In jedem Land der Welt gibt es Menschenrechtsverletzungen. Diese Mißachtung der allgemeinen Menschenrechte sind jedoch in einigen Ländern gravierender als in anderen Ländern. Die Situation in Thailand wird in jährlichen Berichten dokumentiert - folgen Sie dem Menü auf der rechten Seite.

Die aktuell gültige Verfassung Thailands (2007) wurde durch eine vom damaligen Militärregime ernannten Gremium geschrieben. Darin heißt es in Artikel 4: "Die Menschenwürde, die Rechte, Freiheit und Gleichheit der Menschen soll geschützt werden." In der Tat hat die 2007 erlassene Verfassung viel vom umfangreichen Rechtekatalog der "Volksverfassung" von 1997 wiedereingesetzt und bestätigt. In der 1997er-Verfassung waren das Recht auf Meinungsfreiheit, Pressefreiheit, Versammlungs-, Vereinigungs-, Religion und Bewegungsfreiheit zkizziert worden. Die Verfassung von 1997 wurde im September 2006 nach einem Militärputsch aufgehoben. Das Militärregime setzte daraufhin ihre Übergangsverfassung in Kraft, die ein Jahr nach dem Putsch durch ein Referendum zur gültigen Verfassung 2007 wurde.. Sie ist damit auch die Grundlage der heutigen Situation der Menschenrechte im Land.

Ein bezeichnend kurzer Bericht der Bangkok Post vom 27. November 2014 zur Situation:

HRW Thailand web page blocked
The Thai government has blocked direct access to the Thailand page of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) website after receiving harsh criticism from the organisation.
Trying to directly HRW.org/asia/thailand results in a redirection to a splash screen from the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, which reads "this website has inappropriate content and has been suspended."
The block is not thorough, however. Navigating from the main HRW.org home page and clicking down through the site's hierarchy allowed users, as of this writing, to still access the Thailand page. Enforcement of the block also depends on individual Internet service providers.
In recent weeks HRW have heavily criticised Thailand's military government for its crackdown on dissent.
"The fact that the [junta] feels the need to block Human Rights Watch's Thailand webpage means that we must be doing something right," said Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director.

Ältere Berichte:
Nach dem Militärcoup vom 19. Sept. 2006 haben die Coupführer die Verfassung von 1997 aufgehoben und Dekrete erlassen, mit denen das Kriegsrecht ausgerufen wurde und die freie Meinungsäußerung sowie die Versammlungsfreiheit eingeschränkt wurden. Das Kriegsrecht wurde inzwischen zwar in 41 Provinzen wieder aufgehoben, in 35 anderen Provinzen ist es aber nach wie vor in Kraft. Die Gewalt in den mehrheitlich Muslimisch/Malayischen Provinzen im Süden geht weiter. Bewaffnete Gruppen gehen mit Bomben und Schußwaffen sowohl gegen Angehörige der Sicherheitskräfte als auch gegen Zivilisten (Lehrer, buddhistische Mönche) vor. Die Behörden im Süden nehmen willkürliche Inhaftierungen vor und unterlassen die Untersuchung von berichteten Menschenrechtsverletzungen. Zwei Menschenrechtsaktivisten wurden getötet, während andere (insbesonders im Süden) Einschüchterungen, Drohungen und Angriffen ausgesetzt sind. Es wird nach wie vor von Folter und Mißhandlungen berichtet. Fast 900 Personen mit Todesurteilen sitzen in den Gefängnissen von Thailand, allerdings gibt es keine aktuellen Berichte von Vollstreckungen. Arbeitsmigranten aus den Nachbarländern werden grundlegende Arbeitsrechte versagt. Asylsuchende Mitglieder der Hmong-Minderheit aus Laos wurden gewaltsam wieder nach Laos zurückgeschickt (Quelle: US-State Department, Amnesty International).

Drohungen gegen Frau Angkhana Wongrachen, die Frau des verschwundenen Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has received new information concerning the situation of human rights defenders in Thailand:
The Observatory has been informed by Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) about threats against Mrs. Angkhana Wongrachen, an active human rights defender in her country as well as the wife of Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit, former Chair of the Muslim Lawyers Association and Vice-Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Lawyers Association of Thailand, who forcibly disappeared in March 2004.
According to the information received, on March 12, 2007, Mrs. Angkhana Wongrachen lodged a complaint to the central Administrative Court in Bangkok about the failure of the police investigation into the abduction of her husband three years earlier. In her complaint, she said that the police department had failed to comply with domestic regulations because the five policemen who were accused in the criminal case connected to her husband's abduction, are still working in the police, even though the case is still pending appeal.
The very same day, the police chief in Thailand, Pol. Gen. Seripisuth Themiyavet warned Mrs. Angkhana Wongrachen that she would become his enemy if she kept pushing about her husband's case.
More recently, two of the five policemen prosecuted have been transferred in the north east of the country to another department while Mrs. Wongrachen wanted them to be suspended from duty until the case is completed to the courts.
Hintergrund: Mr. Somchai disappeared on the night of March 12 to 13, 2004. Shortly before his disappearance, he had received threatening anonymous phone calls and was informed that security forces had put his name on a list of members of terrorist groups.
Mr. Somchai had campaigned for the martial law to be lifted in the southern provinces and for justice for Muslims suspected of terrorist activities and treason. He had also denounced the fact that some Muslims accused of terrorism had been tortured during police investigations. His various activities had raised tension between him and the security forces, which were most likely involved in his enforced disappearance.
Five policemen were charged for "coercion" and "gang robbery", since enforced disappearance is not recognised as an offence in Thailand. On January 12, 2006, the Bangkok Criminal Court found one of the policemen guilty of forcing Mr. Somchai into a car and sentenced him to three years' imprisonment. The four other accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Throughout 2006, Mrs. Angkana Wongrachen continued to be the victim of acts of intimidation. In particular, she regularly received telephone calls from people who "advise" her to drop the charges. On Wednesday 28, 2007, a Thai Foreign Ministry spokeswoman announced in a seminar organised at the National Human Rights Commission Office that Thailand will soon sign the Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances. The Observatory welcomes such a commitment and hopes that it will concretise shortly.

Rückblick 2003: "War on drugs"

On February 1, the Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra initiated a 3-month "War on drugs" campaign intended to eliminate narcotics from the country. The Minister of Interior instructed local authorities to update "blacklists" of individuals suspected of being involved in illegal drug trafficking, sale, or use and the Prime Minister told the governors and provincial police that those who failed to eliminate a prescribed percentage of the names from their "blacklists," would be fired. The Government threatened retaliation against local officials who did not produce results. There were reports that local officials used the blacklists as a means to settle political differences. According to official figures, there were 1,386 narcotics-related deaths between February 1 and April 30. No arrests were made in 1,195 of these cases, which led many observers to believe police were responsible for most of these deaths. According to press reports, more than 2,200 alleged drug criminals were killed during the year, while more than 90,000 suspects were arrested.

Human rights activists accused the Government of unleashing a "shoot to kill" policy and condoning the killings of suspected drug dealers. The Government in turn claimed that many of the killings resulted from dealers fighting each other. Many of those killed were civilians. For example, in February, police shot and killed a 9-year-old boy in the back seat of a car driven by his mother following the arrest of his father on drug trafficking charges. The three police involved in the shooting were arrested for intentional murder; however, the court ruled that the killing was accidental and justified. In response to criticism from national and international NGOs and other foreign governments, the Government created several official committees to investigate the killings; by year's end, security force involvement had been acknowledged in 55 deaths during the February to April period. Of these, 39 were forwarded to prosecutors for submission to the courts, and the other 16 remained under investigation
(Quelle: US-State Department).