Monty Cantsin
4th March 2004, 08:13
"We'd make sure the drug traffickers have only two places to stay - jail or the cemetery. They'd have no other places to stay in our society." Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 24 March 2003
Amnesty International is concerned that government measures against drug crime in Thailand have led to serious human rights violations, including alleged extrajudicial killing and use of the death penalty.
Thailand is a major hub for drug trafficking, and has the highest methamphetamine abuse rates in the world. In 2001 authorities declared that they were waging a "war against narcotic drugs."
Last year more than 1,000 people were killed within three months during a government campaign to eradicate drugs, particularly methamphetamines, from the country. There has been no thorough and independent investigation of their deaths and of all allegations of security forces' reported involvement in a number of cases.
Since 2001, hundreds of men and women, including foreign nationals and members of Thailand's ethnic minorities, have been sentenced to death for drug offences, and numbers on death row have tripled.
Amnesty International is concerned that government measures against drug crime in Thailand have led to serious human rights violations, including alleged extrajudicial killing and use of the death penalty.
Thailand is a major hub for drug trafficking, and has the highest methamphetamine abuse rates in the world. In 2001 authorities declared that they were waging a "war against narcotic drugs."
Last year more than 1,000 people were killed within three months during a government campaign to eradicate drugs, particularly methamphetamines, from the country. There has been no thorough and independent investigation of their deaths and of all allegations of security forces' reported involvement in a number of cases.
Since 2001, hundreds of men and women, including foreign nationals and members of Thailand's ethnic minorities, have been sentenced to death for drug offences, and numbers on death row have tripled.