarcerated for a couple of years. It could be longer if they have to wait until the cases reach the Supreme Court. During the time, their families have to suffer the economic fallouts and struggle hard to ensure justice.

Access to Justice: People’s Fund is established to enable people to have access to due justice process. Funds raised are used to cover necessary expenses to pursue justice including court fee, travel expense for relatives or community members to attend the court hearings, etc. To guarantee access to due justice process among poor people who become victims of injustices, we would like to urge all to make donations to the Fund which shall be used to uphold social justice and prevent any discrimination against unprivileged people in society.


Objectives of Access to Justice: People’s Fund

1. To ensure access to justice among poor families by providing them interest free loans to cover expenses incurred from their struggle in the justice process including the court fee, travel expense for relatives or community members to attend the court hearings, etc., excluding the lawyer’s fee

2. To provide interest-free loans for families of affected persons to be used for their livelihood, their children’s education and other humanitarian purposes

3. To provide special support to serve particular needs of poor and affected families as deemed fit by the Fund Management Committee


The Fund Management Committee including founding members shall include representatives and the following individuals;

1. Ms. Aisha Hayijeming Representative of families of Mr. Abdul Asi Hayijeming and Mr. Muhammad YalaludingMading

2. Dr. Ananchai Thaiprathan Young Muslim Association of Thailand (YMAT)

3. Pol. Maj.Gen. Chamroon Den-udom Islamic Culture Foundation, Yala province

4. Ms. Pornpen Khongkachonkiet Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF)

5. Mr. Adilan Ali-ishak Muslim Attorney Center (MAC)

6. Mr. Samsudin Waedoloh Treasurer

7. Mr. Ismaal Salae Secretary

The People’s Fund for Access to Justice has been established since 28 June 2008 with the initial funds donated by the families of Mr. Abdul Asi Hayijemi and Mr. Muhammad Yalaluding Mading during the event on “Five Years of Victims of Injustices in Cambodia” held on the same day. The two families have made 50,000 baht as donation to the Fund. The Fund is operated from 63/1, Sirorot Soi 6, Tambon Sateng, Muang District, Yala Province 95000, tel. +6673-221665, fax +6673-241189.


Account no. 1 Account Name: Access to Justice: People’s Fund Account number: 584 – 1 - 15877 - 5 Bank name: Islamic Bank of Thailand, Yala Branch A/C type: Savings

Account no. 2 Access to Justice: People’s Fund: 091-0-14994-1 Bank name: Krungthai Bank Ratchada-Huaykwang Branch A/C type: Savings

The first fundraising was organized as a tea party and public discussion on “Access to Justice” from 08.00-16.00 on Suturday 25 October 2008 at the Office of the Central Islamic Committee of Yala. Proceeds after expenses were given to People’s Fund for Access to Justice.

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