A national human rights commissioner has called on the army to learn lessons from the death of Private Wichian Phuaksom, in a bid to protect conscripts from abuse at the hands of officers.
Wichian, a conscript who had recently left the monkhood, was beaten to death in a two-day ordeal perpetrated by trainers at a military camp in Narathiwat in 2011.
Human rights activist Angkhana Neelapaijit said she wants the army to stop resorting to using violence against military conscripts, even when they show a lack of discipline.
She said the army must instruct all military trainers and officers to use reasoning to communicate with trainees, instead of physical punishment.
Ms Angkhana said she understands the military mindset that conscripts must be punished if they fail to comply with orders, but said there can be no excuse for the kind of physical torture inflicted on Wichian.
“Under the principle of human rights and fundamental freedoms, all military conscripts must be treated as human beings with equal rights to any other group of people. No one has the right to beat them. They are serving the nation and the armed forces,” Ms Angkhana said.
She said that Thailand had signed the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 2007, and the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance in 2012.
However, there are still no domestic laws that criminalise torture and enforced disappearances.
Ms Angkhana said Wichian’s death must be a wake-up call to the authorities and adds weight to the case for new criminal laws to bring perpetrators of torture and enforced disappearances to justice.
“As far as I know the Justice Ministry has already proposed a draft bill to the secretariat of the cabinet that would criminalise torture and enforced disappearances,” she said. “But I don’t know when it will be presented to the cabinet for consideration.”
Ms Angkhana is the chairwoman of the Justice for Peace Foundation and has played a key role in campaigning against torture and enforced disappearances in the deep South.
She is the wife of missing human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, who disappeared after accusing police of torturing his clients in prison in 2004, and was a member of the National Human Rights Commission panel that investigated the military trainers who beat Wichian to death.
Ms Angkhana has been outspoken about how Wichian’s death reflected many problems in Thai society.
“When he reported to the military camp, his life was supposed to be under the care and protection of officials,” she said.
“However, he was tortured and deprived of access to care, even when the beating left him severely injured.”