Thailand's old concerns over new war on drugs
Updated
Thailand's plan to wage a new "war on drugs" has human rights activists worried. Two previous campains led to more than two thousand deaths and caused an international outcry.The new government says this time civil liberties will be respected and the police will behave.
Presenter: Karon Snowdon
Speaker: Emeritus Professor Pradit Chroenthaithavee, Thailand's Human Rights Commission.
SNOWDON: Thailand has kicked off a new war on drugs. It's to run for six months until September.
The Interior Minister, Chalerm Yubamroong, is in charge.
He says the police have a list of 10,000 drug users and are ready to get to work straight away. The plan includes a crack down on dealers and production areas.
But the last time in 2003 and again in 2004, when the police force was given its head, an estimated 2,500 people were killed, many gunned down in the street.
Many were innocent or petty criminals, others the subject of personal vendettas. Thousands more were arrested.
A member of Thailand's Human Rights Commission then and now, Professor Pradit Chroenthaithavee, is concerned about history repeating itself . He recalls his shock at the death toll of five years ago
PRADIT: So many people have been killed and also the police have long list of people who should be killed, and also the district officer (word indistinct). The number is increasing very vastly to 2,500, even a boy of nine years old killed.
SNOWDON: Professor Pradit took his concerns to the UN's Human Rights Commissioner and suffered death threats at home. The government tried to remove him from the Human Rights Commission.
He says the present Government under Prime Minister Samak is pushing the same policies as Thaksin Shinawatra in 2003
Then it was thought the get tough on crime policy was popular.
PRADIT: The present government by Mr Samak he threatened the same thing as Mr Thaksin. He wants to make a radical war against drugs.
SNOWDON: Accurate estimates of Thailand's drug problem are hard to come by.
Their Narcotic Control Board says it is getting worse, with a jump in numbers by half a million to a total of 2.5 million in 2007.
Other agencies say of those between 100,000 and 250,000 are injecting drug users.
There is evidence that drug trafficking, injecting drug use, and the spread of HIV Aids are linked, but critics of Thailand's harsh approach say less prosecution and more treatment programs and education are needed.
One question to be asked is if the big drug dealers are on Interior Minister Chalerm's list.
But he told reporters in Bangkok there would be no gunning down of suspects this time.
CHALERM: No, no kill, I don't want that, all the police, I can control, the law is best in Thailand.
SNOWDON: Thailand's problems partly stem from its porous border with Burma, a major drug producer. And the area under production in Thailand itself, while still small did increase slightly last year, according to the United Nations.
With this concerning the government Human Rights Commissioner Professor Pradit fears the latest campaign will again lead to abuses by police.
PRADIT: It might be they are very serious about it.
SNOWDON: And he is also critical of the failure of Thai authorities to prosecute anyone for the many extrajudicial killings from 2003.
