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Lit_Match

War on Drugs returns to bite Thaksin
11-24-06|Bangkok Post|By Mick Elmore

During his nearly six years in office, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's popularity soared to one of its highest peaks with his war on drugs, launched in early 2003.

Now more than 2,500 deaths, three and a half years, and one coup later, there is a movement to charge the tycoon-turned-politician with crimes against humanity for the extrajudicial killings during that campaign that have gone unexplained.

Thai law does not address crimes against humanity, so human-rights activists and legal advocates leading the charge against Thaksin are pushing the new government, which took office last month, to ratify the UN convention on the International Criminal Court (ICC), which could charge him, said Kraisak Choonhavan, former senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

"The ICC is the key," Kraisak said. "Over 100 countries have become signatories, so charges could be brought against him in The Hague, where the ICC is based, and he could be tried, say, in England."

Kraisak added that with Thaksin's wealth and influence in Thailand, "It would be very difficult to try him here," but others involved in the effort want him to face a court in the country where the purported crimes were committed.

There might be disagreement on the venue for the trial, but the reason for it unifies the group.

On January 14, 2003, Thaksin ordered local authorities to make lists of suspected drug dealers but gave them only two weeks to draw them up so they were not accurate, National Human Rights Commissioner Wasan Panich said.

The war on drugs then started on February 1, 2003, with the hastily made lists, and the Interior Ministry sent the governors of Thailand's 76 provinces a notice that there were three ways to reduce the number of drug dealers: arrests, extrajudicial killings or death by other causes, Wasan charged.

Although none of the killings could be directly linked to Thaksin, he is guilty, Wasan said. "We should take action against Thaksin for issuing such a policy, which triggered a wave of murders," Wasan said.

In the first three months of the campaign, 2,598 alleged drug offenders were killed. At the time, the government said the deaths were a result of drug dealers fighting among themselves and the police were unwilling to investigate the deaths.

"Thaksin and his government committed crimes against humanity," and his government should be held accountable, said Somchai Homlaor, chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the Lawyer's Council.

"Thaksin often reiterated that drug sellers would have only two choices: death or jail," Somchai said.

At the time, cries against the campaign were stifled in a media partly owned and much bullied by the Thaksin government and his friends although it did see coverage in the foreign press and foreign governments stated they were concerned by the number of deaths.

In Thailand, some government officials reluctantly went along with the campaign because they feared disciplinary measures if they refused.

Investigations moved at a snail's pace during Thaksin's time in power, but that could change now that he was overthrown in a bloodless military coup on September 19.

Thaksin was in New York at the time and has remained overseas, mostly in London but also travelling[spelling incorrect] to Hong Kong, China and Bali. If he returns to Thailand, he could face a growing number of government investigations into corruption accusations against him, his family and cronies as well questions about the drug-war killings.

Activists are pushing the military-appointed interim government, led by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, to reinvestigate the drug killings and bring those responsible to justice.

So far, 40 families whose relatives were killed have filed complaints with the National Commission on Human Rights, but Kraisak said he hopes more would come forward as the issue becomes better known.

In the number of people killed, the length of time of the campaign, and arguably even its brutality, the Thaksin-led war on drugs pales in comparison with the dirty wars in Argentina and other Latin American countries in the 1970s and '80s. But the number of crimes are hard to ignore, and like many of the leaders of those Latin American countries, Thaksin could see himself facing charges and could have his movements severally restricted.

"We can't possibly create a new society if the coup-backed government doesn't lift a finger to deal with the drugs-war killings," Kraisak said. The campaign was a blatant form of human-rights abuse, he charged.

The activists see justice at work in their campaign, but others also see a bit of payback, too. After nearly six years of Thaksin's rule, people are trying to make up for lost time.