Press Releases

03/22/2019

Elections in Thailand (March 24) – The forgotten civil war in the south

Human rights activists call for more commitment to peace in southern Thailand (Press Release)

In the run-up to the parliamentary elections in Thailand, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) demands the new state leadership to show more commitment to peace in the south of the country. "After 15 years of bloody civil war, there must finally be a realistic perspective for the south of Thailand," demanded Ulrich Delius, the STP's director, in Göttingen on Friday. Picture: Abd Gani Atan via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

In the run-up to the parliamentary elections in Thailand, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) demands the new state leadership to show more commitment to peace in the south of the country. "After 15 years of bloody civil war, there must finally be a realistic perspective for the  south of Thailand," demanded Ulrich Delius, the STP's director, in Göttingen on Friday. The human rights organization criticized that the political parties were avoiding the topic of the ongoing uprising of Muslim groups in the south of the predominantly Buddhist country – emphasizing that the armed forces, which have been running the country, failed with their strategy of military strength to secure peace. The conflicting parties in southern Thailand have lost confidence, and the political representatives will have to come up with new peace initiatives.

Since the escalation of the civil war in the four southern provinces of Patani, Narathiwat, Yala, and Songkhla in 2004, at least 6,940 people got killed and 13,540 people were injured. Recently, on March 10, there were 11 bomb attacks, and another seven detonators were found and defused just in time.

Since taking power in 2014, the armed forces have been following a hardline policy. A total number of 60,000 additional soldiers were deployed to the unrest provinces, the state of emergency was extended, and the soldiers were given more leeway. Thus, suspects can now be detained for up to seven days without giving reasons. Local human rights groups have since been complaining about arbitrary arrests, kidnappings, and torture by army personnel.

In the autumn of 2018, negotiations on a peaceful solution to the conflict between the military junta and the MARA Patani, an alliance of resistance groups and politicians from southern Thailand, had failed – and even a mediation by Malaysia, the Muslim neighboring country, did not help much to restore confidence. The most important resistance movement, Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), refused to join the negotiations.

The Muslim population of southern Thailand is accusing the authorities of following a policy of assimilation, disregarding their traditional cultural and religious values. Also, the region – which is inhabited by around two million people – is economically neglected. By means of the Anglo-Siamese Treaty, which was signed 110 years ago (March 10, 1909) the Sultanate of Patani was transferred from the colonial power of Great Britain to Siam, today's Thailand.

Header image: Abd Gani Atan via Flickr