|
  |
|
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
U.N. concern at Thai 'executions'
BANGKOK, Thailand -- With the body count in Thailand's bloody crackdown on drugs nearing 1,000, a leading U.N. human rights official has added her voice to concerns over the escalating death toll. Calling for restraint and adherence to the rule of law, U.N. special rapporteur Asma Jahangir urged law enforcement officials to carry out their duties in strict compliance with internationally agreed limits on the use of lethal force. In a statement issued from her office in Geneva earlier this week, Jahangir -- whose office focuses on cases of summary or arbitrary executions -- raised deep concerns over "allegations of excessive use of force" by Thai police "resulting in extra-judicial executions." Amid such allegations, she said, it was the duty of the Thai authorities to conduct "transparent and independent investigations into each individual death." Less than four weeks into the anti-drugs campaign, Thailand's Interior Ministry reported Monday some 983 suspects had died since the crackdown began on February 1. Of those, 977 died in drug-related "gangland killings'' while a further 16 suspects were killed by police in self-defense, the ministry's drug repression unit said. Among those killed was a nine-year-old boy who police say became caught in the crossfire as they moved to arrest his mother, one of 46,000 people listed on a nationwide list of suspected drug-traffickers. However, several rights groups and civil liberties organizations have condemned the shootings, saying senior government officials are supporting the extra-judicial killing of suspects and then covering them up. Performance targets
Critics say threats to sack provincial officials and police chiefs who do not meet certain performance targets is the driving force in the number of bodies piling up. Last week, human rights watchdog Amnesty International accused the "highest levels" of the Thai government of authorizing "a de-facto shoot-to-kill policy" against anyone even suspected of involvement in the drugs trade. It said the effect of the policy was "a big step backwards" after more than a decade of progress in Thai adherence to human rights issues. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has set key targets for the crackdown, cutting the number of drugs suspects by 25 percent at the end of February with none left at all when the campaign ends on April 30. He has made the war on drugs, dubbed "an eye-for-an-eye", a central platform of his administration, saying soaring levels of addiction and crime associated with the drugs trade is the number one threat to Thai society. Despite the concerns from human rights groups, Thaksin's message seems to be getting through to voters with a series of opinion polls saying the overwhelming majority of Thais back his tough stance.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
