Thailand: Take Immediate Steps to Abolish Death Penalty: an Irrevocable, Inhuman, Cruel and Degrading Punishment

According to the United Nations, approximately 150 countries have abolished the death penalty or introduced a moratorium, either in law or in practice.

(SALEM) - Ten years have passed since the first 'World Day Against the Death Penalty' and still the struggle for this most basic point continues in a world where many people are falsely convicted.

More than three years have passed since Thailand carried out an execution. Two convicted drug traffickers were put to death in August 2009, they died by lethal injection. Those government deaths three years ago were were the first in Thailand in six years.

In fact, Thailand voted against the first two United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) moratorium resolutions, yet chose to change its position on the third resolution in 2010 by abstaining.

In his letter below to the Prime Minister of Thailand, Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra, our Human Rights Ambassador, William Nicholas Gomes, cites the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty which is strong and unmistakable. Two of Thailand’s fellow ASEAN Member States, Cambodia and the Philippines, have already abolished the death penalty. Burma and Laos have not used the practice in the last decade. According to the United Nations, approximately 150 countries have abolished the death penalty or introduced a moratorium, either in law or in practice.

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Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand, c/o Government House, Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District, Bangkok 10300, THAILAND, Fax: +66 2 280 0858 / +66 2 288 4016 Dear Madame Prime Minister, I am William Nicholas Gomes , Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com. I came to know about the important human rights issue from the join letter signed by Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President and Florence Bellivier, WCADP President. On the eve of the 10th World Day Against the Death Penalty, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) wrote to you to urge the Government of Thailand to take immediate steps to abolish the death penalty, an irrevocable, inhuman, cruel and degrading punishment that does not make society safer. For better human rights advocacy i do add my voice on the concern raised by them. Thailand has not carried out any execution since August 2009 when two convicted drug traffickers were executed by lethal injection. Before that, there were no executions between 2003 and August 2009. Thailand voted against the first two United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) moratorium resolutions, but changed its position on the third resolution in 2010 by abstaining. Thailand’s second National Human Rights Action Plan (2009-2013) includes the review of laws which permit capital punishment and the replacement of capital punishment with life imprisonment as indicators of success. In August 2012, Thailand abolished the death penalty for offenders under 18 years of age and reduced life imprisonment for minors to 50 years. On 16 August 2012, a royal pardon was announced whereby all prisoners who have been sentenced to death and whose cases have reached a final verdict would have their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Along with the World Coalition and FIDH , I hope that these positive steps indicate a growing political will on the part of the Government of Thailand to move progressively and expeditiously towards abolition. I am concerned, however, that Thai courts continue to hand down new death sentences every year, including for drug-related offenses, in contravention to the recommendation of the UN Human Rights Committee in 2005. Thailand is a State party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which requires States that still retain the death penalty to restrict its use to only the “most serious crimes”, which drug-related offenses are not. I therefore disturbed by reports that the Deputy Prime Minister recently publicly supported an amendment to the Narcotics Act to shorten the appeals process for drug offenders sentenced to death and expedite their executions. I am also appalled by the inhuman practice of permanently shackling male death row prisoners, despite a landmark ruling in 2009 by the Administrative Court which found shackling to be unlawful under both domestic and international law. I further regret that Thailand did not accept the ten recommendations on abolition or moratorium it received from UN Member States at the Universal Periodic Review in October 2011, and urge Thailand to reconsider its position on these important recommendations. The global trend towards abolition is strong and unmistakable. Two of Thailand’s fellow ASEAN Member States, Cambodia and the Philippines, have abolished the death penalty while no executions have been reported in Burma and Laos in the last decade. According to the United Nations, approximately 150 countries have abolished the death penalty or introduced a moratorium, either in law or in practice. Many countries have abolished the death penalty when public opinion was still in favour of it, and this demonstrates that political courage is needed to steer societies towards a more compassionate and less violent future, and to ensure the full respect for the right to life, as guaranteed by the ICCPR. I respectfully call on Thailand to: vote in favour of the 2012 UNGA resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, and immediately introduce a moratorium on executions; take prompt and effective measures, including through legislative and administrative reforms, to review all laws permitting the imposition of the death penalty, with a view to abolishing it in law at the earliest instance; and immediately instruct all prison authorities to end the practice of permanent shackling of male death row prisoners, and effectively monitor their compliance. Thank you for your serious consideration of  recommendations and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely yours, William Nicholas Gomes Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com www.williamnicholasgomes.com Copied to: Souhayr Belhassen FIDH President Florence Bellivier WCADP President H.E. Pracha Promnok Minister of Justice 22nd Floor Software Park Building Chaeng Wattana Road Pakkred, Nonthaburi 11120, Thailand Fax: +66 2 650 9340 / 2 502 6734 / 2 502 6884 E-mail: om@moj.go.th , secretary@moij.go.th H.E. Surapong Tovichakchaikul Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand 443 Sri Ayudhya Road Bangkok 10200, Thailand Fax: +66 2 643 5320 / 2 643 5314 / 2 643 5272 Email: minister@mfa.go.th, thaiinfo@mfa.go.th, permsec@mfa.go.th Jullasingha Wasantasingha Attorney General Office of the Attorney General Lukmuang Building, Nahuppei Road Prabraromrachawang, Pranakorn Bangkok 10200, Thailand Fax: +66 2 224 0162 / 1448 / 221 0858 E-mail: ag@ago.go.th oag@ago.go.th H.E. Norachit Sinhaseni Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative Permanent Mission of Thailand to the United Nations 351 East 52nd Street New York, N.Y. 10022, USA Fax: +1 212 688 3029 E-mail: thailand@un.int Professor Amara Pongsapich Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand 120 Chaengwattana Road, Laksi District Bangkok 10210, Thailand Fax. +66 2 141 3900 Email: amara@nhrc.or.th, interhr@nhrc.or.th, help@nhrc.or.th

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http://williamnicholasgomes.com/thailand-take-immediate-steps-to-abolish-the-death-penalty-an-irrevocable-inhuman-cruel-and-degrading-punishment/

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Salem-News.com Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes is a Bangladeshi journalist, human rights activist and author was born on 25 December, 1985 in Dhaka. As an investigative journalist he wrote widely for leading European and Asian media outlets.

He is also active in advocating for free and independent media and journalists’ rights, and is part of the free media movement, Global Independent Media Center – an activist media network for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate telling of the truth. He worked for Italian news agency Asianews.it from year 2009 to 2011, on that time he was accredited as a free lance journalist by the press information department of Bangladesh. During this time he has reported a notable numbers of reports for the news agency which were translated into Chinese and Italian and quoted by notable number of new outlets all over the world.He, ideologically, identifies himself deeply attached with anarchism. His political views are often characterized as “leftist” or “left-wing,” and he has described himself as an individualist anarchist.